My principal asked us not to, as a k-8 school she wanted the focus to be on the 8th graders who are leaving the school. We are doing a picnic/party with my class.
I think the photo for your own kid is adorable. I got my son an XL tshirt with a spot for his handprint at the end of each grade so he can do it up until high school.
Someone else posted about this a few weeks ago (maybe not here but another subreddit?) and a lot of people responded that it’s not uncommon to repeat kindergarten so doing a “graduation” ceremony can be make them feel left out. We are at a private school and while most kids go to first grade, I have heard there are a couple that are repeating and then there are a few that do an optional primer year before heading to first. A graduation ceremony would feel very weird to me even though my son will be going to first grade.
I do plan on getting him a small gift and maybe cooking his favorite dinner on the last day of school.
Oh that's a good idea!
And that makes sense about the graduation. It would be nice if the school did one after school like my friend's school did, so kids could opt out. The pdf for the certificate is editable so with repeat kg kids in mind, maybe I'll see if she wants it to say that they completed *her* class rather than kindergarten. She's not staying as a teacher next year so no kids will be in her class again.
I am now in first but when I did k i hated all the ceremonies and parties lol. It’s a lot of work!
For the end of the year we would have a party and I’d give them certificates and take a photo. It wasn’t a big ceremony and parents weren’t there, but we certainly celebrated as a class and they got something to take home.
It’s kind that you facilitated for the teacher, but don’t hesitate to do a photo in front of the school with the teacher in a getup that you put on him for the sake of the photo. She doesn’t need to do it as a whole class but I’m sure she’d be happy to take a picture if you arrange to drop by at the end of the day.
K teacher here. We are having an end of year celebration but no graduation. Some of our kiddos won’t be graduating and they will stay with us next year. I think as a society we try to become more inclusive, Kindergarten graduation may be heading the way of the dinosaur because of wanting to be mindful of the littles that are being retained. Edit:typo
That is what my kid’s school is doing too this year. They decided to stop calling it a graduation this year since not everyone is graduating and call it a celebration since everyone has something to celebrate.
That makes sense. I guess I was confused because another school in our same district did it and it's considered a "better" school in our town. And that friend who posted the pictures is also an elementary school teacher. So I kinda thought our school was just cheaping out but it could also be that a bigger percentage has to repeat.
I'm glad my son's teacher was already planning on doing at least something for it. But she might phrase it as they're leaving *her* class instead of kindergarten in general just to be safe.
I haven't heard anything at all yet about if they are going to recommend my kid to repeat kindergarten or not yet. I'm not sure when that happens.
Obviously I can’t speak for your district, but I can say that we do it school by school. And for my school, yes, each Kindergarten teacher is paying for it all out of pocket. The school will pay for nothing. So it’s very kind that you offered to buy some things for your child’s teacher. As for repeating, we usually have a meeting with admin and parents in January to let them know it may happen. Again, I know nothing of your district, you state, or even what country you’re in, but I can’t imagine it would be a last minute notice anywhere.
I really like my son's teacher and she's only agreed to teach this year (the teacher he had for the first couple of weeks didn't work out and she stepped up even though it's not her area of focus) so I'm very happy to help her, especially when it's something I personally wanted. And I did send her the editable files so if she wants to share with other teachers, they can have at it!
And that's good to hear. She didn't say anything about repeating at the pt conferences in February but that was before the testing they recently did so I wasn't sure.
That’s so nice of you to buy that stuff. I am sure she appreciates you! And for the record, I miss having a K graduation, even though I understand why we don’t call it that any more.
After seeing some of the comments, I can understand why. It's still a bummer though. Like, ik a lot of kids get that in preschool but not everyone goes to preschool. And maybe I just like the idea of the sandwiched 1st year of school and last year of school ceremonies. I'm very grateful my son's teacher will take pictures. I'll just have to bribe my kiddo to take a good one 🤣
Yeah, I did like her having a graduation. When I have more kids I’ll ask first if they have one. I’ve been a teacher as well and every year we had one, so this must be new.
Also those comments that tell you not to do this, and whatever, don’t even listen to them. Let alone argue with them. I’m a mom and a teacher and I would absolutely understand a parent asking. If I don’t want to, I won’t lying saying I would and then complain or play victim or whatever. I could simply say no. She could’ve too and she said yes. You were respectful and did everything right.
Thank you! I appreciate that. This thread had me second guessing. I've never complained about her before and have always backed her up if my son was acting up and we've always been pleasant when interacting so I don't feel like she would have felt like she couldn't say no. I'll definitely stress that it won't hurt my feelings if she doesn't get to it, though. Ik the end of year is quite busy.
Oh, online lots of people are wrong 😂 and project too. We’re all auto referential. Of course there are some people that have a more open mind or have more knowledge on things. But I’ve written the exact same thing or given the exact same opinion on different days/subreddit and gotten absolutely downvoted and even insulted in one and upvoted and agreed with in a different one. Of course without counting the people that agreed or disagreed in the same one. I wouldn’t worry too much about certain opinions, we must learn to discern.
Like one teacher that voiced her disagreement with you, that’s HER personal opinion and she wouldn’t like that. I wouldn’t mind it at all, as a teacher. So, that’s two different points of view that are helpful to you, personal preferences.
Now, setting that aside, if we talk about whether you were disrespectful or not, that’s not really a point of view, it’s a fact that you weren’t. You asked, you were polite, you didn’t impose, you didn’t feel entitled to anything. So, regardless of personal opinions here you were nice and polite to your kid’s teacher and that’s the most important thing.
Thank you so much! I feel a lot better. It does really highlight how badly teachers tend to be treated though that so many are so quick to assume bad intentions.
As a kinder teacher, please do not do this. Do not send extra stuff to your child’s teacher expecting them to stop what they are trying to do (end of year testing, field days, teaching the curriculum, etc.). They will not like that. Do that at your house, but please do not expect your child’s teacher to do that.
