@monkeym24 I totally get where you’re coming from….. there’s a lot of extra BS to go along with being a mom now….. I have a dumb first-day/last-day board I made sure I updated to be ready for Friday! Funnily enough, our current school DOESN’T do pre-k graduation, and I’m a bit disappointed
@sabresong I love your motto. My issue is, I personally don’t find “Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony” in an auditorium at 10 AM on Tuesday to be my ideal party. I’d rather gather the kids around the community pool, bring some pizza for everyone, margaritas for the adults, now that’s a party!
@monkeym24 Totally disagree. Such fun occasions to celebrate a milestone. My 5th grader had a promotion ceremony and then a grade pool party. Fun! And pre-k graduations are so cute. Absolutely the cutest cap and gown pictures.
@dekta09 It is fun, but requiring the families to pay for caps and gowns is too much. Young families are already stretched financially due to the costs of childcare. Our school made paper caps for the kids. It was still incredibly cute and didn’t cost a thing. Or the school should have caps and gowns that are reused each year.
@dekta09 I’m in the same boat. I thought it was just adorable-mine sang a song and did a dance to show what they had learned and I cried and was so proud.
I thought it was silly until I had kids and realized it’s all in good fun.
@dekta09 I generally agree with the OP but I see your point of view too. Our school does an award ceremony, which I think is a good compromise. My daughter got a reading award for being in the top quartile on their reading assessment, which was a big deal because she was struggling with it last year. We were all so proud of her!
They keep it pretty simple: ice cream, awards, done
@monkeym24 I don't have school-age kids yet, but I've started to notice this too just on social media. Like do they really need a Kindergarten graduation, when they literally just had a Pre-K graduation the year before?? And are they really "graduating" when they're just moving up to a new classroom in the same school? And are the parents having to purchase the tiny caps/gowns I'm seeing in the photos? It's wild.
Is there any benefit to these ceremonies? Like I'm sure the teachers aren't the ones pushing for this right (it's probably just more work for them)? Who is asking for this??
@katrina2017 As an exhausted elementary school teacher I can confirm we are not the ones pushing for the all out “graduation” ceremonies with cap and gowns and pomp and circumstance… usually it’s parents (think PTA/PTO) insisting on collaborating with the school. We are perfectly fine with simple end of the year promotion programs for the students to celebrate the end of the year, sing a song or two, receive a certificate, and enjoy a cupcake and juice box for completing the year. The parents carrying in huge bouquets of flowers, balloons, MONEY, and gifts crazy!!
@ruthyoerg Yep. A ceremony is the absolute last thing I want to be planning and worrying about at this point in the year. Not to mention the fact that many teachers are missing their own kids’ events to put them on. My son is only two now but he’ll go to a different school than the one I teach in. This year while putting together our “graduation” slide show and parent song I couldn’t help but think I’ll never get to do this with my him.. getting an afternoon off in June with the sub shortage? Never gonna happen.
@godservant762003 Ugh this is the reason why my youngest followed me when I switched districts 2 years ago. I didn’t have to miss anything major. My classroom this year was across the hall from his and we loved it. I know he was bummed I couldn’t join him on his grade level’s field trip, but I was present for everything else. However for this upcoming school year I am moving back to our home district where his older siblings attend, and they all be on the same campus (brother and sister in the middle/high school building and younger brother with me in the elementary school) so I will be able to be present for all 3 now.
@katrina2017 It’s cute and fun? You want to recognize an important milestone in their lives/them growing up? I get that they probably go overboard with these kinds of things sometimes, and I get that it can be hard as a working parent. But you could theoretically ask if there is any benefit for basically any optional activity in childcare/school.
I am also seconding the people saying this is not anything particularly new. One of my favorite photos of me and my dad is from my pre-K graduation in 1996. With a little cap and gown and everything.
@louisev I feel the same way. I am a university professor and to me, a graduation ceremony signifies the successful completion of a degree program. That only happens at the end of HS, college, and grad school or trade school. I just think a 5 year old completing one year of kindergarten is not the same as a college student completing a 4 year degree in engineering.
Maybe my real issue is with the word “graduation.” If they called it a “moving up ceremony” or “end of year parade” and didn’t require expensive caps and gowns, maybe I’d be more into it.
My daughter did pre-k to k ‘graduation’ which I was fine with because she was moving schools but I complained to admin when a parent bought 1 (yes just one) cap and gown (not even in the schools colors) to take photos of the kindergartener’s graduating. I only found out about because I was room mom and they didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes and told the school that a) eww because you know that wasn’t going to sanitize between each of the almost 100 kindergarteners and b) it was pathetic that the kindergartener (who are not graduating) got a better graduation then the 5th graders who ‘get’ to wear their formal dress, have a clap out and a 30 minute what my school meant to me (not a graduation ceremony). I explain graduation to my daughter as an accomplishment and you move school (or are done with school). Everything else is a promotion.
I have no memory if I had a kindergarten graduation but I did for 8th grade, 12th grade, college and my masters. I walked in every thing but my BA and would have skipped my MA if not for my husband wanting me to. 2 was more than enough.
crazy!!
this is the reason why my youngest followed me when I switched districts 2 years ago. I didn’t have to miss anything major. My classroom this year was across the hall from his and we loved it. I know he was bummed I couldn’t join him on his grade level’s field trip, but I was present for everything else. However for this upcoming school year I am moving back to our home district where his older siblings attend, and they all be on the same campus (brother and sister in the middle/high school building and younger brother with me in the elementary school) so I will be able to be present for all 3 now.