The Lee Family: Our Kindergarden Graduate!

This morning was Sofia's Kindergarden graduation ceremony. I can't believe this year is almost over. All the kids wore one of their dad's white dress shirts with the sleeves rolled up and backwards so it looked more formal. With the white mortar boards the kids really looked great! The three Kindergarden classes filed into the cafeteria where all of us parents were sitting around with cameras as they took the stage. Luckily, Sofia was in the front row right in the center so we had a great view of her and I took some video and photos that turned out well.

The principal Mrs. Richlan, gave a short speech and talked about all the tears she could see from the parents and the big step the kids are now taking into elementary school. To be honest, I couldn't be more excited that Kindergarden is over. It's been fun and Sofia has really thrived in school, but I'm tired of getting her up, ready and out the door by 7:35am so we aren't late at 7:45am! I also think the summer will be a good break away from her classmates, who it seemed acted more like siblings the past several weeks than friends. Of course we'll try to get together with those she's closer to but it will be a good break. Mostly, I'm looking forward to just having her around! School takes up so much of her day and even once she's home, she's often too tired and cranky to be fun sometimes. It will be great to have her around and do a few fun things, travel, and relax.

After Mrs. Richlan's speech, the kids sang a few adorable songs and then took their seats to accept their "graduation certificate" from Mrs. Richlan and pose for a photo with their teacher. It went very smoothly and Sofia was so happy to get her certificate and give Mrs. Patterson a hug. After, the kids walked back to their classrooms where we joined them. We took a few pictures with Sofia before we headed out. It was such a nice celebration of the end of her Kindergarden year.

Last week, I met with Mrs. Patterson to talk about Sofia's progress and she had nothing but glowing remarks about her work ethic and her reading ability. She's at a 1st grade reading level and loves it. Mrs. Patterson also remarked how she can tell that Sofia has structure and discipline at home since she's well mannered and follows directs well. She also showed me a story that Sofia wrote that is used for her assessment into 1st grade. She said the kids were asked to draw a picture and write a store explaining a fun time they had. Mrs. Patterson said they were looking for a beginning, middle and end to the story and Sofia did an outstanding job in ending her story with a thought for the future which she said they haven't really taught yet but she loved that she used that. It was great to see her story and I asked if I could take it home but they apparently need it for her file, so I took a picture of it.

Sofia's assessment story: "I went to Jump Street and jumped on the trampolines. And if my little sister had a na-"

"me tage she can bouns whith (bounce with) me! And we bouns and we bouns. Then it was time to leve and we had fun at home. At home I played whith my toy horses. At night I demed (dreamed) that what it would be like to have a jump party at night."