MIXED FEELINGS
Group time at Blue
Heron School
is for singing, dancing, yoga, listening to stories, and sometimes for talking
it out, all together. During the last
week of school, the energy level was high, the volume of voices was turned up,
and it seemed harder than it had been to focus on absorbing activities. We sat together at group time, on the
penultimate day of school, and talked about mixed feelings. Even as adults knowing how to act and what to
say can be a challenge when we are experiencing conflicting feelings, and
spring is full of events that provoke these, with graduations, weddings, and
other transitional events. It is easy to
understand that it is even harder for young children, who are just learning to
manage their feelings in appropriate ways, and how to express them with
language. So we took a break from all
the busy, end of school activities and talked about how we were feeling. The children were excited about the beginning
of summer, and, for the older ones, the anticipation of going to "the big
school" in the fall. At the same
time, over the course of a school year a community has formed, with children,
teachers and parents and the greater SLNSC staff. We enjoy the experience of becoming
acquainted, and then developing friendships.
We can't imagine that we will not continue to see one another every
day. We celebrate the wonderful growth
and accomplishments of each child over the course of the year, and we
acknowledge our sadness that it is time for the child to move on.
However, it is a part of the process of school, and life,
that endings come, and lead to new beginnings.
We wish the children all the best in the next stage of life and
school. We look forward to hearing about
their new experiences. We happily look
forward to reuniting with returning students in September, when school resumes,
and the younger children come back another year older, the new leaders of the
class. We know, too, that new families
and children will come to Blue Heron in the fall. We look forward to knowing them, and to recreating
our community with continuity from last year and fresh energy that new and
returning friends bring to Blue Heron.
Reprinted with permission from Blue Heron School at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center.
