##VIDEO ID:QBJl2eJck5U## good morning and Welcome to our fourth grade send off it is a pleasure to see all of you here I have my tissues I'm probably not going to look at most of you because I'm going to see you cry so I'm going to have my head down let's go ahead and start these festivities with some of the most incredible kids I've ever met please join me in welcoming our fourth grade graduates [Music] standing right in front of your seat please standing right in front of your chair [Music] next row next row next row London is in the next [Music] row Jacob you're second seat London you're the very first seat okay London good girl guys we're standing up remember we standing up [Music] [Music] how about we hear it for our fourth grade graduates woohoo Austin could have you come up and do the Pledge of Allegiance with me we would ask that this time if you could all please stand we are going to pledge allegiance to our flag flag is over here guys on the stage corner of the so you're facing that way all right ready let's do it I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all you may be seated all right fourth graders are you ready okay let's do this okay so I did let your fourth grade uh children know that if I do start to cry they have permission to turn spit their tongue out at me get me distracted because I'm going to cry be prepared um because we love your kids we love them very much I would like to thank the teachers if I could just have the teachers stand for a moment I've got Mrs Anderson we've got Mrs mlin Mr Ola M Roach thank you to the teachers and we've also had Mrs Cromwell as the educational assistant this year so thank you Mrs Cromwell for working so hard we appreciate [Music] you so I've been doing this for a pretty long time now um 14 years as an administrator and I've been giving these speeches every year and it dawned on me two years ago that y'all don't come here to listen to me talk so I've decided to make it a little bit shorter I'm going to give you my top 10 thoughts that I want my fourth graders to be thinking about out as they get ready for middle school and then we're going to get on with making sure they are the highlight of this day so some of the things that I want you fourth graders to be thinking about right you're thinking about moving on to Middle School eventually high school so here are some of the things that matter to me that I think you need to think about first one it's going to be put people first right people come first relationships matter the most so I need you to do me a favor put those cell phones down put your gaming devices down be present in the moment I I don't want you to miss what's happening right in front of you so please make sure you put people first relationships are always number one what you pay attention to grows so I learned this a long time ago um if you pay attention to negativity then everybody gets negative around you if you pay attention to positivity then everything around you is positive so choose what you pay attention to and that will be what grows I have no idea how to work technology let's see if this link works don't laugh at me I know I don't know anything about technology guess what they blocked it on me I'll send it to you all right next one we've got great technology here they block a lot of things it's a good thing for your kids let me tell you number three this is an old saying that I say all the time to myself if you always do what you've always done you'll always get what you've always gotten and when you're successful that's not a bad thing to live by but if you're not successful if you don't like the result also something that's happening whether that's in school whether that's in a friendship that you have whether that's in a relationship with your family you've got to be willing to make some changes you've got to be willing to change how you think because if you always do what you've always done you're always going to get what you've always gotten if you want something new change it this is the big one so if you make a mistake say you're sorry and work hard not to make that same mistake I make mistakes every single day your teachers your parents your family we all make mistakes as do you it's okay to make a mistake what's important is saying I'm sorry I own that mistake and I'm going to work hard not to do that same thing again so please please think about when it's time to say I'm sorry it's important and people respect you more when you own your mistake you apologize and you move on don't be afraid to ask for help weakness is not a problem just because you're asking for help does not make you a weak person it makes you smart enough to know I don't know how to figure this out so I'm going to ask somebody to help me somebody is always willing to help you so please never be afraid to ask for help people are always willing as you're always willing and then this one goes along with it help others whenever you can you never know what someone else is going through you never know what your friends are going through or your teachers or your families so be kind when you're kind to somebody that can help them get through their day you'll feel better for it and you become a better person for it so failure is not a bad thing and I love the the little acronym here that we have on the board so failure is actually a first attempt in learning so a lot of people think that when when you fail it's over but I'm going to tell you a couple of things Michael Jordan I got your attention didn't I fantastic arguably all-time best basketball player of all time he missed 900 shots at the beginning of his career lost 300 games but he's still the best basketball player that ever lived according to me JK Rowling who knows what she did who's JK Rowling author Harry Potter ever heard of her she was a single mother didn't have any money didn't have a job she wrote this series around Harry Potter and several Publishers said