Back in April, we learned that Greyson’s family was moving to Texas in June and we started thinking about saying goodbye.
Teacher Amy: At the end of June, our friend Greyson is moving to Texas. The teachers were wondering if you would like to work on a surprise goodbye gift for him to take to his new house in Texas.
All: Yah!
Amy: What sort of surprise do you think Greyson would like that would remind him of New School-West and all his friends?
Coco: A lollipop!
Paisley: Ice Cream!
Amy: He would probably love both of those things. If he eats them, though, he won’t have anything to remember us by because the ice cream and lollipop would be gone.
Jake: We could make him a note. We could wish him well.
Paisley: A breakable heart.
Crosby: A truck, because trucks are cool.
Paisley: We could make a breakable heart for us, too, to remember him.
With this last idea from Paisley, we recognized the children’s needed to remember their good friend after he was gone from NSW. We met again in May:
Amy: We are meeting today to talk about the surprise goodbye present we are thinking about making for Greyson when he moves to Texas. Last time we met, Paisley, you had an idea about a breakable heart, one for him to remember us, and one for us to remember him. I was wondering if we could talk about that idea some more.
Paisley: If you drop it, it will break.
Jake: I know what. We can make it out of…umm,…It could be black.
Paisley: His color is pink.
Jake: I think blue and sparkles.
Mason: I think he likes leaves from a tree.
Amy: Let’s draw some of your ideas.
(I passed them some paper to sketch their designs.)
Jake: There is a crack (he drew a jagged line down the center of his “heart”) so he could crack it apart. If it broke and it was like a puzzle piece, they can put it back together.
Paisley: It could say, “I love you. I miss you.”
Jake: It could say, “I miss you so much.”
(I brought out a few Shape and Symbol books to look at Heart representations)
Paisley: I like this one. It’s like a lollipop (a sucker made in a swirl). Can we add color? Greyson told me he likes pink.
Jake: Or blue, boys like blue. I like blue.
Amy: How can we find out what Greyson likes?
Paisley: We have to just ask him.
Amy: What questions would we ask?
Jake: What are you doing in Texas?
Paisley: Why are you there? This is Greyson. Greyson is walking on the bridge to Texas and then straight and up and down and up and down and then he’s back to New School-West.
Amy: Are you drawing a map from New School-West to Texas?
Paisley: Yah, a map to Texas and to school. Texas is far away.
At our next meeting, we got down to some concrete ideas:
Amy: Why are we making something for Greyson?
Paisley: If he’s thinking about us, he can put it on his heart and think about us and say, “I miss you, everybody at NSW”.
Jake: I don’t think we should make him a broken heart. He might lose some of it.
Paisley: A breakable heart, like glass or…
Clem: Ceramics can be breakable.
Amy: What kinds of things do we know Greyson likes?
Clem: The Front Yard like running, biking, digging in the Mud Pit.
Jake: The Atelier, the House Area.
Clem: Snack.
From here, the work progressed. Two hearts were made, one for Greyson to take, and one for NSW to keep to remember him. We also made memories to attach to the heart Greyson takes. Memories of his friends in his favorite places at NSW.
We presented the farewell gift to Greyson along with some heartfelt cards from many friends.
Friday, June 29th, was Greyson’s last day. We will hold you close in our hearts, Greyson, and wish you and your family well in Texas!