A Kindergartener No More

Well, my daughter passed Kindergarten and is now a proud first grader. She's particularly psyched about the fact that first graders are permitted to check out three books at the school library (instead of just one). This is awesome because I was really hoping to have a few more things to keep track of next year. We got her final report card yesterday. Her grades were generally good, mostly 3's and 4's. She got a 2 in "exhibits self control" as well as "listens when others are talking."  That was a proud parenting moment for me, for sure.

I have to admit, I find it odd when people talk about Kindergarten graduation ceremonies. I don't want to offend those for whom this is a big deal - I'm just glad my daughter's school doesn't do it. Some of my friends have posted photos on Facebook of their children wearing wee caps and gowns, and such events definitely rate pretty high on the cuteness meter. However, isn't it pretty much a sure thing that a kid will pass from Kindergarten to first grade (or from preschool to Kindergarten)?  I don't know what the nationwide failure rate is, but I have to think it's pretty low. One of the skills my daughter had to learn this year was coin recognition. She got a 4 in this. I'm proud of her except . . . well, if a parrot can be trained to understand sign language and crows are capable of making rudimentary tools, I think my kid can reasonably be expected to know the difference between a dime and a nickel.

During the last few days, she brought home a ton of stuff she'd done over the course of the school year. My favorite was a page in a workbook we actually did at home. She brought home a book to read each week. She was then required to write a couple of lines about the book and draw a picture of something she remembered from the story. One week we read "Henny Penny."  Henny Penny and her friends are traveling around the land, on their way to tell the king about the fact that the sky is falling. The animals are then lured into the clever fox's lair and "never heard from again."  A drew a picture of Cocky Locky with the words "Cok a doo dool doo!" written next to the rooster. For the explanatory text, she wrote, "I know the fox ate the chikens." It just cracked me up for some reason.

I imagine she'll start getting more homework in the first grade. I've appointed her dad as official homework person. I don't know what grade she'll be in before her math homework will be over my head, but I have a feeling it'll be sooner than later.

Comments

radioactivegan said…
There was actually a kid in my kindergarten class who had to repeat it. I think his parents just started him in too young, but to this day, when anyone mentions Eric, someone will say "That guy failed kindergarten."

He's a bodybuilder now. Probably unrelated ...
June 8, 2011 at 4:29 PM
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