Processional
Download the Powerpoint Presentation which was shown to the tune of "Pomp & Circumstance" or an HTML version of the presentation. (Note that the latter will load much faster and work with most browsers.)

Pledge of Allegiance

Life Lessons from a Quilt! (Sharon Carver, Director)

At graduation, the speaker's job is to help the graduates, their families, and their friends to think about the learning they have done and plan for more learning in the future. PICTURE MUTE Today, I'm going to talk about five ³life lessons² that I think you have learned at the Children's School and that I hope you will remember throughout your lives. We're going to use the quilt that you made with Ms. Murphy * as an example of these lessons and as a reminder that you can see in your pictures from today and in the office when you come to visit.

Lesson 1 - The quilt started * with a simple square. I doesn't seem good for much, all by itself. But if you get lots of little squares together *, you can make a pretty neat design. It's like the ants you studied recently. One ant * can carry food that's twice its size and can leave a trail of scent that will lead other ants to the food, but it takes a lot of worker ants to carry enough * to feed the whole colony. Remember * the value of teamwork.

Lesson 2 - Imagine for a moment how the quilt would have looked * if it was made of only blue squares. Just adding another shade of blue * creates more possibilities *, but having a variety of colors makes the options nearly infinite *. Each of you made a very different pattern, but the patterns look wonderful together. Look carefully at the quilt, now, and notice that after Ms. Murphy put your squares of squares together, she made the quilt even more interesting by adding some different shapes *. Can you see some rectangles? Circles? Can you also see the fancy stitching * that Ms. Murphy added to make extra designs on top of the squares? It's like the ant colony * that needs ants to do different jobs in order for the group to survive. The queen lays the eggs, and some small worker ants take care of her and the larvae, while larger workers find food, and others build the nest, and others guard it. Another example is when you explored music and heard the ways the diverse instruments * in Mr. Cosentino's band work together to make beautiful harmonies. Or when Dr. Behrmann * showed you the different parts of the brain that work together so you can think in many creative ways. With teamwork, you can accomplish more when diverse individuals share their unique talents and when you combine them in complementary ways. Remember * the power of diversity.

Lesson 3 - Ms. Murphy * has a unique talent for making quilts, so she was a very good person to help you with this project. I bet that she learned about making quilts from other people who were good at quilting and could be her coaches. Miss Hancock * and Mrs. Perovich * taught you lots of different kindergarten things, and Miss McMichael * was your special coach for cooking and gym. People of all ages can share their special talents or knowledge with others. Sometimes* it's grandparents or * big sisters. Other times children share their learning with other children too *, like when you talked about sharks * with the 4's. We learn a lot from people who are willing to share their unique talents. Remember * the impact of teaching.

Lesson 4 - I bet Ms. Murphy * also learned her special quilting knowledge by practicing for many years, starting with easier projects and learning from her mistakes. That's what you have started to do with learning to sew * by making pillows, and with learning to read and write by * practicing stories and * making a photo journal. Remember * the importance of practice.

Lesson 5 - Does anybody remember * when you started making this quilt? In February! That's three months ago! It only took you a short time * to arrange the squares on your fabric and work with Ms. Murphy to iron them in place. But then there were many more steps for putting the squares together * and adding the batting and * the backing - lots of pinning and stitching and ironing. Ms. Murphy had to have patience to work carefully at each step and the perseverance to finish the job. That's sort of like the patience and perseverance you needed when you were making your * papier maché sharks. You had to work a little each day, very carefully adding more and more layers. Then you had to paint the colors to look like the specific kind of shark you chose and add the right type of fins and other features. Then * you made a base for the model and added a sign to tell the important facts. What amazing projects! Remember * the effectiveness of patience and perseverance.

Friends, * congratulations on your graduation from kindergarten. You have grown and learned so much, and we are glad you've been a part of the Children's School family. Best wishes for even more learning in the years to come. We hope that you will remember to work as a team, to recognize the ways differences can help the group, to find good coaches who will help you practice, and to be patient and persevere along the way.

Be sure to keep in touch so that we'll get to hear about the unique talents you develop and so you can hear about the new things we're learning here. We look forward to your continuing friendship. Thank you.

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Presenation of Kindergarten Gift to Patty Murphy

At this time, we would like to ackowledge all of the family members and friends who have helped make this year a success by sharing their unique talents our kindergarten class.

The class has prepared a small gift for Ms. Murphy in appreciation for all the countless hours she spent on the quilt project and the lessons we all learned from it.

Presentation of Diplomas

At this point, we'll present the diplomas. Each child will walk..., turn and smile for a photo, and return to his or her seat.

Let's give a round of applause for the graduates.

Teacher Appreciation

As you can see from the many learning experiences we've discussed this morning, the quality of our kindergarten program is primarily a result of the combined talents of our teaching team- Mis Hancock and Mrs. Perovich. They were supported this year by Miss McMichael, and Miss Martin, as well as in many ways by the entire staff. Let's all give them all a round of applause to show our appreciation.

Kindergarten Slide Show "Forever Young"

Our parting gift to you is a slide show of Special Memories set to the music of Forever Young. We are working on making it available to you electronically and will contact you via e-mail with directions.

Transition to Reception

Friends, we'll miss you, and we hope you'll visit. When you do, we hope the quilt will remind you of the life lessons you learned at the Children's School. Thanks to all of you for celebrating the kindergarten graduation with us.

At this time, the children will exit first and head to the kindergarten classroom. We hope all of you will join us there in a few minutes.