School's Out for Summer!

It's here! It's here! Once again, the halls are quiet. The lockers are supposed to be empty but still contain what the students didn't feel was important enough to cart home: pens and pencils, rulers, compasses, reading books, and even the occasional calculator. Unbelievable. We had the "big wave" which is where all the teachers line up on the sidewalk in front of the school and wave to the the students as the buses leave. It's corny but a lot of fun for them and us. The high school students are already on the buses so they shout and wave, too. Fun!
Now all that remains is packing up my room for the move to the high school. I went in very early yesterday so I could talk with the high school math teacher who is retiring. I will be getting her room and I was interested in seeing the layout. I have several bookcases and filing cabinets and I needed to know what I needed to move and what I could leave behind. She showed me where all of her curriculum materials are located and gave me copies of the textbooks for the two new preps I will have. The room is nice. The way my classroom looks has always been important to me. When I read about teachers having to teach students in classrooms where the ceilings leak, paint is peeling off the walls, and desks are broken and graffiti covered, it makes me feel as though I am focusing on things that are academically unimportant when I "decorate" my room.  But I function better in cheerful, ordered surroundings, and as much time as I spend in my classroom every day, it is like a second home to me.  To some extent, the students must feel that way about the school classrooms.  I want it to feel comfortable to be there.
At any rate, I still have a lot of packing up to do.  I have sooooo much more stuff than I did two years ago, thanks in part to money from the state that was allocated for middle school math materials.  I have every math manipulative I ever wanted, plus site licenses to some great software, which, now that I think of it, I have to talk to our IT person about getting transferred to the high school computers.  I spent yesterday afternoon grading exams and getting grades posted.  I will go back in on Monday and finish the packing.  I am going to miss being there.  It has been a great four years in our little middle school.  Everyone was easygoing, hardworking, and had a great sense of humor.  Our lunch hour (24 minutes) was always so much fun.  Every year the principal would treat us to lunch to thank us for getting along so well (this would usually happen after a particularly nasty drama with the elementary school teachers) Next year we will all be teaching a mixture of middle and high school courses.  We won't be located in the same part of the high school building, and we don't know yet if our lunch periods will be at the same time. Sigh.....