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too many graduations



 
 
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  #21  
Old June 14th 07, 11:42 PM posted to misc.kids
Cathy Kearns
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Posts: 111
Default too many graduations


"Jeff" wrote in message
news:Ihici.8733$yS4.4388@trnddc04...
They've more than the first step, though. Learning to get along with
others, wait for late parents and to put some letters together to form
words are skills they will use more the rest of their lives.


That's when they were supposed to learn to "wait for late parents." Hmm, my
8th grade daughter is way behind on that skill.

  #22  
Old June 15th 07, 12:14 AM posted to misc.kids
Jeff
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Posts: 1,321
Default too many graduations

Cathy Kearns wrote:

"Jeff" wrote in message
news:Ihici.8733$yS4.4388@trnddc04...
They've more than the first step, though. Learning to get along with
others, wait for late parents and to put some letters together to form
words are skills they will use more the rest of their lives.


That's when they were supposed to learn to "wait for late parents."
Hmm, my 8th grade daughter is way behind on that skill.


That is a skill that comes in handy, like when you have to wait for
things to begin, wait at the driver's license line, wait for your stupid
boss, etc.

Jeff
  #23  
Old June 15th 07, 02:09 AM posted to misc.kids
Vickie
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Posts: 96
Default too many graduations

On Jun 14, 5:43 am, Beliavsky wrote:
On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.


I am with you on this one. My son has just *graduated* to middle-
school, and I was very happy there was no ceremony. But I was quite
alone in my view.
I might be a little less particular than you, as I think 8th grade
graduation is ok.

Vickie

  #24  
Old June 15th 07, 03:36 AM posted to misc.kids
Akuvikate
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Posts: 143
Default too many graduations

On Jun 14, 5:43 am, Beliavsky wrote:
On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.


Some small ritual to mark the transition from one school to the next
is quite nice, but it should be age appropriate. That would imply
starting off short and informal (end of preschool) and gradually
becoming longer and more formal. By 8th grade I think a real ceremony
is quite appropriate. Bear in mind, from that point on there will be
a wide variety in the number of subsequent graduations -- from 0 for
those who drop out of high school to 3 or more for those who get
graduate degrees. Having gone to a very urban junior high I remember
my parents commenting at the 8th grade graduation that for a fair
number of those kids, it would be their last. In other communities
high school is simply the step before college. Might as well
commemorate each major step.

Kate, who last week had our residency graduation dinner (with an open
bar instead of caps and gowns)
and the Bug, 4 years old the day of the dinner

  #25  
Old June 15th 07, 10:27 AM posted to misc.kids
Chookie
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Posts: 1,085
Default too many graduations

In article . com,
Beliavsky wrote:

On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.


I know it's bad form to just say ITA, so I'll add that my DS1's primary school
had cardboard mortar boards and pretend academic gowns for their "graduation"
from Kindy! chunder

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue
  #26  
Old June 15th 07, 01:22 PM posted to misc.kids
Beliavsky
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Posts: 453
Default too many graduations

On Jun 15, 5:27 am, Chookie wrote:

snip

I know it's bad form to just say ITA,


What does "say ITA" mean, please?

  #27  
Old June 15th 07, 01:50 PM posted to misc.kids
Sue
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Posts: 613
Default too many graduations

ITA=I totally agree.
--
Sue

"Beliavsky" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jun 15, 5:27 am, Chookie wrote:

snip

I know it's bad form to just say ITA,


What does "say ITA" mean, please?



  #28  
Old June 15th 07, 04:39 PM posted to misc.kids
Irene
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Posts: 118
Default too many graduations

On Jun 14, 3:01 pm, "Donna Metler" wrote:
"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message

...



Sue wrote:
"Donna Metler" wrote in message


I can kind of see a pre-K ceremony when children are leaving the

building
and moving on to a new school, just as a way of marking that change

(and
parents enjoy it). However, many are not age appropriate. Young

children
don't do a good job standing and waiting, or saying memorized lines, or
singing on demand in front of an audience, and too often these events

turn
into a scared kid on stage while an adult hisses their lines at them,
while
the others fidget, bored out of their mind.


We never had any kind of ceremony like that for the little ones. It has

been
a party/picnic at the park. The teacher handed out little awards for the
kids and she said something positive about every student as they came up

for
their award. The kids did absolutely fine with that. Then they resumed
playing on the playground.


There may be some semantic confusion here. I don't know
precisely what the OP's concerns were, but to me, there's a world
of difference between a "graduation" (heck, you "graduate" from
each grade to the next regardless of whether you bother to have
a party) and full-blown, caps & gowns, formal, "commencement
exercises" with speakers and photos and music and whatnot.
This may seem nearly inconceivable, but these things do happen!
I've got no problem with graduating (in fact, it's vastly
preferable to the alternative ;-) ), or with parties, but I
think full-on commencement exercises are more than a bit silly
and certainly aren't done for the benefit of the students
(who would likely choose some other way to mark the occasion),
but for the benefit of parents.


At the school I taught at, it was full blown commencement exercises, caps,
gowns, speakers, etc. It was not at all interesting or engaging to the
preschoolers or kindergarteners, and often involved several weeks of
rehearsal with bored, stressed kids.

Doing a little end of year program for the parents, with age appropriate
materials, fine. A full, formal graduation with all the trimmings so that
mommy and daddy can take pictures while half the kids teeter on the brink of
a tantrum? Not fine.