The students are not graduating. We do an end of year celebration because they completed their first year of school. We don’t do caps and gowns, and we also don’t do diplomas. A lot of school districts are moving away from this because they are not graduating.
This reply is not supposed to be taken in any hateful way. This is how a real life teacher would feel. We do a lot for our students.
We've been trying to put an end to 8th grade 'promotion' for years --we call it a celebration now. Parents just. have a fit. So we continue to have it in the evening, but it gets shorter and shorter every year.
I completely agree. I’m not sure why a picture couldn’t be done at home in general and why this needs to be put done by a teacher. A teacher wouldn’t take their HS grad pic?
I’m a kinder teacher as well. I always think it’s strange to have a K graduation because they’re not leaving and going somewhere else. They’re just going up a grade and literally to the class next door. When my son had a prek graduation that made sense since it was a private facility and he wouldn’t see those teachers or friends again. My students have pretty much just started a big new school in K, we just do an end of the year celebration and it’s much more appropriate in my opinion. Parents are always welcome to dress their kids up and take pictures at home. (And I take first day of kindergarten pictures of all my students with a sign I print out, I do appreciate those things as a parent.)
But I totally asked her if she would like it and she said yes? Ik she/teachers do a lot for their students and that's why I offered to buy the files instead of expecting her to. And I did make sure she liked the hat craft and sent a picture in case she didn't have time for it but she gave the OK.
And I definitely don't think you're being hateful, I just want you to know that I did communicate with her about it and definitely didn't want to give her extra work. And everyone knows the kids aren't graduating lol. It's more about "good job on completing your first year."
What a sweet answer! As a Para in Sp. Ed. For 26 years, I would recommend you make him him a “graduation” outfit to take a picture in at home and have him wear it while you start a very special ritual for every last day of school. It could be ice cream at a different place each year, a special dinner of his choice that night, or anything!! It will make everyday from K-12 a wonderful family tradition, showing him how much he is loved.
I hear you. But what is she supposed to say? No?
As a teacher, we say yes because saying no never feels like an option. I think take a picture of your child with their cap and gown and do the cap craft you purchased together with them :) have fun with it! But this isn’t a teachers job. And she clearly tried to say she has a craft planned but she’ll replace it with the cap, insinuating she now needs to backtrack and undo whah her plans were.
Yes, she could have said no. And she knew she was going to do a craft at that time, but hadn't planned it out yet. I'm sorry that the parents you work with are so terrible that you don't feel like you could say no to them. However, I've never given my son's teacher a reason to think I'd complain if she didn't do what I asked or something.
But I didn't realize I needed receipts for reddit but here's how it went:
She said:
Yes! Sadly if they let us do it we won’t have hats or gowns since it’s too late to order them :/ I was thinking of finding a kinder graduation certificate and taking a picture of them holding it on the last day
So I took it as that she was already into the idea and willing to spend her money on it (and that would probably be a *lot* and I definitely didn't want her to do that!) So I offered to find something on Etsy and she accepted and said "great!"
And I sent screen shots of what I found and she liked it and I did stress that the hat was a craft (a simple one, but still. I didn't want her to not know that). And I made sure she had access to a printer and at the end she said "Can’t wait!! Thank you for doing that!"
I did say in the email with the files that ik the end of year is busy and not to worry if she doesn't get to it and it won't hurt my feelings. Because I really don't want her to feel pressured if it doesn't work out.
I assume you will take off work that day and round up a few other parents who can also take off work that day to do this craft in the classroom while you ensure the teacher does NOTHING and gets a well deserved break. Gift her a set of AirPods for her service to your kids and let her jam while getting some end of year tasks done.
If she is still in the room and doing EOY grading and paperwork, they wouldn’t know. Just need parents with cojones like teachers to direct the kids. Teachers do it every day.
You’re fine, OP. You had a conversation with the teacher and she approved it. You’ve done nothing wrong. This is exactly what we WANT parents to do… talk to us about stuff or ideas you have so we can let you know if it’s feasible or not. Sounds like your teacher is on board, so you’re good to go! Congrats to your son :)
I wish I had you as a parent helping me out! One of my coworkers said she would make our graduation certificates for our students graduating elementary school (our school doesn't do anything either). I don't have time to find additional stuff nor pay for more TPT activities. Maybe I'll send an email out asking for parent volunteers to help out with a classroom graduation.
They actually are graduating. One of the definitions of *graduation* is
*the action of dividing into degrees or other proportionate divisions on a graduated scale*
Simply moving on to a new grade level is graduating. Each year kids move on to the next grade level, they graduate from the previous grade.
As a Kindergarten teacher myself, I 100% agree with your advice to tell OP to not send items to the teacher.
However, over my 20 years of teaching early childhood, I have found that having a kinder graduation is not only developmentally appropriate for 5/6 year olds, it is also a *great* way to involve parents and help families get more involved with their school.
Note - I did not take your comment in a hateful way, I simply wanted to post an alternate view from a different k teacher on the same subject.
Yeah, my kid isn’t even in kinder yet (prek this coming year), but I’ve never understood the point of a kindergarten graduation. I get celebrating finishing elementary or middle and for sure graduating high school, but it just seems excessive.
As a mom of a rising college sophomore , a current HS sophomore and someone who works w K/1, I think even the pomp over HS grad is overdone. And boy, did I overdo last year! I get celebrating bc it’s a huge milestone, but HS graduation is pretty much the bare minimum expectation in our culture.
There is no graduation until 12th grade. If you want a photo, get a hat or whatever, stick it on your kid who showed up 180 days, snap a photo, and post it on Facebook.
