After a month of school being closed and being unable to see the kiddos, everyone came in today for graduation. We were all required to wear masks and sanitize before going in to the ceremony. And it snowed. A lot. Which is really not what you want when you have to be wearing a skirt and heels and also hey, it’s March 24th and it’s supposed to be sunny with lovely flowers blooming.
I’ve been with this set of 6th graders for 2 years, and I’m really going to miss them. That didn’t stop me from being incredibly proud to see them graduate. We don’t have uniforms in elementary school, but the kids wear their new middle school uniforms when they graduate. Their parents buy the uniforms to last a couple years, so they’re always a bit big. Watching these kids enter the ceremony while shuffling around in uniform jackets that hang over their fingertips and pants that are bunched up a bit around the ankles if just so….😭😭😭
They have one final meeting in their classroom, then all the students and teachers line the hallways for 送る会(sending off). The graduates walk through the hallways of the school and we cheer and clap for them. This is the last time they’ll walk in this school as students.
Now that the ceremony is over and pictures have been taken, everyone will go home. The teachers will all gather in the staffroom and eat a special celebratory bento and eat the snacks and cakes that the PTA gave us. And of course, talk about the kids who are leaving and remember them. Then we move on to get ready for the new incoming 1st graders. And so it goes on.
Goodbye, my little friends. Be good in junior high school.
Graduation Day 2020 After a month of school being closed and being unable to see the kiddos, everyone came in today for graduation.