Smiling on the last day of school

The students always list all of their teachers in past years who have cried on the last day of school. So I told them today, "I don't usually cry, but that doesn't mean I'm not sad to say goodbye to you!" My wonderfully witty student replied, "Then why are you smiling?" Caught me! Actually, even though it is definitely time for a break, I'm never quite ready to say goodbye to my students. I wish they were coming back to me next year.

There have been signs for several weeks now that we're all ready for summer vacation. One day one of the boys came in with a super short hair cut. I heard one student asking him, "Are you sure you didn't lose 50 years of your life? Because you look like you're around 60."  A few days later another boy came into the classroom sporting a new haircut and proclaiming, "There's a new 80-year-old in the room!" Today looking at pictures from earlier in the year, one boy commented, "That's when I still had all my hair!"

Yesterday in math class, we were using a grid and plotting points. My witty student gave the point (2,2) and muttered under his breath, "Which I'm not wearing." I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

I'm pretty sure I don't even know half of what went on with my students this year. Today I had them share their favorite memories from third grade, and one boy shared that the most memorable part for him was the day he split his pants. I looked at him confused, and said, "I don't remember that."
 "No, I didn't tell anyone!"

In Bible class this year, we learned about faith heroes from the Bible. I had the students write in their journals about someone in real life who is a faith hero. Here are a couple of my favorites:

A faith hero is a person who loves God more than anything else. My parents believe in God real strongly.  

My parents trust God to make sure our old car keeps on running on long trips. 

Yes, I will definitely miss this great group of students! But like I told them today, I can't wait to see and hear about all the ways that God will use them in the future! I have good reason to smile. :)