Last night, I participated in a Kindergarten graduation ceremony. This particular ceremony happened to fall on the same day as my own children completed their last day of their school year. My daughter completed 2nd grade, and she has learned and grown so much this year. It is my son’s completion of his own Kindergarten class, however, that brought tears to my eyes off and on all day yesterday.
There is nothing like Kindergarten. It takes a very special teacher to work with that age group, and the projects and learning that happens all year-long are enough to tug on your heart strings. Author, Robert Fulgham, summed up Kindergarten with his book, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten:”
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don’t hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
7. Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life – learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.”
My son’s school didn’t have a ceremony for their Kindergarten classes, but the Kindergarten class that I sang with last night is a group of children that I have gotten to know well over the years. My son attended preschool with them, and we have many shared experiences under our belts now. The truth is that I love each one of them, and as I feel the same for my own son, I am so sad this year is over.
The best I can do is wish them well and let them all (including my son) spread their wings and fly.
My song of the day is the one we sang at Kindergarten graduation last night. I am singing it again with another Kinder class this week, too. The song is “Kobi’s Lullaby” by Rick Recht, and it is a perfect song for this very occasion, as Rick wrote it for his own son. It is such a beautiful and inspiring melody and lyrics…so much so that it was recently made into a children’s book. Click HERE to listen to Rick Recht perform it for a PJ Library, Jewish literacy, annual conference in Baltimore, MD, and I’m sure that you will understand why I am feeling so emotional today. Congratulations to all Kindergarten families out there as we share the end of a very special year together.