n no good we don't like it and rejected her now she's a millionaire Walt Disney have you heard of him yeah Walt Disney um he was told that he lacked imagination imag can you imagine that so he didn't give up and look at where thank God we have our Disney movies today Thomas Edison Thomas edin he was told when he was younger that he was really too stupid to learn but he in the end helped us to create light bulbs motion picture cameras the first telephone he was too stupid to learn and look what he did changed our world and Dr zeuss Dr Seuss was rejected by 27 different Publishers they said his books were not good enough now he's an award-winning best author failure is just a way to do better next time don't ever be afraid to fail so life can be messy right it's important that you Embrace this mess nothing is ever going to be 100% perfect all the time so beauty is in the eye of the beholder what you find beautiful I may not what I find beautiful you say yeah not so much but whether it's the sunrise in the morning a friend that you love laughing with a shiny new car or amazing cheeseburgers whatever you think is beautiful celebrate it and enjoy it and share that beauty with others so tomorrow is always another day if today was hard then get some rest and you're going to start over tomorrow there isn't anything you can't do give yourself a chance it might take time but there isn't anything you cannot get done if you put your mind to it and I can't wait till you come back and tell me all you done be grateful for absolutely everything you got to thank the people who help you thank the people who wait on you in a restaurant thank the people who might hold a door open for you somebody who might give you a compliment we're all very lucky so never forget to show your gratitude and especially for today I'm going to ask you to do me a couple of favors before you leave here today I want you to thank your teachers they are incredible people they put in so much time before school after school weekends vacations summertime preparing everything for you and the children that are coming after you they do it because they want you to have the best education that you can have so they want you to be prepared for middle school I know you are prepared I've seen what you can do can we please applaud your teachers and more important importantly on the thankful train your last homework assignment from gallagan school tonight before you go to bed you've got to thank some pretty special people that are here today for you I want you to thank your families for supporting you your parents your grandparents aunts and uncles whoever that you live with whoever takes care of you they want the absolute best for you they can't really be your best friends right now CU they've still got a job to do they've got to help you become the incredible people that you're already becoming and it's hard to raise kids someday you'll figure that out but so far I think they're doing a pretty terrific job but they have a lot more to do and middle school years get a little bit more challenging they are going to make more sacrifices for you than you even know about they already have and they will continue to do that so please try and remember when you don't get your own way or you don't get something that you want they're doing their very best to take care of you in the way that they think is best for you to help make you the human being beings that you are so tell them that you appreciate them often show them by doing your best work Always by being kind human beings by being polite respectful and showing them that you appreciate what they do for you they are your biggest fans and your biggest cheerleaders they love you unconditionally so be sure to thank them before you say good night tonight could we please applaud everybody standing out there [Applause] all right I think you've heard enough from me who would like to graduate all right put your hands down so I'm going to move this screen out of the way and then we're going to start with some certificates we've got a few more things to do after that and then we're going to conclude so hold on just one moment while I move the screen um can I ask for one of you to unplug this let me show you which cord I want unplug this cord can you unplug that one perfect no other one no put that one back in for me okay that's perfect y whatever one was there keep it in there okay terrific thanks guys thank you thank you thank you oh no leave that one in too please leave that one in yeah leave that one in yeah that's okay you going leave that one in for me okay I just don't want them tripping on this that's all okay here we go perfect perfect perfect okay okay thank you for waiting patiently nobody tripping on cords up here please all right could I please ask for Mr ala to please come up to the stage and could I have room nine please stand [Applause] up Nyla you're going to start walking right over here for me okay certificates are right there so what we're going to do to make it easier for all of you is we're going to call the students up one at a time to receive their certificate from their teacher they're going to turn and look out at you so you have a moment to take their picture um and then at the end we've got some amazing places for you to take pictures again all right are we ready let's do this Alanis I'm going to have you whole line move okay Miss Nyla [Applause] Andre Alanis Bonia Gonzalez yay Alanis good girl AER [Applause] Campos hadasa Costa y you look so [Applause] beautiful Harrison [Laughter] [Applause] Garza Jaden gangal Pyers [Applause] Jerel Guzman so handsome you ready sure nicandra [Applause] Hender Jaden Mahia [Applause] saletto congratulations jiel jiel Laren nebs Rodriguez so cool with those glasses [Applause] dude Abigail Juna careful now give me a hug I'm G to miss you terribly good job all right come over here Jeffrey [Laughter] [Applause] phene Ean welli Rodriguez [Applause] Rodrigo