Schools out!

Yesterday brought the end of the school year, and the end of Hanna's first year in elementary school. Wednesday morning, the kindergarten class had a ceremony where each child crossed over a bridge, and received a mock diploma. I took pictures, but the stage has a black curtain, and the pictures didn't come out well at all. Here she is on her last day of school. I've been trying to post the pictures I took on her first day of school, but what I have found is that I didn't post it on any of my internet posting spots.. and, the "cd" I have of all my backed up photos from my old laptop, is actually a dvd, and this pc only has a cd rom. Bummer! I'll figure out a way to either convert the pc to a cd/dvd-rom OR... convert them to cd's once I have a job with income!

Back to the last day of school. What I found most moving about the day was the departure. As the buses were pulling out, the drivers honked the horns in celebration, the kids were waving at the teachers in the bus loading zone, and the teachers were waving back, and yelling "Have a great summer!" As much as I was proud for Hanna and her friends finishing their kindergarten year, it made me sad that it was over. We saw Ms. Kelly, Hanna called out and waved, and we honked our horn good-bye to her as well! Hanna started to cry in the car, and said she didn't want to go to first grade, she wanted to stay with Ms. Kelly, her teacher this year. This brought tears to my eyes too, as I tried to explain to her that next year, she'll have a first grade teacher that she will like just as much as Ms. Kelly, and will want to stay with her at the end of the year too! I am impressed with what they learned in kindergarten. It wasn't at all what my kindergarten year was like in 1975-76. When I went to kindergarten, we learned the letters, danced with big blow-up characters of each letter, we learned colors, and maybe looked at clocks. We had snack, quiet time, and went home at noon. Kindergarten in 2008-09 was much different. They had to know their numbers and letters going into kindergarten, and write their names. By the end of the year, they were reading books by themselves! Hanna became a member of the "100 club", meaning she could count to 100 all by herself, she had a list of spelling/sight words that she mastered, and even learned about time and addition and subtraction! They stayed in school all day!

Today marks the first day of summer vacation. It's 10:30 and I've already refused multiple requests for popsicles, bubble gum and snacks! They seem to think the goal of staying home is to eat as much as possible. While I have been given a "gift" by staying home with my children this summer, I also think it's going to be a long summer!