Sweet Jeano

Goodbyes are tough.  This week one of our dear classroom friends, Jeono, moved to another school in our district.  No advanced notice.  No visit from the parent. No phone call.  No note in the backpack.  Just a call from the registrar first thing on Thursday morning with the sad news.  I hate it when that happens.

After sharing a tear or two before the morning bell with my classroom intern, Ms. Brown, I knew that we needed to gently tell the class and embrace the moment in order to have closure.  The kids needed it. Ms. Brown and I needed it.

We gathered our little guys on the rug and told them.  And then we talked.  We talked about the best parts of Jeano that Mrs. Pearce could share with his new teacher.  Here's what some of my friends had to say...

• He was always kind to everybody.
• He shared his castle with me in the sandbox.
• He was always good.
• He was a friend to Andrew.  (Said by Andrew in 3rd person).
• He will always have us in his heart.

Then we sang "The More We Get Together" and we moved on with our learning day with a little more smiles than tears.  Later, we made a card to send to him at his new school with everyone's picture and autograph.

His new teacher called me to talk.  It was wonderful.  I was able to share every single wonderful word that my little ones had to say about Jeano.  And that was plenty.

“Saying goodbye doesn't mean anything.

It's the time we spent together that matters, not how we left it.”

                                                                                                    Trey Parker