Even though I see the fifth graders practice the May Pole over and over, I'm always moved when they dance for our larger community. There, with their parents and the rest of the school present, they re-enact their time at Prairie Creek.
They begin with us in kindergarten as individuals. Beautiful and unique but quite alone – like the ribbons held taught at the beginning of the dance. Then, slowly at first then with increasing speed, they begin to come together. Over and under, they support and are supported by one another. They weave a community, a cloth much stronger than any individual strand. The cloth too is beautiful, and in it, one can see the the individuals – they are not lost themselves, just become a part of something larger.
A grandfather at May Day told me he was expecting that we would unweave the May pole as part of the dance. I hadn't thought much about it before, but I think it's important that we leave it woven. Our fifth graders are about to venture into a wider world…but the connections they've made and the friendships they've woven will remain and continue to support them. The cloth will stay whole, just like our May pole.
The Rookery 
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