Graduation?

[busymomof2]

For those of you who have preschool or preschool component, do you have a graduation? If you do when, what does it involve and do you "graduate" all the kids or just the ones moving on to kinder? I have 4 kids in my preschool and 3 of them are going to kinder in the Fall. The 3-year-old is not kinder ready but will not be returning after June. I don't want to make him feel bad if he is not included.

[Michelle]

get those cute little graduation caps and gowns (keep them for next year) and let them all "graduate" even the 3 year old, take lots of pictures and post them on your wall

[kendallina]

I have never done a graduation when I worked in a center and I won't do a graduation with the preschool in my home.

But, what I did when I was at a center (and I'll probably do something close to it at my in-home):

Have an "End of the Year Celebration" where all families are invited. When I worked in a center we did a sort of carnival, with teachers running different activities for the children and families. It was a potluck, so families would bring lots of food. I then did a slideshow presentation of pictures of the kids throughout the year and set it to music. Many of the parents would cry through this. Then I'd say a little something about how wonderful the year was and how much I'll miss the kids. The kids were able to take home their portfolio (scrapbook) and sometimes we would give everyone a paper diploma-looking thing.

But, we never had the children stand up in front of the parents or get their name called (well, we did have 96 children...). And this way we never left anyone out or needed the parents to buy cap and gown.

[busymomof2]

I love the slideshow idea. I have been taking photos all year. I did something similar for my credential cohort. We watched it at our luncheon and they all got copies (CDs). What a GREAT idea. I will include the 3 year old since he will be leaving. Don't know what activities I can do with them and their families since it's just me.

[lvt77]

For those of you who have preschool or preschool component, do you have a graduation? If you do when, what does it involve and do you "graduate" all the kids or just the ones moving on to kinder? I have 4 kids in my preschool and 3 of them are going to kinder in the Fall. The 3-year-old is not kinder ready but will not be returning after June. I don't want to make him feel bad if he is not included.

great question, I will be dealing with the same thing here in a few months..

[kendallina]

I love the slideshow idea. I have been taking photos all year. I did something similar for my credential cohort. We watched it at our luncheon and they all got copies (CDs). What a GREAT idea. I will include the 3 year old since he will be leaving. Don't know what activities I can do with them and their families since it's just me.

Yeh...maybe just a potluck or barbecue with music outside. The parents will appreciate anything that you do, really.

[momatheart]

I work in a center and we only graduate the ones moving onto kindergarten. All the kids do the songs that we sing but we only name and call up the ones going to kindergarten and tehy get a little preschool diploma singed by us teachers. So cute. Anyway it is a pot luck an we meet at a park so that parents are the ones who watch their kids not staff.