Last Day

Friday was the last day of my internship. I can hardly believe that it's over!! I already miss my kids like crazy...I've been acting depressed all weekend. This morning I said, "Rex! I used to make a difference in childrens' lives on a daily basis! Now I am finished! Useless! There is no reason to even get out of bed in the morning!" Clearly I am having some separation issues.
They did, as I suspected, throw me a surprise party. It was really sweet. It made me cry - not in front of them, though, since everyone tells teachers to NEVER cry in front of their students. But the party was outside, and after hearing some of what they had to say and getting some of their presents, I said I had to go back to the classroom for something and just SOBBED. I am SO sad to be leaving them. I love those kids so much! I wrote a goodbye letter to them, and I passed it out but also read it out loud. Then I suddenly got the feeling that I was attending my own funeral: EVERYONE was crying. Even some of my football players! I couldn't decide if it was one of the best days or one of the worst days of my life. I felt SO loved, but I am going to miss them so much. Rather than go on and on about how sad I am to be gone, I figure I will give you a small sampling of what they gave me on my last day. A bunch of them had presents and cards, and some of them wrote me "letters of recommendation" to take with me to my job interviews next week. AHHH!!! SO CUTE! I love them - have I ever mentioned that? So - here are a few of the things I got (I'm not going to write everything because it would take forever), and where I say any names, please note that names have been changed:

Gifts:

1. $160 gift card to Eastwood Town Center (classwide effort)
2. Giftcards to Biggby and the Teacher's Center
3. A "Note Box" - this was my favorite! A girl painted a box for me that says "note box" on the top. She said, "It's for you to put all of the notes in that you confiscate next year from your new class! And, just so you'll remember us, everyone who you ever confiscated a note from in our class signed the back." And they had!! Isn't that so cute!? I love it.
4. A chalkboard and multicolored chalk
5. A framed picture of five of my girls making REALLY goofy faces
6. Lots of lotion/shower gel/other good smelling stuff.
7. Books
8. Flamingo salt and pepper shakers. YES!

Here are a couple of my favorite notes:

Dear Webbini,
I love you. I love you very much. I love you lots. I love you enough to write you a GOODBYE poem!
You're super good with drama llama
Will you be my baby mama?
You're super rad!
You deserve an ipad!
(but I don't have that kind of money, sunny).
You have rat type ferrets
And once you use our presents
You won't smell like them too. (JK JK!)
You're super weird, but I will miss your magical beard
(even though you don't have one, hun)
Too bad you can't flirt with other guys
I guess this means you're a turd.
Goodbye!
From,
Janelle

Dear Mrs. Webb,
We'll miss you, but I'll miss you the most. You're the best teacher I had. You make your time special. You get excited about boring things, but you're special. But I don't want you to leave - you're funny, awesome, and cool to be around.
Sincerely,
Eileen

Dear Mrs. Webb,
I hope you have fun in Vegas and have fun teaching. I loved the cheesy videos - thank you so much for teaching me all of the things I've learned from you. I don't love you so much like Henry does, but I do love you - I found it inside me and you're the best teacher ever.
Sincerely,
Will

Dear Mrs. Webb (#1 Teacher),
I had a great year with you! You are amazing and I bet you a MILLION DOLLARS that your next class will love you to pieces! Because I know I did! And I am heartbroken to see you leave. And I'm not lying when I say this...you were my favorite teacher EVER!!! Shhhhhh! Don't tell Mr. Hyde, holmes! Ha ha! But seriously...you were my favorite teacher. Thank you for making me smarter!
P.S. Tell Rex I said hello!
Love,
Madison

Goodbye Mrs. Webb
I will miss you with all my heart. Hope you have a good time in Las Vegas, but don't gamble too much!
*picture of raining money*
Love,
Celeste

Dear Mrs. Webb,
I am so sad that you're leaving! :-( But also I am so glad that you've finally got a new apartment, you're going to be an actual teacher, and you got your degree! YAY! Another thing I'm sad about is no one in the class is going to have an adult to share their feelings with anyone anymore, because by far you're the only adult that can keep a secret! Anyways WE'LL MISS YOU TERRIBLY!
Sincerely,
Your former student Ellie
P.S. I hope your kids in your new classroom aren't cooler than us!