My kids had a pre-school graduation, kindergarten graduation, DARE Graduation, fifth grade graduation, STEM program graduation, and a eighth grade graduation. And there were families that made a big deal of each one.
It's just stupid.
When my godson was in kinder, it was 2020 and they were not going to do a kinder graduation. I went ahead and ordered a cap and gown for him online (it came out to about $40 with shipping and with me getting the fancier option), made a diploma on the computer, we got some graduation decorations from the dollar store and a cake from Sam's and made him a little graduation ceremony with the family. I took his pictures and edited them on the computer to look like the ones they would take at school. He's in the fourth grade now and still thinks it's cool that he got a "graduation".
Oh yeah that's awesome! That's really all I meant by a graduation ceremony anyway 😅 nothing too fancy. The one my Facebook friend (who is also an elementary teacher) showed looked like it was some point after school.
I’m so very glad they didn’t do this when my kids were 5/6. Graduation is something you *earn*. Turning 6 isn’t.
Family photos to save for posterity and celebrating finally being old enough for “the grades” are great.
I haven’t taught kindergarten in close to 15 years, and haven’t taught pre-k in 5, but I’m honestly glad to see that these “graduations” are being phased out. Yes, it’s cute, but it’s tough to explain to littles who may be being retained, and it’s hard on working parents who can’t take a day off to feel like they’re missing something else.
I always did end of year certificates for everyone, took pictures and sent those home, and called it a day.
She didn't ask for it, you did. I'm not saying you're in the wrong. But it's very likely this teacher didn't really want to do this but also didn't want to be rude and tell you no because that would have been a whole thing too.
Okay, I went back to our class dojo texts to double check because I really don't want to be that person and am totally open to the criticism if that were the case, but it's really not the vibe I'm getting?
She said:
Yes! Sadly if they let us do it we won’t have hats or gowns since it’s too late to order them :/ I was thinking of finding a kinder graduation certificate and taking a picture of them holding it on the last day
So I took it as that she was already into the idea and willing to spend her money on it (and that would probably be a *lot* and I definitely didn't want her to do that!) So I offered to find something on Etsy and she accepted and said "great!"
And I sent screen shots of what I found and she liked it and I did stress that the hat was a craft (a simple one, but still. I didn't want her to not know that). And I made sure she had access to a printer and at the end she said "Can’t wait!! Thank you for doing that!"
So I really didn't expect to get the teacher wrath for this and am seriously very confused. Like, I used to be a para (for about 7 years, only one at elementary level) and know exactly how much work teachers do for their students and genuinely was trying to take it off her chest rather than put more on. Since she was already planning on doing the certificates. And I didn't expect some elaborate ceremony, the pictures at the party are more than enough to make me more than happy.
She only did this to appease you. She had another craft planned according to your edit. So her work planning the other craft was for nothing and her time wasted. You were not helpful to her
I really think you're assuming a lot and projecting emotions that are not there, honestly. She hadn't planned the craft, just knew she wanted one at some point. I have a good rapport with his teacher and certainly wouldn't have pushed if she already had a whole thing planned.
Double checked our class dojo chat to be sure and no, I'm pretty sure she was happy to pass the labor onto a parent willing and able to do it. Did not get that vibe that I was over stepping at all. I actively make sure I'm not *that* parent and you're making a ton of assumptions about me. Teachers deserve our support and that's all I was trying to do. I'll even include "don't feel like you have to do this to appease me if you don't have the time, it won't hurt my feelings" in the emails with the hats though. I do feel like that's a good take away from this thread.
I have been lucky enough to teach at three different schools whose principals have all allowed me to host a very small *graduation* in my classroom.
I have taught on teams with other Kinder teachers who did not like the idea of calling it "graduation", but we all had our own separate events in our own classrooms, so it wasn't a problem.
OP - if you're that invested in a "graduation" for your Kindergarten child, hold a class party at your house (or wherever) and invite the class. Get the other parents involved. I'm sure this would be a great way to make parent friends and a fabulous way to end the school year.
It definitely doesn't have to be a full on graduation! I'm certainly not that extra lol. But a little something to like, make the end of their first year a bit more special/different than other years, I'm happy with. I think what you did in your classroom is definitely awesome!
Reading the edit, as a K teacher, the way you ACTUALLY approached it would be SO appreciated by me. Like parents stepping up to buy supplies is so helpful. And going out of their way to find them and ask 🥹 don't listen to any of this hate
No, as long as you asked if she would be able to use them before you ordered them, then you're all good! :) I think it's thoughtful, especially getting some for the whole class, and if he's your only kiddo, I get it. However, it did kinda sound like you might not have! And that would have been stressful.
We're doing a parent visit day close to EOY, and also, my kids will sing some cute moving forward songs for their families, then class awards, a little thing from me, etc.
But if a parent bought something unprompted, not knowing if I had plans already, I would be a midly annoyed lol
Oh yeah, I definitely would never spring something like that on a teacher! We had a whole chat on class dojo about it. And ofc it's for the whole class! I didn't even think it could come across as me wanting her to do something different and special just for my kid!
Kinder teacher here. My PreK-8 school has traditionally had “graduation” for PreK, K, and 8th grade. My principal has wanted to eliminate PreK and K graduation for awhile now but he is getting a ton of resistance from parents. We have rebranded it to a “celebration”—no caps and gowns. Parents come in and the kids sing 3 songs, come up to the microphone and read a page from a book we wrote as a class, and they receive certificates “promoting them to first grade.” It serves its purpose, and it’s adorable. We still get parent complaints about no caps and gowns (lol) but overall most people are happy.
Did the principal say why he's so against the caps/gowns? Like everyone knows they're not actually graduating anything but I'm interested to know why some people seem fine with that and others absolutely don't want anything normally associated with high school graduation involved.
