Goodbye, Stella!
Today was Stella's last day in Pluto Class. Her dad does a lot of work in the Phillippines, so her family is moving there. We knew she was leaving at the end of the year, but were all very surprised to hear that today was her last day at EWAS.
Stella definitely had some ups and downs during her time in Pluto Class - there were the couple weeks where she was too scared of a bug in the bathroom to go by herself and made messes in the classroom, and how snotty she was when she first came to EWAS and how I referred to her as Princess Stella. I still do, but it's more affectionate now than anything else.
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Over time, she mellowed out, and became one of my favorite students. She's very intelligent - she's been reading for a couple months now, and at the age of 5 in a second language she's been learning for less than a year. She's playful and enjoys making jokes and using language in creative ways, which always makes me smile. Since we started playing our English-only game, she likes to teasingly ask me, "Ms. Rivera, can I speak Korean?" while wearing a big grin and knowing full well that she knows how to say whatever she wants to in English. She was the first student in Pluto Class to realize that my name had 3 syllables, instead of just calling me Ms. Bera.
Kids don't really get the whole process of leaving, but I think she had an idea of what was going on. I hugged her when I left Pluto this morning and told her I loved her, and she said, "I love you too, Ms. Rivera." I didn't cry, but Kriss was sniffling and Ms. Jo was crying. Stella came down to the teacher's room with her mother to give me a present of some lotion, and gave all the teachers hugs.
We'll miss you, Stella!! Pluto Class won't be the same without her.