The Rookery

There are many steps to saying goodbye to our fifth graders.  It's no easy task, for them or for us… The transition begins in the first days of school when the fifth graders shepherd the fourth graders into their new communities and teach them about being a "big bird."  One of the things I treasure most about progressive education is the multi-age setting.  When I taught in a single grade classroom, each year began with me doing a song and dance every day about who "we" were as a class.  Of course, "we" weren't anything yet…I had to fake it to make it, so to speak.  Everything about our class culture had to be created anew every year – and the onus was on me to create it.

But our fifth graders begin passing on their wisdom and their understanding of who "we" are on that first day.  Ours is a shared space and shared history.  The stewardship continues as the fifth graders teach their fourth grade mentees during our project process.

I often hear students wish for more time at Prairie Creek throughout the year but the sentiment is most powerful in January and February when we are in the throes of the honors project and go to Wolf Ridge.  Some students have been looking forward to the trip to Wolf Ridge since they were in kindergarten and saw the All School Gathering  where the giant fifth graders shared their Wolf Ridge stories.  Many students are nervous about being away from home or managing the cold or completing the ropes course…proving to themselves they can do it helps them realize that they are ready for other new challenges, too.

Honors project, which culminates in April, helps students realize they are capable learners (and teachers).  They work very hard and many share how surprised they are by what they are able to do.  Again, this is another way we help them see how ready they are to tackle learning in a new school.  They know how to ask great questions and, importantly, they know how to find answers to their questions.  Their work with their mentors (and their mentors' recognition of that work at honoring night) further illustrate to them that they are ready to learn from new teachers and that the larger world is eager to learn with them.

Then, in a flurry of traditions, the fifth graders are launched with love from Prairie Creek – dancing the May Pole at May Day, leading Village, listening to Simon read "Oh the Places You'll Go," visiting the secret basement and signing their names on the wall (alongside fifth graders from the 80s!!), closing circle with the Herons, being celebrated at graduation, and finally, running through a tunnel of friends and family to cheers and high fives.

At that moment, they leave Prairie Creek.  Many, many come back to volunteer at Sticksgiving, visit at May Day, help with Makers or just stop by to say hi and get a much needed hug (Prairie Creek is a place where everyone always knows your name.)  I, however, am never quite ready to say goodbye in June.  I can't quite bring myself to take labels off of bins or take down student work.  Tomorrow I head out to school to get ready for the new year and only then will I take the name stickers off of bins.  And then I'll place on the new name stickers, new Herons ready to make this year their own.

And so with every leave taking their is also a welcoming on the other side.