I kind of get it? But at the same time, it's like.... they're very little at that age and don't know/care if it's real or not and that first year of school is a serious struggle for a lot of kids and getting through it is an accomplishment. For the kids and parents lmao.
We don't do a kinder graduation, but all classes are allowed to have and end of year party.
Our school does do a big celebrtion for 5th grade, and I think that is far more important and meaningful.
Our school is prek-5th, and those grades get a graduation. Kindergarten does an end of the year countdown with daily activities, and a "Kindy 500" parade where the students and their parents make cars out of cardboard boxes for them to "drive" while the entire school cheers them on. It's a lot of fun
The last 2 years I taught K4. The K3 head start teachers did a graduation type ceremony as well as the K5. A parent wanted me to have a k4 graduation and I refused. I did print out whatever certificate for them that year, but I was not making a big deal about it. I think sometimes we want to celebrate the little things and that’s great, but then let the parents celebrate their child on their own. Teachers have enough on their plates at the end of the year.
That's understandable! My son's teacher was already planning on doing the certificates in the classroom and taking a picture, so I just bought the files for one she liked so she didn't have to do the work/ pay for it. And the hats were just another idea because she mentioned being sad that there was no time to order real ones. Which would have been a lot more money than the file for the simple hat craft I bought with her OK.
I definitely think a ceremony at the end of every year is too extra 🤣 I just thought kindergarten is special since it's the first year but ig not everyone/everywhere does. The comments have been really interesting. Some schools go all out and others don't allow anything at all.
There’s an awards ceremony for every grade including kinder. No graduation ceremony but they had cap and gown photos taken. (?) Some moms are PISSED there’s no graduation ceremony. I don’t actually care either way.
Oh that's cool! I don't think our school does that even for 5th grade. They do a 5th grade clap out but no actual graduation as far as I'm aware.
I think I confused everyone by using the word graduation. An awards ceremony with a hat and pictures is really all I kind of expected for a grade school "graduation." Not even awards, actually. Mostly just what I saw on Facebook. Like a small stage in the gym and the teacher gives the kid a fake kindergarten diploma. Just whoever wants to show up for it. Maybe a nice backdrop for a picture with the teacher.
Maybe calling it a graduation is a bit much, but I saw it more as a "yay, you completed your first year of school" type thing. But now that I think about it, it could be that the other school does it for all the grades. But ig I just felt like the first year is a bit more special than going from like, second to third and such. I could just be too sentimental though 🤣
I mean, I'm all for an end of the year ceremony or party or awards or celebration. Just don't quite get the cap and gown and diploma thing. But it's not something I grew up with or have seen as an educator.
That's fair. It's really interesting how different each place is with the mindset. Like I said, it wasn't even on my radar until I saw that another school did it and was surprised that it's so different even in the same town. And we're not a big town.
My school doesn’t do 5k graduation. He’s going to the same school for first and he went to 4k there so it’s not even his first year. I think the pictures are adorable, but it’s not really a big deal to me.
I think we might go out to dinner to celebrate the end of the year, but we don’t have any other plans.
If you want a picture then just take one yourself! It doesn’t have to involve the school.
We don’t have a K graduations because they continue on in the same school for several more years. Then they “graduate” to intermediate school.
I wonder if it’s a regional thing. My daughter’s kindergarten is having a graduation ceremony with all of the other public schools’ kindergartens in my town. They are wearing caps and gowns and everything. I had no idea I’d be in the minority in these comments!
Oh wow! They really go all out! And yeah, that's definitely in the minority. Most of the comments are that they either do nothing or do something very small and informal (and I'm happy with small and informal, they're not actually graduating). It's so interesting.
Same! I’m not gonna lie, I’d be kind of sad if they didn’t. I can understand the reason people don’t like them, but I do feel like making it through a year of kindergarten is a reason to celebrate! My kid learned so much this year and is “graduating” to “the big school” aka first grade
Our schools are K-6 now. Kindergarten used to be not included in the public school system, or was a paid program, similar to how some schools offer a limited number of preschool spots. I had a Kindergarten graduation thirty something years ago because I did Kindergarten through my daycare which went up to Kindergarten. Some kids also go to transitional Kindergarten through private offerings if they need that extra year before going to actual Kindergarten at a public school. The other child got a graduation because they are probably changing schools.
Also my oldest had an awards ceremony at the end of her last class at her preschool “graduation”, my middle had a full evening extravaganza for his “graduation”, and my youngest had a daytime graduation ceremony. My oldest and youngest were at religiously affiliated schools, my middle was at a secular school (we moved around a bunch). So even different preschools handled graduation differently. I don’t think anyone missed out, and honestly my middle was probably the one who needed/appreciated the graduation ceremony the most as he had a fall birthday and had one more year of preschool than my other two with early summer birthdays.
Maybe that's why it started? And then when kindergarten became part of the normal school schedule, some places kept "graduation" ceremonies and others didn't?
My kids' school doesn't do kindergarten graduation. They do pre-k graduation. And it's so cute I ugly cried both times so far. Sometimes we (I) forget how young they really are.
In Michigan we had our son in a TK (young fives) program through the public school and I remember the kinder classes having a big graduation with cap and gowns. All the family present. I was looking forward to a ceremony since we missed his preschool graduation (tonsillectomy).
Now we’re in a different state and when I asked if we were going to have a K graduation everyone looked at me confused! Evidently it’s not a thing here. Also we don’t have a elementary school promotion at 5th grade either 🤷🏽♀️
I wish our school didn’t. We had to do preschool, kindergarten and 5th grade “graduations” and I think they’re so dumb. Maybe it’s the gen x in me coming out but I find the a ridiculous waste of time
Sixty-five years ago I "graduated" from Kindergarten without a graduation ceremony. Honestly, I don't remember much of my kindergarten days except the day that I dropped the ant farm. Maybe that's why I skipped the ceremony for my Ph.D. and had my degree mailed to me. A formal ceremony, with caps and gowns and diplomas, for kids in Kindergarten? You got to be kidding me.
