Valley teachers hold 'parades' through students' neighborhoods

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- Educators around the Valley re-connected with students they miss so much with 'teacher parades.'

Quiet neighborhoods in Clovis suddenly came to life. Weeks of pent-up energy poured out as teachers from Dry Creek Elementary made their way through several neighborhoods.

Third-grader Ellla Miranda said, "It makes me feel very happy."

Ella and her brother Ben held a sign for the staff which read, 'We love you!' The feeling was mutual.

Dry Creek teacher Claudia Graves said, "We just love our students so much. We miss our students so bad and this is a way to show them and be able to see them."

Families greeted the teachers from their front yard with signs, flags, and smiles.

Megan Toms stood outside with her three young kids and said, "We thought it was awesome. It's so fun because we're kind of stuck in the house right now. We're trying to get out and do fun things with the distancing."

5-year-old Jack Toms was in kindergarten. He helped draw welcome messages for the teachers. We asked him what he missed most about school. He replied, "Art. I love drawing."

The teachers' visit helped bring back some of that school spirit.

Christy Leyva explained, "They're so excited to see them, it's been longer than three weeks now."

But students told us they were keeping up with their studies. 6th grader Abbi Graves said, "We have a Google classroom where she posts all of our work. And sometimes she'll post YouTube videos where we get to see her."

Teachers in Clovis, Central and Fresno Unified all fanned out into neighborhoods to see their students.

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