Celebrate It All

About 2 months ago I was told by a teacher at Hunter's school that he would be participating in a graduation ceremony in June. My response was "huh....what is he graduating from?". After all, he is in preschool now and will be in preschool next year, the only difference being he will be on the left side of the cubbies in the classroom instead of the right.  As it turns out, he is technically graduating from "3T preschool" and will be entering "4T preschool", thus he gets to be part of the ceremonies....or the "fake graduation" as I had come to call it.

I'm sure all those anti-trophy-generation-groups will have a lot of negative comments about all this hoopla, but the way I see it, there is absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating everything....the big and the small.  Besides, its not like Hunter goes to school and sits in a corner not doing anything all day. He actually has been legitimately learning and honing in skills that have helped him grow and develop.  We were even given a progress report card filling us in on what he has done over the past school year....he got straight G's!!!! (which is just like getting straight A's in real school) and passed all sorts of subjects, (some of which many adults could actually benefit from going back for a semester of preschool to freshen up skills on....respect and show concern for others...use language to to communicate wants and ideas....listen to stories...etc, etc, etc).

Not to mention, I love a reason to decorate and plan, so we made the most of it.  We decided to have a special pancake breakfast to honor this special day, fully equipped with bacon and fruit salad. Hunter and I had fun decorating for it, he even designed the featured poster!!

After breakfast, we joined the rest of the Tiny Town families to get ready for the big event.  The teachers helped the children get their gowns and robes on while the family members scoured for seats that would allow them to get the best pictures possible.

The children walked in dressed in their robes and gowns while the traditional Pomp and Circumstance played in the background.

After everyone was filed in and were standing in position, they sang 3 songs: "Home", "Inch by inch, row by row", and "This little light of mine".  It was so cute seeing how all they all reacted to being on stage.  They have been working on these songs for weeks (I know...Bubs has been practicing at home!!), but being in front of a large audience is a lot different from in a class room with no witnesses.  Some of them ran to their parents, one little girl stood and cried the whole time, but most of them sang their little hearts out.

in case you can't find him....Hunter is the one with the big clunky sneakers in the middle of the front row

After the choral performance, each child was called up to get his/her diplomas:

Hunter and Ms Kelly...we are going to miss her....even though she will just be on the other side of the cubby

The whole thing was over in less than 40 minutes, it was a sweet little ceremony that added an extra touch of special to the day of all those who attended.