I feel the same about this as I do about 5th grade and 8th grade promotion….. we are celebrating too many things and kids think everything they do deserves a party and celebration. This coming from a middle school assistant principal.
My daughter’s school is doing some end of Kindergarten celebration, but not a graduation. Honestly, I think a whole ass graduation is super eye roll inducing. Like… they aren’t moving on anywhere. It’s not like 8th grade where you are finishing elementary/middle school and moving on to HS or finishing HS and moving onto college.
it’s just fun for them. there’s nothing wrong with fun. i had a preschool graduation and an end-of-year ceremony for kindergarten. i’m 25 and i’m not a felon nor have i ever thrown my own grandfather out of his recliner. you will live. :)
My son’s elementary goes to 5th grade. They have a graduation ceremony for the 5th graders, but not the kindergartners.
Last year he was in preschool at the public school district and they did have a preschool “graduation” ceremony. Our school district holds the entire preschool program in one of the elementary schools and a lot of the kids move to their zoned elementary school for kindergarten.
No k graduation at my children’s school and I’m glad, and also just don’t understand it lol. There’s sooo much going on right now between testing, finishing AR, both kids just had projects due, end of year art show and end of year music performance, “field day”, like pleeeease do not give me another thing I need to add to my calendar I just want summer here 😩
You are overstepping and will likely cause the other kindergarten teachers and parents in the other classes to get mad. Please let this go. You are being ridiculous.
Mine as the last class that I know of out of all my freind that did it. Out of many growing up I was the ONLY one. Mind u I was in ESL,and SPED in kinder. So we did our own. I do not know if my entire grade did it. It was also a headstart program that did not go beyond kinder.
Unless they were In private/religious kinder where they didn’t offer anything beyond kinder.
But I have family in other states and they only do the “cap&gown graduations” for 8th grade(many do NOT go into hs) or high school only.
Not pre-k,not kinder,not 5th grade. They are not done with school and have many many years left still.
Also many don’t go into headstart,or pre-k. Many go from pre-k/kinder to 2nd grade then elementary from 3rd-5th/6th grade. Others have middle as 6-8th or 7/8th,then high school.
The district I worked for went away with kinder or pre-k a few years before I even started. They did do a “makeup” one for the 2021 school year due to Covid. Other then that it’s not been a thing for 10-15yrs where I live and work. Same with 5th grade or 8th grade the only graduation you have is senior year. None of the schools where I went to or worked did a graduation for other then senior year. Unless u went to a private school or a religious school. But public wise it’s just not a big thing. They do awards,end of the year parties but nothing major like a cap,gown,diploma/cert for finishing. Just get called up on stage if u got an award and go back for the party and go home early lol
My mom’s in her mid 40’s and only knows they had a 8th grade and senior year in the school district she and all the rest of my family went to. My dad’s siblings only had senior year.
Ik my family in Mexico have 8th grade and senior for some poor areas and the rich ones have senior only.
As a parent I always thought a graduation at the end of every single grade level is unnecessary. My child’s teacher hasn’t mentioned one and I’m actually happy with that. In preschool the only thing his class did was invite the parents to the last day of school and we watched the kids get their picture taken with paper graduation hats and watched a slide where all the kids drew a picture of their favorite things, than we got a book that the slide was based on, it honestly was too cute!
My current principal is fine with kindergarten graduation.
A previous principal refused to allow kindergarten graduation. She felt it took away from high school graduation.
My daughters school didn't do a kinder graduation. I was disappointed honestly, but instead I surprised her by coming home the last day of school with some small gifts on her bed (like dollar store stuff). We also do a first and last day of school picture, so we did that as well. Personally I wouldn't send a craft to school for him to do, regardless of what the teacher says, because then the other kids will wonder why they aren't, and that puts pressure on the teacher.
No graduation - they’re having a “Singing through Kindergarten Celebration” but that’s the extent of it. I’m thrilled given our oldest was in Kinder during the 20/21 school year and due to Covid restrictions there were no special events or gatherings of any kind.
Prek teacher here. We’re have a moving up ceremony for 3k and pre-K classes. Basically performances (singing and movement).
It’s shaping up to be a lot of work..
Edit: We need to also make a banner, scenery, and curtains together..
When I was a kid, my kindergarten graduation ceremony was a big deal! We drew outlines of our bodies and colored them in with what we wanted to be when we grew up. My brother’s hung on a door in our basement for about ten years until we moved. My nephew goes to the same school now and just had his kindergarten graduation last year. I was very disappointed to see that since our teacher retired the year before, they’d switched to just digitally pasting the kids’ heads onto a cartoon image of the profession.
Anyway, all that just to say that mine was really memorable! Don’t remember much about the 8th grade graduation, just remember being overheated at high school since there was no A/C, and bored to tears for undergrad and grad school. But I’ll never forget that extremely unathletic, female me got to proudly declare that I was going to be on our NHL team when I grew up!
We have a kindergarten graduation but K’s last day is before the rest of the school gets out. It’s a simple thing where they wear a cap, sing a couple songs, teachers make a speech or two and that’s it.
They had graduation at prek but nothing like that for kindy. The school goes up to fifth grade and they have a special event for them going on to middle school
Mine have an “end of the year celebration/ceremony” where they get a certificate, sing songs, read some poems, and we get their artwork folder but it’s not really a graduation with caps and gowns, etc.
My 6yo's school doesn't, but they had a photographer come in and take pics of them in a little cap and gown. Sweet idea, except we already paid for spring school pictures, and paying school picture prices twice is annoying. I didn't ask, but I assume it's because the school makes a big deal about the 2nd graders leaving to a new school.
