Kindergarten Promotion Ceremony
Johanna's first year at Westchester Elementary School has come to a close. The school commemorated the event with a simple ceremony on Tuesday morning of the last week of school. Johanna had been practicing songs for the past few weeks and took the learning of lyrics seriously. She would practice them in her room or as she lay in her bed before she fell asleep.
We were very grateful that she had such a good teacher, who balanced engagement with good classroom management. Johanna genuinely liked Ms. Maltese and also really enjoyed being challenged with hard work especially in math. Johanna finished the year with great math skills as well as independent reading skills. She also has amazing handwriting. They print in school but Johanna is also learning cursive. We were also very grateful for our bus driver who weathered the excited energy as well as the sad emotions that ebbed and flowed throughout the school year. There were a few days that Johanna refused to get off of the bus in the morning when it arrived at school, because she missed us. I worked with Ms. Maltese to hang family pictures in her locker and to have one in her backpack. That helped and the worry subsided. Most of Johanna's kindergarten days were good ones. She came home with stories about classmates, and the social personal skills that they were learning. And she also came home feeling accomplished after completing a writing or math assignment. I think that she felt very capable of the work.
Emma and Rachael were both done with school and they joined Jim and I for the ceremony. The cafetorium was packed but we were gladly able to see Johanna, since she was in the top row. Johanna came in confidently and sang with gusto. She went up to get her certificate proudly and beamed as she posed for her picture. The ceremony ended with a slide show of all of the students, with great individual photos. It was a quick ceremony and it was a nice finish on a good year.
After the ceremony we went to an early lunch. Johanna picked Scatino's. She wasn't really hungry so we brought most of it home and she ate it later in the day. We took some photos and Johanna enjoyed getting to set up the picture with Em and Rae.
That evening after Jim, Emma and Rae all went off to their activities and jobs, the younger 3 and I fulfilled one of Johanna's wishes. She had been asking to go to SweetFrog a local frozen yogurt shop for a few months, but it is pricey and we only go as a special treat. So I told her we would go to celebrate the end of kindergarten. Johanna was satisfied with this and mentioned the upcoming treat pretty regularly. She was very satisfied as we picked flavors and toppings. Megan and Bridget were sad to miss the ceremony because they had exams and they were very happy to share in the celebration.
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