2008 Red Rose Kindergarten End-of-Year Letters
At Lucas’s school, the children do not get letter grades or report cards. They get final end-of-year letters from their teachers. The first part is a general letter sent to all the parents explaining what the class of children did during their kindergarten year; the second part is is another letter specifically about Lucas—what he was like, what he did, what his virtues and challenges were. (I scanned the letters so there may be some OCR glitches, but I think I caught the worst of them.)
Anyway, I’m very proud of Lucas.
June 2008
Dear Red Rose Parents,
This has been a wonderful year with your children. What a beautiful tapestry we have woven together. Each child brought a wonderful light and color. The older children, coming with confidence and eagerness, brought rich and strong colors to help weave their part in the lovely pattern of the kindergarten year. They welcomed the younger children with enthusiasm and joy. The younger children brought their bright colors and heavenly light. Together we joined hands in dancing, in singing, in work and in play. Several golden threads carried through the year. The very first day, the king and queen puppets brought us a kindness pouch which contained a lovely copper ball that could help the kindness of each child’s heart come into their hands and words. If someone had extra kindness they could also give some to store in the kindness ball. By the end of the year, a great wave of kindness had been woven into the fabric of the class and the ball was shining.
The house elves also wove their own colors every day through their stories. Before clean up time we would all gather and hear from them about their adventures. Some times they would tell us what was happening outside with the pea-fairies and the rain fairies. Other times they would tell us about what the Little Ones (the dolls that you helped with) did at night.
The songs of circle time carried us from one colorful season to the next. How we loved to sing about Michael and the blacksmith. Soon it was time for autumn leaves and the Indian songs of gratitude for Thanksgiving. The quiet mood of December brought our Advent songs. Winter songs gave voice to the nippy weather and muddy boots. “Dance with me, dear Valentine”, found us all circling under branches made from two children holding hands. May Day was such a joy to share with you as we “let the ribbons fly”. We ended the year singing and weaving together our love for one another as brothers and sisters.
Each story cast a magic spell on the class. What anticipation built as the children listened to the story being told! Then it unfolded as a puppet show by the teacher and again as the children moved the puppets. The favorite time came as we acted the story as a play (usually three times). Sometimes the child could be the King or Queen and next time a tree or door. What imaginative capacities were cultivated in this weaving together. The stories sometimes carried a seasonal mood like George and the Dragon and the Nativity story. Always there were stories of both heroes and heroines, who met great challenges successfully. Some of our favorites were “The Queen Bee”, “The Magic Lake at the End of the World”, “The Donkey Prince”, “The Country Bunny”, “The Bamboo Maiden”, “Masha and the Bear”, “Johnny Cake”, and “The Three Oranges.”
The rhythm of the day and the week gave a beautiful pattern to our tapestry. So many skills were practiced every day. The morning started with us all learning to move and sing together, so that after a week or two, the seasonal circle was confidently and joyously sounding. We then moved into free play where every day a new house was built for our turtle, Teeny Big, becoming more and more elaborate. Marble runs became engineering marvels, with many secret passageways. During this time, all the children learned how to knead the bread and cut the vegetables for our soup with Ms. Johnson. Fingers became more nimble as we stitched, finger knitted and cut out Valentines. What fun we had with wool as we felted pumpkins for Halloween, colorful balls for our fathers for Christmas, and a heart for Mother’s Day. Indian crowns were stitched, Valentine crowns were cut and glued. During this time children would take their Little One on an adventure, making them houses, beds and boats.
After Easter the older children became very busy learning new sewing skills. Needles were threaded and knots tied. They each made a needle book with the blanket stitch and then received their own needle and six pins. With this needle they began their own puppet, with many fine stitches. What a joy it was to see them become finished with crowns, capes and decorations. A story was created for these twelve puppets and presented to the younger children before the puppets went home.
During clean up time, every child had the same job for several weeks. Usually two children would work together to set each comer of the classroom to order. Big sheets were folded, marbles found their basket and the bathroom sink was polished. This practice in cleaning and teamwork will serve the children well. We all were so happy to see how beautiful our kindergarten could look. The older children helped wash the dishes again after snack. Learning to get them clean took a little practice, but before long it was done easily. At the end of the year, the older children were proudly teaching the younger children how to do the dishes.
Then came outside time. There were rivers to build in our sandbox. The hand over hand bars were a great challenge met by nearly all the children. We loved to nibble from our garden and to harvest our peas and lettuce. Many fine tea parties were held. The spring brought many new friends in the form of bugs, which were gathered in large tubs, to be set free before story time.
Joy in friendships, joy in a job well done, joy in learning a new skill brought a rosy glow to our finished tapestry. Thank you so much for your support. Ms. Johnson and I have so enjoyed this year.
May your summer be renewing and happy. Thank you for being part of our kindergarten tapestry.
Love,
B K
June 2008
Dear Sara and Ian,
How happy Lucas was to return to kindergarten as one of the older children. He was delighted to see his friends and warmly welcomed the new children. We began our day with circle time as we sang and danced through the seasons. Lucas was quick to learn the new songs and verses and enjoyed when some familiar ones returned. He could be silly at this time, but we worked on being part of the group and he became more focused.
During free playtime, Lucas was so happy to be able to make his own sword for Michaelmas. He worked on it diligently and did a fine job. He was eager with any handwork project and enjoyed felting and making many paper boats. Sometimes he would choose to draw or play with his many friends making marble runs. How delighted Lucas was when his Little One, Sunflower, returned to him. Many of the boats were for Sunflower. Lucas was an enthusiastic baker and was also a great helper chopping vegetables. When it was time to make his puppet, Lucas was excited. He made a lovely needle book and began his puppet. At first it was going to be the hero of our Indian story but later became a sea captain. What an adventure it was in the final puppet show as the dragon hid in the Sea Captain’s boat, only to be conquered by Michael.
Clean up time could be challenging to Lucas because he love to talk to his friends and tell them wonderful stories. They would be sitting there spellbound by his tales. As the year progressed we worked with him to focus more at this time and he made good progress. Having a few daily chores at home would support him in learning to finish his tasks.
Outside Lucas loved to play in the sandbox. With his friends he would create many rivers, bridges and islands. He is kind and inclusive in his play and was everyone’s friend.
Lucas loved story time and would listen intently as the story unfolded into a puppet show and a play. Thank you for protecting him from media, for his lively imaginations are his own. When he was given a large role in the play he filled it with depth and poise. He was the kind brother in “The Queen Bee”, Michael, a king, and the Grandfather Bunny in our Easter story of the “Country Bunny”.
Thank you for your wonderfully open sharing in our parent meetings and your support this year. My love and best wishes go with Lucas and you as he begins his journey through the grades.
Love,
B K
July 6, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Hehe. I love how they phrase things. Once 1.0 was described as excelling at the “social aspects” of PE – or talking instead of running as anyone else might have put it.
July 6, 2008 at 10:12 pm
How sweet. I am both excited and apprehensive about sending my own little Sun off to the kindergarten. I love everything about the kindergarten, but I want to shout, “He’s mine and you can’t have him!”. Knowing he is going to B K eases my heart greatly.
I am so happy that Lucas has thrived so well in the kindergarten and I can’t wait to see what first grade brings, and what next year will bring for all of our beautiful children 🙂
~~J~~