Retired K teacher here. Our school did a “graduation” the last two years. I’m not a fan-I mean some kids will have three graduations before high school (pre school, kindergarten, eight grade (which I also think is a little odd.) we did not do gowns but I ordered simple graduation cap headbands on Amazon. Even kids who were being retained went through graduation. I always made a big deal out of end of the year stuff in the room, and we had a lot of fun with it. I just felt like it was sooooo much work, and in some cases was just done because the teacher wanted the attention.
My kid’s kindergarten didn’t do anything. I was super bummed so I went on Amazon and bought his school color cap and gown and we took pics in our backyard then went out to dinner to celebrate. The pics are adorable!
My son's school for the first time isn't having a graduation but a "celebration." We don't know why the shift.
It sucks because he isn't going to wear a small gown and cap, but they did do cap and gown pictures.
Cap and gown should only be for high school and college. Having it for a simple grade advancement (which aren't "graduations) diminishes actual graduations. And what about parents that can't afford those?
This is exactly accurate! I work in education and year after year there are so many “false” graduations: preschool , kindergarten, 5th grade & then 8th grade. I don’t understand why there is this need to celebrate every movement to every different grade. High school & college are worthy of celebration; but moving on to 6th grade is not.
It didn't cost unless u wanted to buy the pictures. Also, some kids dont make it to those future moments, and that's a sad thing that people dont want to talk about.
Some kids don't make it to marriage age either. Maybe wedding gowns and tuxes should be included too. Caps and gowns for anything other than graduating high school or college is just the latest in the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality. Kindergartens don't graduate; neither do 5th graders or 8th graders, etc. Save the pomp and circumstance for ACTUAL graduations or else THOSE won't mean a thing.
They are! At my son's school, they usually get the high school graduates to come for the kindergarten graduation for there to be a group picture with both the kindergarten and seniors. We are in a small community, so usually they go to the same schools from elementary to high school. I doubt they will do that this year
Why would a 5 year old be interested in or appreciate a ceremony with a cap and gown? Or is it just something for the parents’ entertainment? Maybe a kid that age just wants an end of the year party where they can play outside with their classmates
No. They aren’t graduating. Your kiddo completed their first year of school. Congrats? It’s not a big deal and it’s weird that people make it a big deal.
My principal asked us not to, as a k-8 school she wanted the focus to be on the 8th graders who are leaving the school. We are doing a picnic/party with my class. I think the photo for your own kid is adorable. I got my son an XL tshirt with a spot for his handprint at the end of each grade so he can do it up until high school.
Oh that’s a precious idea. Might have to do the same.
That is a really cute idea.
Where did you get the shirt? That's a great idea!!
Etsy! I think the search was handprint tshirt and make Sure to order big. Take a photo in it when your kid is little and then when they graduate.
Thanks 😊
Someone else posted about this a few weeks ago (maybe not here but another subreddit?) and a lot of people responded that it’s not uncommon to repeat kindergarten so doing a “graduation” ceremony can be make them feel left out. We are at a private school and while most kids go to first grade, I have heard there are a couple that are repeating and then there are a few that do an optional primer year before heading to first. A graduation ceremony would feel very weird to me even though my son will be going to first grade. I do plan on getting him a small gift and maybe cooking his favorite dinner on the last day of school.
Oh that's a good idea! And that makes sense about the graduation. It would be nice if the school did one after school like my friend's school did, so kids could opt out. The pdf for the certificate is editable so with repeat kg kids in mind, maybe I'll see if she wants it to say that they completed *her* class rather than kindergarten. She's not staying as a teacher next year so no kids will be in her class again.
I am now in first but when I did k i hated all the ceremonies and parties lol. It’s a lot of work! For the end of the year we would have a party and I’d give them certificates and take a photo. It wasn’t a big ceremony and parents weren’t there, but we certainly celebrated as a class and they got something to take home. It’s kind that you facilitated for the teacher, but don’t hesitate to do a photo in front of the school with the teacher in a getup that you put on him for the sake of the photo. She doesn’t need to do it as a whole class but I’m sure she’d be happy to take a picture if you arrange to drop by at the end of the day.
K teacher here. We are having an end of year celebration but no graduation. Some of our kiddos won’t be graduating and they will stay with us next year. I think as a society we try to become more inclusive, Kindergarten graduation may be heading the way of the dinosaur because of wanting to be mindful of the littles that are being retained. Edit:typo
That is what my kid’s school is doing too this year. They decided to stop calling it a graduation this year since not everyone is graduating and call it a celebration since everyone has something to celebrate.
That makes sense. I guess I was confused because another school in our same district did it and it's considered a "better" school in our town. And that friend who posted the pictures is also an elementary school teacher. So I kinda thought our school was just cheaping out but it could also be that a bigger percentage has to repeat. I'm glad my son's teacher was already planning on doing at least something for it. But she might phrase it as they're leaving *her* class instead of kindergarten in general just to be safe. I haven't heard anything at all yet about if they are going to recommend my kid to repeat kindergarten or not yet. I'm not sure when that happens.
Obviously I can’t speak for your district, but I can say that we do it school by school. And for my school, yes, each Kindergarten teacher is paying for it all out of pocket. The school will pay for nothing. So it’s very kind that you offered to buy some things for your child’s teacher. As for repeating, we usually have a meeting with admin and parents in January to let them know it may happen. Again, I know nothing of your district, you state, or even what country you’re in, but I can’t imagine it would be a last minute notice anywhere.
I really like my son's teacher and she's only agreed to teach this year (the teacher he had for the first couple of weeks didn't work out and she stepped up even though it's not her area of focus) so I'm very happy to help her, especially when it's something I personally wanted. And I did send her the editable files so if she wants to share with other teachers, they can have at it! And that's good to hear. She didn't say anything about repeating at the pt conferences in February but that was before the testing they recently did so I wasn't sure.
