Kindergarten Graduation

   This Wednesday we celebrated the graduation of our youngest child from kindergarten.  He was very excited. They were going to wear caps and gowns and even had a graduation practice on Tuesday. Tuesday night he told me the most important thing to remember was "Shake and Take." His grandmother drove up to be at the ceremony, and we all went out to lunch afterwards.
    The principal spoke first and was warm and loving as she always is.  Next, the teacher spoke of the joys and trials of kindergarteners and their first year in school.  We also saw a slide show.

   As the students each processed in - walking down the center aisle of the auditorium and then standing for a photo, the teacher read each child's quote on what they wanted to be when they grew up.   We heard of many who had ambitions to be fire fighters or policemen (there were A LOT of future police men!), one princess, one doctor, and then my son.  His quote (paraphrased) was that "when he grows up he wants to be a geologist because they study shiny rocks, and a paleontologist because dinosaurs are his second favorite animal, and he also thought he would like to be the kind of scientist who studies crocodiles, because they are his favorite animal, but he didn't know the name for that type of scientist, so he had to find that out. "
    During the ceremony they children sang a song, and a handful of them, including my son,  played drums (djembe,  I think they are called).

djembe in the background

     Their Kindergarten teacher is an amazing teacher incorporating the study of world cultures into the classroom.  He calls the children to settle down by using a Tibetan Singing Bowl, they play the various drums, and work to raise money for a sister school in India. They learned about the natural world through field trips and walks, as well as observations in the schoolyard.  This teacher is moving up to teach third grade, and I hope my son will be lucky enough to have him again.

One down several more to go!

The ceremony ended with "diplomas" and the Shake and take training really paid off as the  distribution went without a hitch

the grad with mom and dad

With his grandmother

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