Mrs. Webb,
You are my lady
I love you, baby.
I can't believe you're leaving.
Don't do too much gambling.
You know all of my drama llama,
One time I almost called you mama.
You like rats. I don't, really.
When you sing, it sounds silly.
I love you!
Dee

Dear Mrs. Webb,
You are the best teacher I've ever had and I've had 8 - that's saying a lot. When you go we will lose the best teacher but the kids in Las Vegas will get the best teacher and the best experience in the world. You should keep teaching sixth grade because then you can teach the same curriculum like the number line dance and you can use the same cheesy jokes. I love how you're so excited for the language arts curriculum. Why didn't you become a journalist or something?
Betsy

Mrs. Webb,
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! And after you leave here there will be no teacher that understands drama llama the way you do. You remind me of Lady GaGa because you are crazy and strange and weird, but all in a GREAT way! Mrs. Webb, I hope you like Vegas. Do a lot of gambling for me and good luck at the slot machine!
You were an awesomely great FANTASTIC teacher Mrs. Webb! You are definitely my favorite teacher of all time and ALWAYS will be.
Love,
Pat

Dear Mrs. Webb,
You make me smile when you teach. You're funny, smart, and you make learning fun (which I thought would never happen). You make me want to stay in for recess because it's soooooo fun with you. We had our ups and downs, sideways and loopty loops, but I think you're the best teacher in the world. You will get an amazing job in LV. You rock.
Sincerely,
Henry
P.S. Don't spend too much money in a casino.

Here are a couple of my "letters of recommendation:"

To whom it may concern,
Mrs. Webb is the best, funniest, understanding teacher I've ever had. She never disappoints with any lesson. She's more than a teacher...she's like a young mother. She makes a subject go from boring to fun with her cheesy jokes and videos to her funny dances. It always puts a smile on our face when we make Mrs. Webb laugh. Mrs. "Webbini" is a perfect teacher.
We're Mrs. Webb's children, so whenever we get a little naughty we get a consequence. Which means less minutes for recess. But that power equals COOLNESS which means RESPECT. Mrs. Webb has the ability to connect and understand her students at a whole different level. She gets our personalities, and that is one of her best qualities.
We all love Mrs. Webb, but we loved her even more when she announced that she was gonna make a drama club for our school. She taught us great things that I will never forget and she was cool enough to do a play at the end of Drama Club.
Mrs. Webb's teaching, coolness, laughter, and her ability to understand her students will not be forgot.
Sincerely,
Jalin

To whom it may concern,
Mrs. Webb is an amazing teacher. Any student would be lucky to have her for a teacher. She is fun and and very energetic. you can tell that she loves working with kids.
Mrs. Webb created DRAMA CLUB for my school. And brought in guest speakers for Language Arts. She has made school even more enjoyable for me and my classmates.
Sincerely,
Sarah

To whom it may concern,
Mrs. Webb is a very enthusiastic person. She puts the fun in "school." Although she may be goofy, she is serious about teaching and learning. To help us learn, she shows us cheesy videos about the topics we're learning about. Mrs. Webb has taught many subjects, she's always been happy and put a smile on our faces. Mrs. Webb is probably one of the best teachers ever!
Sincerely,
Sidney

To whom it may concern,
Mrs. Webb is a super duper teacher. She is a really cool person, she makes learning fun. She's always excited and enthusiastic - she comes to school ready to have fun. She brought in a special guest like a ELPD detective and Adventure Man Dan. She is awesome.
She will make you laugh. She is always happy, almost never sad, and in times of distress she was always calm. Please accept this recommendation.
Sincerely,
Quentin

To whom it may concern,
Mrs. Webb is the best teacher you will ever meet. She makes learning so fun that she makes kids that hate school want to come to school. I mean, she even invented drama club!
I think the best part about Mrs. Webb is that she is funny and exciting. I even remember the time she talked to everyone in the class about their feelings which really helped me and a whole bunch of other people. Anyways, if you hire Mrs. Webb you better be ready for a fun loving, good, enthusiastic, happy, drama club startin teacher!
Sincerely,
Emma
P.S. You won't find anyone better than her.

To whom it may concern,
Mrs. Webb is the most amazing teacher in the whole world. She does SO much for us, and she is so committed to her job. Mrs. Webb is by FAR my favorite teacher. She developed tight, personal relationships with all of her students. She made learning extremely fun in an effective way. Mrs. Webb cares about us SO much and I can truly say that I love her. If you hire Mrs. Webb, it will be a very smart and wise decision.
Sincerely,
Polly

To whom it may concern,
Mrs. Webb is a great teacher. Mrs. Webb always has a smile on her face. Mrs. Webb always makes boring projects into very fun projects. You should have Mrs. Webb as a teacher at your school because she is the best teacher in the world.
Sincerely,
Mike




Wow....sorry this post was SO long! I guess picking out a "few favorites" turned into a lot of favorites. Oh well. Can you see why I love them so much?! I will miss them a ton. But now, if my apartment burns down or something, I have this blog to remind me that my students liked me this year. :-) If I die tomorrow, at least I can die knowing I made a difference SOMEWHERE in the world. Next stop: Las Vegas.