We Will Miss You, PATTI STRAIT!!!

One of the best teachers that you will EVER know, Patti Strait, has decided that she is retiring.  We are all happy for her, but VERY sad to see her leave.

 I taught kindergarten for only two years (my first two years of teaching) and I absolutely LOVED working with her....just as much as I loved working with the other 3 (Sandy, Kim, and Krista.)  One thing I truly admire about Patti is that she was still SO good at continuing the old "traditions" (building a tepee in her classroom, painting, learning everyday vocabulary, hunting down the Gingerbread man, etc...)  that little kindergartners still SHOULD be exposed to, yet unfortunately aren't due to all the (unrealistic) testing and academic expectations.  (Don't get me on my soap box on this!!!)

Anyway, I had a VERY hard time leaving such a fabulous group of co-workers friends when I switched to 2nd grade.  I knew teaching kinder wasn't for me back then, and the ONLY thing holding me back from switching grade levels was these four.

 When anyone would leave the kinder team, the principal would "warn" them that there is no other team like the kinder team.  These four have been together for a good while now, so I can only imagine their sadness as one of them leaves the group.
A few of us got together at Krista's house to wish Patti the best as she joins the wonderful world of retirement.  We had lunch and hung out by the pool.  It was a fun time!  We are going to miss you, PATTI STRAIT!!!