Today was Ricardo's last day. If I could do anything over again, it would be to take pictures of what the kids made him. We had a huge banner hung up over the door for when he walked in this morning, a class-made book with a page from each student, an autographed soccer ball from all his classmates and teachers, and a soccer pillow that was made by two students.
When I asked on Monday for parents to volunteer to send in treats, I had three parents offer cupcakes, brownies, and juice. PERFECT! I thought- A nice variety. Guess what came in today? TWO cupcake contributions, Oreos, popcorn, brownies, blow pops, tootsie pops, two HUGE chocolate bars, fruit snacks, and two kinds of juices. OMW. How would we survive the day? We had one of the cupcakes for a morning snack (super healthy, I know) and then saved everything else for the end of the day.
The last 30 minutes of the day was dedicated to passing out unhealthy treats and waiting to sing a goodbye song to Ricardo. Once all the treats were eaten and Ricardo took a first bite, the students dug in to their sugar. While students were eating, we began to give Ricardo his gifts one by one. By the end, tears were swelling up in his eyes. He couldn't answer any questions because he knew the result would be a full-out cry. The tears were enough... soon two people were crying... then three... then four... pretty soon just about half of the class was tearing up and crying- keep in mind with a class of 27, that's about 13 students. It also wasn't the weak that were crying. It was my football players, my class clowns, my confident students, and my quiet students. All were effected. When everyone else started crying, Ricardo couldn't hold it back. It was heart breaking watching a class break to pieces within a matter of minutes.
We got Ricardo packed up and got ready to head outside to the buses. We made a human bridge/canopy for Ricardo to walk under and did a big send off... but that made the crying worse. My boys were SOBBING. Ricardo continued to cry. This was their last chance to say goodbye. Teachers, parents, other students were trying to figure out why on earth a majority of my class was crying... goodness knows, I could hardly keep myself my crying. I just turned to the gawking students and said, "See, you don't want to be in my classroom. I'm so mean that I make my students cry." Eventually I told the onlookers, "It's never easy to lose a good friend."
I am SO PROUD of my class. They truly let their emotions show and let Ricardo know that he will be incredibly missed. When his mom came to pick him up and she heard what happened and saw her son's tears, she began to cry too. What an emotional day. I turned to Ricardo and said, "I bet you didn't know you were so loved, did you?" He shook his head "no." I don't think ANY of my students will forget this day- I know I won't.
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