GIRARD — Therese Meechan’s Prospect Elementary kindergarten class has really missed her the last few months and decided to show their appreciation by surprising her at her home on Wednesday afternoon.

“I miss her a lot,” said Maddox Collins, one of Meechan’s students.

Maddox’s class, like most other students, haven’t seen their teacher in person since March, and they wanted to do something to finish out the school year. At the beginning of the school year, the kindergarten parents created a Facebook page. Each family threw out ideas as to how to celebrate how great Meechan was as a teacher.

“I’m just really happy to see her,” added Luca Datchuk, a fellow student.

The 17 kindergarteners marched from Prospect Elementary down the block to Meechan’s house. They surprised her with cards, posters, rose bushes, gift cards and a scrapbook.

“I am just so shocked. Just being able to see their faces was enough,” said Meechan, who was tearing up as her students greeted her with the scrapbook. “This is the sweetest thing ever. I’m going to keep it forever.”

Meechan made each student their own scrapbook to keep all of their memories from kindergarten. The students returned the favor by each decorating a page for her to keep memories of this year’s class.

“Therese Meechan has gone above and beyond all school year for him and his classmates, not only during the school year, but also during this time away from school,” Carla Collins, Maddox’s mother said .

“Therese is an amazing teacher. She is always organizing and planning special events and implementing new, fun activities to make learning fun for her students. She individually contacts every parent on a regular basis to help us better understand our child’s growth academically and socially.”

The parents are grateful for how hard Meechan has worked to keep their children engaged and learning. She made daily YouTube videos for their morning meetings, Zoomed with them for at least an hour each day and brought in special guests to read aloud. Meechan kept her lessons fun with scavenger hunts, science experiments and a virtual awards ceremony.

“This (teaching from home) has been so hard. I just tried to make it as much like being in the classroom as I can,” Meechan said. “This was such an exciting year, and they’re all so special to me. It means so much just to see their faces.”

bshiller@tribtoday.com