One of our visitors to Special Person's Day remarked, "This is my last Special Person's Day! I'm really sad." I was sad, too. This was a family I've known for years. She'd watched her granddaughter perform as a kindergartener — so excited to be on "the big stage" but a little lost in that way of kindergarteners. She'd gotten a (very) extensive tour two years ago when her grand daughter was a greeter as a 2/3 and now, this final year, she was able to see an confident kid up on stage (who had earlier very ably served coffee and cookies to the assembled.)
Each grade level contributes to Special Person's Day. Like many aspects of school life, students' responsibilities growing as they do. In fourth and fifth grade, we hand write invitations (some of us using our new-fangled cursive skills) and deliver them to community members. We practice how to greet people we don't know and how to extend the invitation to them. The fourth and fifth graders can also volunteer to be servers. We hold a training session during recess during which they learn how to offer coffee and cookies, how to pour safely and gracefully, how to problem solve, how to watch for cues that people need more, when to approach a table to offer more (i.e. not every 30 seconds — 4th and 5th graders are naturally very attentive servers) and much more. They take their responsibility very seriously and I was thrilled to be told by a grandpa who is in the service industry that our students had done a very good job.
Even though it is the last Special Person's Day for some, I know they'll be a part of many of the student's special days in the future. How lucky our students are to have so many folks celebrating their growing up.
The Rookery 
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