Rodriguez Good Job Rodrigo careful on those stairs okay Abigail Ruby yay girl yay chicken nugget giomar [Applause] Santiago good on the stairs okay Somaya sail ter and could we have one more round of applause for room [Applause] nine could I please have Mrs mlin and Mrs roach come on up Room 11 please stand up London you're going to walk right over here to the front of the stairs Jacob follow please the whole Line's following my fourth grade friends nice and quiet toia you ready you ready London bro [Applause] Jacob cabal oh Jake I'm GNA miss [Applause] you the Deja cabal [Applause] Chase Cornell with my [Applause] hug Mrs Lincoln can you just make sure that Mrs C is here in the cafeteria with us Abigail di yeah he look so pretty today yeah you can sit um once they move okay you'll be able to sit nandra nandra hold on Leila Fernandes [Applause] little be careful on the stairs okay especially with heels I almost fell Lillian [Applause] ker tiia Marcus yeah chase you may sit down sweetheart okay guys quiet kayen marit [Applause] [Music] Tyler [Applause] o jerielle please jerielle please turn around turn off face forward Aaliyah [Applause] Perera they crying to Aaliyah Katie I'm sorry elandra Rivera sorry I want to make sure I said your name the right way Katie St Clair [Applause] just be careful on the stairs okay girls Joy Scott good girl you did it you did [Applause] it Kevin SS jacob jacob Jacob please stop that with your feet Aubrey Woodward [Applause] yay let's have one more round of Applause for Room [Applause] 11 and now I'll call up Miss Anderson and M roach for room 12 room 12 please stand up Austin come walking right around follow him guys follow him okay my fourth grade friends we're listening right thank you Austin Allan I know beatric Amato thank you thank you [Applause] [Applause] we'll work on her confidence we'll get there don't worry zy Atkinson Mrs mlin can you just help me with them a little bit they're getting a little noisy in the middle thank you Kelly johnie [Applause] barrows Carla Da Silva good girl good girl good [Music] girl Javan Kalisi Dollarhide Yay good girl the girl Luke jayen Dewey so handsome Adrien Gonzalez [Applause] Michael [Applause] ker and then you may sit back down as soon as you get to your seat okay Alani Lugo [Applause] Austin please stop that Hunter [Applause] McDonald we have a student who was unable to be here today but I do want her to have her name mentioned carelis maada ready Maya [Music] [Applause] Nelson joanni garga I'm sorry joanni ala [Applause] [Music] that's so cute Johnny [Applause] Rodriguez don't be scared just be careful okay um awesome please stop that velocity Sylvia [Applause] saris that to say it saris Sophia Suarez you look beautiful today jacobe Westgate [Applause] [Music] and let's hear it for room [Applause] 12 all right we have a few other things that we need to get to before we conclude today fourth graders we ready all right so we had our student of the month celebration on the day that our students in fourth grade were away at nature and me so I would like to acknowledge and have the following students come up Mrs salaway could I ask you to please come on up and present the awards to our students of the month so we did three months at a time so our first group of students received the student of the month for their ability in character education to work on friendship and appreciate friend ship room nine Jaden saletto come on up [Applause] please there you know sweet we see Mrs um Salway from Room 11 tiia [Applause] Marcus congratulations mil love from room 12 Alani Lugo [Applause] congratulations thank you for the character trait of cooperation they always cooperate with their peers with the staff with everyone here but we have from room nine geomar [Applause] Santiago like you hit a home run or something what's going on from Room 11 Jacob [Applause] cabal congratulations Jake and from room 12 Michael Kaiser there you are and then for the character quality of responsibility students who are always showing responsibility whether it be with friendships in the classroom with getting work done room number nine Harrison Garza congratulations Harrison from Room 11 Chase Cornell congratulations m chasy Chase and from room 12 Austin Allen congratulations [Applause] Austin and then we also have nominated someone from every classroom as the recipient of the student of the year award students who make good choices throughout the year who show great growth throughout the year so our students of the year for fourth grade are from room nine nicandra Hender congratulations from Room 11 kayen [Applause] Merck congratulations Kayden and from room 12 beatric [Applause] Amato congratul thank you terrific and are you okay staying up here for just a minute helping me give out the flowers okay okay a few other things a little bit more paperwork that we have to get done here fourth grade is I need your attention Okay so so a few people that I need to thank and I I'm going to ask that you help me out with this so every year whatever events we have whatever we do we can always count on one of our parents who um owns and works tirelessly at her balloon company you're going to see how gorgeous our displays are for us to take pictures later for our fun runs for our Multicultural nights for kindergarten graduation for fourth grade graduations this woman every single time calls and says what can I do what can I create and I'll be right there so could I please ask for Somaya single ter to come up and help me present this award to her mom Miss Roland would you please come up can give her flowers to get for her mom oh stop it stop it don't you can't do that you can't do [Applause] the next person I would like to thank and I'm not even looking over there I'm going to turn my back you know what's coming our PTO vice president Mrs Angela ker has been a major part of our PTO for many [Applause] years her son is is moving on so she gets to