- Show quoted text -


Aack - I can't believe they did that to little kids! Yes, ds had
graduation parties for both preschool and kindy, but definitely age-
appropriate. At both events, they sang a bunch of songs, which was
probably the most stressful part for the kids and teachers, tho I
think ds actually enjoyed it. Then, for preschool, each kid got a
"diploma" and a sort of superlative title. (Ds was "Most
enthusiastic, lol). At kindy, ds' teacher sprinkled them with "first
grade dust" and declared them each officially a first grader, which
was awfully cute. They each got a pencil, too, and then we had snacks
and a carnival. We also got memory books with a sampling of projects
throughout the year, which I thought was cool.

Actually, the thing that surprised me the most was that the kids got
yearbooks! I had no idea they had them, complete with photos of every
kid in the entire school. So, the kids did go around getting
signatures from their friends, but ds wasn't quite clear on that, so
he asked a bunch of the moms to sign his!

Oh, and we also had an end-of-the-year picnic at a local forest
preserve with a big playground. Totally lowkey - BYO food and watch
the kids play.

If anyone had tried to do a full-blown commencement ceremony at that
age, yeah, I'd have been annoyed!

Irene

  #29  
Old June 15th 07, 07:21 PM posted to misc.kids
annie
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Posts: 57
Default too many graduations

On Jun 14, 2:01 pm, "Donna Metler" wrote:

At the school I taught at, it was full blown commencement exercises, caps,
gowns, speakers, etc. It was not at all interesting or engaging to the
preschoolers or kindergarteners, and often involved several weeks of
rehearsal with bored, stressed kids.

Doing a little end of year program for the parents, with age appropriate
materials, fine. A full, formal graduation with all the trimmings so that
mommy and daddy can take pictures while half the kids teeter on the brink of
a tantrum? Not fine.

At 6th grade, the kids did NOT take it seriously at all, and while they
usually pulled it together for the actual performances, rehearsals were
painful for all involved, and often involved threats of discplinary action
to get some semblance of compliance. An end of the year picnic or party
where parents were involved, and maybe have the kids coordinate putting
together some sort of performance that's meaningful for them, fine, but this
big to-do wasn't meaningful to the kids whatsoever.- Hide quoted text -


I've been happy with the level of ceremony at the various graduations
we've had so far. For preschool, the kids were encouraged to dress in
a simple theme (patriotic red, white, and blue, for example) and they
wore felt caps (made by the teachers and reused each year). They
marched in, sang a few songs, and each got called by name to come get
a little scroll and a hug from their teacher.

For kindergarten, it was less of a production. DS1's class sang "What
a Wonderful World" and had made posters to hold up for different parts
of the song. DS2's class recited "Chicken Soup with Rice", again with
corresponding posters. Neither had to wear anything in particular and
both ceremonies were followed by cookies and punch in the classroom.
The boys still have the posters they made and enjoy looking at them
years later.

DS1 just had his 5th grade promotion ceremony. They were careful to
emphasize that it was a promotion, not a graduation, but then
processed in to "Pomp and Circumstance" anyway. They handed out
several awards and then did quite a musical production. Some kids had
specific costumes and others were just given a decade that they should
try to dress for. DS loved it. He was so excited for us to see the
production even though he didn't have a main part. He had his chest
puffed out for the rest of the day. For him, going to middle school
next year is a big deal and he was happy to have an event to mark the
transition.

Annie

  #30  
Old June 16th 07, 12:03 AM posted to misc.kids
Rosalie B.
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Posts: 984
Default too many graduations

"Knit Chic" wrote:


"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
...
Knit Chic wrote:

I think they are a lot of fun. We just did a preschool graduation and
the kids were great. It was a nice way to end the year.
It amazes me when adults resent kids having fun.


Eh, I think there's a difference between having fun
(parties, etc.) and staging preschool graduations with caps
and gowns and such. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts it wasn't
the preschoolers clamoring to wear the caps and gowns, nor
do trappings like that have any historical relevance to the
preschool crowd. As I said before, I'm all for fun, and
all for rites of passage, but the whole caps and gowns
thing is a bit much to me.


I have never seen caps and gowns at a preschool graduation. Our preschool
is a co-op, that may be why.


Well I have. My dd#2 went to a pre-school which was called Kiddie
Kollege (gag). We moved in the middle of the year, and she had been
in a pre-school, so I put her in one when we got to the new place. But
I was already kind of upset with them because I found out that they
rarely played outside, and the cap and gown thing really did it for
me. She didn't go the next year.

The kids wore whatever clothes they wanted. My daughter wanted to wear her
holiday dress, so I let her. She doesn't get to wear it very often. The
kids did have caps but they were made of paper. Pizza and baked goods were
served. They also had a best wishes cake.
My daughter didn't get a gift. (But I'm sure you remember my feelings on
gift giving from other shower, party, etc. threads.)
I guess the way I see it that if it's not a big issue in your family (you in
general not personal), don't do it and if you feel as though you have to do
it to keep up w/ the other families, there is something wrong w/ you, not
them.

And, as I also mentioned, some
of these celebrations seem a bit over the top to me. The
amount of money and effort that goes into our school's
6th grade celebration is staggering, while some (though
not many) other projects go begging.

Best wishes,
Ericka


I agree with Ericka - maybe have a party and maybe even call it a
graduation, but it should be age-appropriate.

Actually except for that one time, I don't think my kids had a
graduation exercise until HS. Sixth grade was in middle school - they
left elementary in fifth grade.
 




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