Thank-o-Rama

     May was #ThankoRama month in honor of the release of The Thank You Book by Mo Willems.  On this eve of the last day of school for my own children, I decided to write a #thankorama post thanking their school for the month of May! It was a great month of parent involvement and family events to celebrate the year.

     It started with the Kindergarten teachers hosting a Mom's Spa Night event.  My daughter painted my nails, made me a necklace, did my hair, and treated me to dinner.  Thanks for treating me so well!

  

     Then, the PTO sponsored a DEAR event.  It started with a breakfast for families before school started, and we then got to go into the classrooms for the 1st half hour of the day to read with our kids.  This is where I was able to read The Thank You Book for the first time!  My pre-order had not yet arrived, but my son's first grade teacher had already gotten her copy.  It made my day to read the book for the first time with 3 first graders.  It made the final book in the series even more special, yet bittersweet.  I'm still so sad Piggie and Gerald are retired.

     My sadness was eased slightly, though, by the new Molly Idle book that my children got autographed during an assembly that day.  Flora and the Peacocks is just beautiful!

     The PTO and my son's teacher then organized a Fun Run, with a 3/4 mile run, and a 5K.  My whole family signed up and got matching shirts and bib numbers.  My daughter and I jogged the 3/4 mile while my son ran it, and my husband ran the 5K.  My husband and son earned matching medals for coming in 1st in their age groups!  It was such a well organized family event.

     The kindergarten team then had us in for a picnic and summer concert for their kindergarten farewell.  They sang some great songs thanks to their music teacher, with my favorite being the Grease mash-up.  We then went outside and had a picnic lunch with our families, with both her grandparents and a few of my nieces and nephews included.  The kids ran around in the sprinkler, and my daughter felt very special on her big day.

     The last event was the 1st grade field trip to the zoo, where we walked around exploring animals and looked for animals from all the continents.  It was great to be included as a chaperone.  It ended up being a beautiful day, despite the chance for storms.

     I am so grateful for all of these experiences.  The truth is, I am a teacher.   I am usually on the planning end of events like these, and I know how much work goes into them.  That makes me appreciate their time so much more.  But, as a parent, I also am so appreciative of them for organizing such events because I get to experience moments like these with my own children.

Thank you staff and PTO of my son and daughter's school.  

I appreciate you.