For the past five years I’ve had a Haston Hippo Reunion Picnic. It started after my first class of kindergarteners moved up to 1st grade and I missed them terribly. I decided to invite them all to the park in Allen for some time to play and laugh together. I brought cookies and Capri Suns and we ran around the playground for almost 3 hours! It has now become a tradition to have this reunion picnic every year.
So Saturday we had our fifth annual one! Like usual we met at Celebration Park all wearing our “Haston Hippo 4 Life” tshirts! The first reunion I had I told the kids it would last for two hours and then thought, “What in the world am I going to do with them for 2 hours?” Low and behold we filled that time and more at the first reunion. Now I just say that it will last one hour because I know the kids will continue to play and moms will continue to talk long after one hour.
I was so excited that out of 21 kids from the class 17 showed…and all of them in their Haston Hippo shirts! Connor’s older brother, Daerick, was in my very first class and he came on Saturday too and wore his Haston Hippo shirt from five years ago…LOVE IT!
I loved seeing the kids, getting those precious hugs, seeing moms that I haven’t seen in months, taking pictures, laughing about old memories, discussing how big everyone is getting, and just being with this group of kids.
I’ve said before that this class holds a special place in my heart because they were with me for two years. We got to know each other really well and really became our own little family.
During the years we took a lot of class pictures and I would always make the tallest kids stand in the back, the middle height kids sat on their knees in the middle, and the shortest ones sat criss cross in the front. Everyone always complained because they were always in the same row.
I laughed to myself on Saturday because when it came time to take a group picture I said, “Who is back row?” and all the right kids raised their hands and went right to their position! There were a couple of kids who have grown over the summer and were so excited to get to be in the back row this time!
Parents always thank me for doing the picnic because the kids love it so much, but what they don’t know is that I love it as much if not more than the kids do!
I have always loved being a teacher because I love building those relationships with the kids. When they’re that young they just idolize you and so it’s a little vain because I love that they love me so much. I vividly remember my kindergarten teacher and it excites me that one day these kids are going to grow up and remember me that way.
Not seeing these kids is what makes this Year of Jubilee rough at times because I miss them and I miss spending every day with them. I miss…reminding Ryker a thousand times to go hang his backpack up…watching Max being the first to raise his hand after a question and then once called on saying, “I forgot!”…Olivia and Kenna and Isabella begging for more time to write…James asking me, “Can I tell you something?”…my morning hugs from Abe…the smile that beamed from Grayson’s face when it was math time…Kyndra trying to tell me ways to be a better teacher…Hayden and Jaime pushing other kids out of the way to get to each other…Edwin always talking in a whisper…Camy always writing about princesses or anything girly…watching Emily’s tender heart show as she helped others…Carli and Kassandra curling up with books around the room…Brandon constantly begging me to go to Mrs. Hurst’s room…Anjelina getting that twinkle in her eye when you tell her what a great reader she’s become…watching Bradley write page after page in his WOW notebook…Brianna coming up with the most elaborate stories…the way Connor would always come to school with some interesting science fact to share or with something cool he and his family found outside!
I’ve been a very lucky teacher!
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