move on to the next level she finally graduates from elementary school um but not only was she an incredible part of our PTO for The Last 5 Years with her son but prior to that her daughter was here she was on the PTO way back in the day so my math at the end of the year is a little bit bad but I'm guessing over 10 years now she has been part of our PTO so we want to thank Mrs kaer for making sure that our students benefited from everything and all the fundraising and did everything she could to make us the best school we could be could I please have Michael ker come up to present some flowers Mrs tyer could you please come [Applause] up no no eye contact love you love you so much thank you thank you for being the best friends of all appreciate it [Applause] all right and my last three awards are going to be to three people that don't know I'm doing this and are going to be mad at me in 10 minutes so we've got three very special people retiring oh no here we go so I'm going to start with Mrs cord Mrs C is our elll English language learner teacher she has been um working for many years actually for the past if I counted correctly 33 years Mrs C for the Taunton Public Schools is that correct okay 33 years she's made a major difference in the kids' Lives who don't necessarily speak English as their first language she helps them to learn the language to write the language to express themselves and she truly loves her students more than anyone in the world um she's going to be taking care of her grandbabies and having a wonderful retirement so we wish Mrs cord all the best could I please ask Alanis emmanuelli I'm just looking to see who my other two were nope um right ier come on up please and alanas come on up please I picked my book emmanueli honey I called you you guys go up there who was the fourth one huh who the fourth one we're going to say thank you to and Jaden come up here please you were right I did call you I forgot from this morning already I'm old give me a break buddy we're same okay come on up you guys walk all the way down there please could we have Mrs cord come up and accept flowers from some of her former students [Applause] all right you guys may head down thank you very much guys okay our fourth grade teacher Mrs Anderson is retiring Mrs Anderson has been working in the Taunton Public Schools for 36 years when I went back and looked I know she started in 1988 I know none of you know what that means some of you know what that means but not all of you because I know how old some of you are um Mrs Anderson has made a big difference in the lives of thousands of children over the years she's also made a difference to teachers to support staff to Administration for many years she always believed in teaching the whole child and if you ask her what she teaches she will not tell you that she teaches fourth grade or that she teaches math or reading or science or social studies or any of the millions of things she teaches Mrs andon would tell you that she teaches children and that's what she loves to do she's done so for many years she's taught them how to learn sometimes how to cope how to laugh how to explore the world not to take anything too serious seriously and this year all about the Beatles jams you're [Music] welcome she is a champion for our students and for our teachers and their mental health and well-being so I would like to wish her a very happy retirement could I please ask kisi and Adrien to come on up and Mrs Anderson could you please come up to the stage for us you got walk the right way please walk the right way that's how we feel we don't want her to [Applause] go and finally one more very special person and I feel like I only have to say two words and you're all going to relate with me the two words are nurse Martha so nurse Martha has worked at gallagan school for the past 10 years but prior to that she worked in a hospital with Pediatrics she's always been caring for children her entire life um I'm certain that she's been in touch with every single family member in this building um at one point or another whether when you were registering your child and she needed your student health records or if your child was SI sick she took care of you but I think what I'm most proud of with nurse Martha is during that time of Co when we were all terrified we didn't know what was going to be happening we didn't we were wait for ourselves and our families as was nurse Martha but she came in every day she worked 244 hours a day she would take calls from me any hour of the day or night from central office from the staff from all of you she handled everything flawlessly during that time with Grace and compassion and love like she handles everything else in this world so from physical illnesses to mental health to the Band-Aids to the lost teeth nurse Martha is an angel to all of us throughout all the years we can't imagine gallagan school without you nurse Martha but you have earned this time so please enjoy nurse Martha could you please come up Aubrey and Chase Aubrey yay nurse Martha [Applause] woohoo and a great big thank you thank you to all of you for being so supportive of us over the many years we thank you we adore you once a gator always a gator call us any time if you have questions or concerns you are still and always will be part of our family at this time we are going to play the music that will have our students marching back to class they are going to go upstairs get their belongings they will come right back down here you are welcome to take pictures here in front of our balloon display um there's also some balloon displays in the uh hallway you're also welcome to go outside and and enjoy the time out there so at this time could I please ask for our graduates to stand up Mrs Mrs Anderson's class please turn and face that way Mrs Anderson's class please turn and face Mrs Anderson [Music] guys whose certificate is that thank you [Music] w [Music] around