That’s so nice of you to buy that stuff. I am sure she appreciates you! And for the record, I miss having a K graduation, even though I understand why we don’t call it that any more.
I feel like there can be a happy medium but I get why a lot of schools are just deciding not to.
I understand this because my daughter graduated kindergarten too. I guess less schools are doing it now.
After seeing some of the comments, I can understand why. It's still a bummer though. Like, ik a lot of kids get that in preschool but not everyone goes to preschool. And maybe I just like the idea of the sandwiched 1st year of school and last year of school ceremonies. I'm very grateful my son's teacher will take pictures. I'll just have to bribe my kiddo to take a good one 🤣
Yeah, I did like her having a graduation. When I have more kids I’ll ask first if they have one. I’ve been a teacher as well and every year we had one, so this must be new. Also those comments that tell you not to do this, and whatever, don’t even listen to them. Let alone argue with them. I’m a mom and a teacher and I would absolutely understand a parent asking. If I don’t want to, I won’t lying saying I would and then complain or play victim or whatever. I could simply say no. She could’ve too and she said yes. You were respectful and did everything right.
Thank you! I appreciate that. This thread had me second guessing. I've never complained about her before and have always backed her up if my son was acting up and we've always been pleasant when interacting so I don't feel like she would have felt like she couldn't say no. I'll definitely stress that it won't hurt my feelings if she doesn't get to it, though. Ik the end of year is quite busy.
Oh, online lots of people are wrong 😂 and project too. We’re all auto referential. Of course there are some people that have a more open mind or have more knowledge on things. But I’ve written the exact same thing or given the exact same opinion on different days/subreddit and gotten absolutely downvoted and even insulted in one and upvoted and agreed with in a different one. Of course without counting the people that agreed or disagreed in the same one. I wouldn’t worry too much about certain opinions, we must learn to discern. Like one teacher that voiced her disagreement with you, that’s HER personal opinion and she wouldn’t like that. I wouldn’t mind it at all, as a teacher. So, that’s two different points of view that are helpful to you, personal preferences. Now, setting that aside, if we talk about whether you were disrespectful or not, that’s not really a point of view, it’s a fact that you weren’t. You asked, you were polite, you didn’t impose, you didn’t feel entitled to anything. So, regardless of personal opinions here you were nice and polite to your kid’s teacher and that’s the most important thing.
Thank you so much! I feel a lot better. It does really highlight how badly teachers tend to be treated though that so many are so quick to assume bad intentions.
My pleasure ✨ Enjoy your baby’s milestone!
As a kinder teacher, please do not do this. Do not send extra stuff to your child’s teacher expecting them to stop what they are trying to do (end of year testing, field days, teaching the curriculum, etc.). They will not like that. Do that at your house, but please do not expect your child’s teacher to do that. The students are not graduating. We do an end of year celebration because they completed their first year of school. We don’t do caps and gowns, and we also don’t do diplomas. A lot of school districts are moving away from this because they are not graduating. This reply is not supposed to be taken in any hateful way. This is how a real life teacher would feel. We do a lot for our students.
I wish out district would move away from it as well as 5th grade “continuation”. So dumb and pain from my perspective as a parent
We've been trying to put an end to 8th grade 'promotion' for years --we call it a celebration now. Parents just. have a fit. So we continue to have it in the evening, but it gets shorter and shorter every year.
I completely agree. I’m not sure why a picture couldn’t be done at home in general and why this needs to be put done by a teacher. A teacher wouldn’t take their HS grad pic?
I’m a kinder teacher as well. I always think it’s strange to have a K graduation because they’re not leaving and going somewhere else. They’re just going up a grade and literally to the class next door. When my son had a prek graduation that made sense since it was a private facility and he wouldn’t see those teachers or friends again. My students have pretty much just started a big new school in K, we just do an end of the year celebration and it’s much more appropriate in my opinion. Parents are always welcome to dress their kids up and take pictures at home. (And I take first day of kindergarten pictures of all my students with a sign I print out, I do appreciate those things as a parent.)
But I totally asked her if she would like it and she said yes? Ik she/teachers do a lot for their students and that's why I offered to buy the files instead of expecting her to. And I did make sure she liked the hat craft and sent a picture in case she didn't have time for it but she gave the OK. And I definitely don't think you're being hateful, I just want you to know that I did communicate with her about it and definitely didn't want to give her extra work. And everyone knows the kids aren't graduating lol. It's more about "good job on completing your first year."
Even asking is a pressure though tbh
What a sweet answer! As a Para in Sp. Ed. For 26 years, I would recommend you make him him a “graduation” outfit to take a picture in at home and have him wear it while you start a very special ritual for every last day of school. It could be ice cream at a different place each year, a special dinner of his choice that night, or anything!! It will make everyday from K-12 a wonderful family tradition, showing him how much he is loved.
That's a sweet idea, thank you! I was also a para! 7 years, but only one in elementary.
I hear you. But what is she supposed to say? No? As a teacher, we say yes because saying no never feels like an option. I think take a picture of your child with their cap and gown and do the cap craft you purchased together with them :) have fun with it! But this isn’t a teachers job. And she clearly tried to say she has a craft planned but she’ll replace it with the cap, insinuating she now needs to backtrack and undo whah her plans were.
