Tomorrow is my last day to student teach in your class and I know you don't understand why. I wish I could explain in a way you would understand why I have to move to a new class but how I still care about you so much. I hate that you will feel confused and probably a little bit betrayed when I am not there to greet you at the door every morning or hug you goodbye at the end of your day like I have for the past eight weeks.
You have taught me more than I'm sure I taught you. I learned quickly that I didn't have my patience trained to handle 22 energetic 5 year olds for 7 hours every day. But we learned together, didn't we? I'm sorry for the times I lost control and had to raise my voice at you. I know you are sorry for the times you couldn't help but wiggle around on the rug because your little 5 year old body couldn't sit still any longer. Thank you for showing me grace when I stood in front of you with pure fear on my face not knowing what to do. Thank you for laughing with me when I'm in the middle of a lesson and my big book falls on top of me. Thank you for giving me your very best whenever I asked you to "be Mrs. Foster's helper". Thank you for being you.
It has been an honor to be a nurse to you when you scrapped your knee on the playground and needed me to give you a band-aid or bumped your head and just needed me to hug you till it didn't hurt so much. I have watched you grow so much over the past weeks, so much more than I even knew little humans could grow. You helped me grow too, as a teacher and as a person. You worked so hard for me. When we would do hard stuff like try to understand why letters make the sounds they do or learn what patterns are, your little brains just worked and worked until you understood. I'm so unbelievably proud of you.
During this time, I doubted my ability to be able to be a teacher, but you never did. Your notes, hugs, little hands holding mine and sweet comments kept me going even on the hardest days. I had to miss a day because I was so sick this week and when I came back, with a sore throat and achy head, you would just randomly yell out "I love you Mrs. Foster" to make me feel better. And I love you. I love you to the ones who have happy homes you go to after school, and I love you to the ones who I pray for so hard because I know school is much more comfortable for you than your home. I love you to the ones who struggle and I love you to the leaders. I love you to my little mess makers and I love you to my classroom helpers. I will try to say goodbye to you tomorrow with strength and not let you see how sad I am, because I know you need me to be strong for you. And even though I know you will never remember me, your kindergarten student teacher, I promise I will never forget you.
All my heart,
Mrs. Foster
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