Recess/Tear Jerker

• T.J.'s "best friend" essay. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
• The scene right after the kids leave for camp in the movie, with T.J. going into full woobie mode, with "One is the Lonliest Number" playing in the background.
  • Even right before the kids leave, when he tells Vince that he won't have a good summer because "all my plans were made for six". He then makes the most heartbreaking sad face in the series.
  • Any scene where T.J. is sad is pretty heartbreaking.
• The end of "Legend Of The Big Kid".
• "Speedy, We Hardly Knew Ye". Especially if you lost a pet.
  • Seing characters such as T.J. and Vince crying was really sad, since you don't see them do it often.
• Principal Prickly's speech in The Movie which manages to convince TJ not to give up saving summer vacation, while revealing the fact that Prickly himself was once a care free kid just like TJ.

Prickly: "I'll let you in on a little secret, Detweiller. Every adult you've ever known was a kid at sometime in his life. You think we don't remember summer vacation? Riding our bikes down the creek. Catching polliwogs in a jar. Camping out under the stars. Well you're wrong! Sometimes I sit there in my office, looking out at you kids in the playground and I think, "They don't know how good they got it. In a few years, they'll be grownups like me and all those good times will be memories for them, too". So go ahead. Put a whoopie-cushion in my chair. Put fake vomit on my carpet. Make fun of my "big, saggy butt". But don't ever say I don't care about summer vacation, 'cause those memories are the last part of childhood I got left."

• The Book Ends ending of Taking The Fifth Grade. An end to seven years of great storylines, great characters, and great humor...and the beginning of the Disney Channel sitcom era...
• Dodgeball City. Gus's reason for giving up dodgeball after going to far and hurting a little kid at his old school always makes this troper choke up.
• Bonky Fever, with Mikey's depression about growing up. At some time or another, we've all been through that.
• This piece of Fridge Logic (Or Fridge Horror): Because Gus has to move from town-to-town all the time, he's eventually going to leave the town the show is set in, and leave the best friends he's had in his life. It's heartbreaking when you think about it.
• Gus's constant bullying in "Gus's Last Stand" can be seen for anyone who's been bullied a lot in school.