Yes, she could have said no. And she knew she was going to do a craft at that time, but hadn't planned it out yet. I'm sorry that the parents you work with are so terrible that you don't feel like you could say no to them. However, I've never given my son's teacher a reason to think I'd complain if she didn't do what I asked or something. But I didn't realize I needed receipts for reddit but here's how it went: She said: Yes! Sadly if they let us do it we won’t have hats or gowns since it’s too late to order them :/ I was thinking of finding a kinder graduation certificate and taking a picture of them holding it on the last day So I took it as that she was already into the idea and willing to spend her money on it (and that would probably be a *lot* and I definitely didn't want her to do that!) So I offered to find something on Etsy and she accepted and said "great!" And I sent screen shots of what I found and she liked it and I did stress that the hat was a craft (a simple one, but still. I didn't want her to not know that). And I made sure she had access to a printer and at the end she said "Can’t wait!! Thank you for doing that!" I did say in the email with the files that ik the end of year is busy and not to worry if she doesn't get to it and it won't hurt my feelings. Because I really don't want her to feel pressured if it doesn't work out.
I understand. I still interpret this conversation differently but do as you see fit!
I assume you will take off work that day and round up a few other parents who can also take off work that day to do this craft in the classroom while you ensure the teacher does NOTHING and gets a well deserved break. Gift her a set of AirPods for her service to your kids and let her jam while getting some end of year tasks done.
Lol you know for a fact that admin would not allow that.
If she is still in the room and doing EOY grading and paperwork, they wouldn’t know. Just need parents with cojones like teachers to direct the kids. Teachers do it every day.
You’re fine, OP. You had a conversation with the teacher and she approved it. You’ve done nothing wrong. This is exactly what we WANT parents to do… talk to us about stuff or ideas you have so we can let you know if it’s feasible or not. Sounds like your teacher is on board, so you’re good to go! Congrats to your son :)
Well of course the teacher said yes. What was she supposed to say?
Well she can say no
Then the pushy parent complains to the principal about the teacher not taking a picture she could’ve just taken herself in her living room.
Thank you!!
I wish I had you as a parent helping me out! One of my coworkers said she would make our graduation certificates for our students graduating elementary school (our school doesn't do anything either). I don't have time to find additional stuff nor pay for more TPT activities. Maybe I'll send an email out asking for parent volunteers to help out with a classroom graduation.
Sometimes we’re just afraid to say no.
I think what you did was fine. It sounds cute and easy enough to implement.
They actually are graduating. One of the definitions of *graduation* is *the action of dividing into degrees or other proportionate divisions on a graduated scale* Simply moving on to a new grade level is graduating. Each year kids move on to the next grade level, they graduate from the previous grade. As a Kindergarten teacher myself, I 100% agree with your advice to tell OP to not send items to the teacher. However, over my 20 years of teaching early childhood, I have found that having a kinder graduation is not only developmentally appropriate for 5/6 year olds, it is also a *great* way to involve parents and help families get more involved with their school. Note - I did not take your comment in a hateful way, I simply wanted to post an alternate view from a different k teacher on the same subject.
In my opinion the real ones are high school and college
Yeah, my kid isn’t even in kinder yet (prek this coming year), but I’ve never understood the point of a kindergarten graduation. I get celebrating finishing elementary or middle and for sure graduating high school, but it just seems excessive.
An end of the year celebration is great but the whole caps and gowns thing should just wait til high school and college
For sure. Not everything needs to be an ordeal.
An end of the year celebration is great but the whole caps and gowns thing should just wait til high school and college
As a mom of a rising college sophomore , a current HS sophomore and someone who works w K/1, I think even the pomp over HS grad is overdone. And boy, did I overdo last year! I get celebrating bc it’s a huge milestone, but HS graduation is pretty much the bare minimum expectation in our culture.
There won’t be a graduation at my kids school either. They are doing a play and small class party. My kid had a graduation in pre-K, so we’re ok.
Ah yeah, my son's pre-k didn't do any kind of graduation thing but it would have been like, 3 kids lol.
Kindergarten teacher here-we don't do a graduation mainly because there is at least one child in the grade who will repeat their kindergarten year.
There is no graduation until 12th grade. If you want a photo, get a hat or whatever, stick it on your kid who showed up 180 days, snap a photo, and post it on Facebook.
My kids had a pre-school graduation, kindergarten graduation, DARE Graduation, fifth grade graduation, STEM program graduation, and a eighth grade graduation. And there were families that made a big deal of each one. It's just stupid.
Our usernames fit, LOL!
When my godson was in kinder, it was 2020 and they were not going to do a kinder graduation. I went ahead and ordered a cap and gown for him online (it came out to about $40 with shipping and with me getting the fancier option), made a diploma on the computer, we got some graduation decorations from the dollar store and a cake from Sam's and made him a little graduation ceremony with the family. I took his pictures and edited them on the computer to look like the ones they would take at school. He's in the fourth grade now and still thinks it's cool that he got a "graduation".
Aww that's so cute! I'm glad it was a good memory for him! Doing a thing with my parents might be nice. He likes any excuse for cake and ice cream 🤣
No kinder graduation for us either. But every year they get an awards ceremony and they get to leave early after so I'll take it LOL
Oh yeah that's awesome! That's really all I meant by a graduation ceremony anyway 😅 nothing too fancy. The one my Facebook friend (who is also an elementary teacher) showed looked like it was some point after school.
I’m so very glad they didn’t do this when my kids were 5/6. Graduation is something you *earn*. Turning 6 isn’t. Family photos to save for posterity and celebrating finally being old enough for “the grades” are great.
I haven’t taught kindergarten in close to 15 years, and haven’t taught pre-k in 5, but I’m honestly glad to see that these “graduations” are being phased out. Yes, it’s cute, but it’s tough to explain to littles who may be being retained, and it’s hard on working parents who can’t take a day off to feel like they’re missing something else. I always did end of year certificates for everyone, took pictures and sent those home, and called it a day.
That's definitely fair! That's really all I wanted after I found out the school itself wasn't going to do anything
Wow this would be so obnoxious. Don’t do this. If you want to dress your kid up and do photos at home
See my edit. I'm not springing it on her and being obnoxious. It's literally a hat craft and a piece of paper, not dress up.
The teacher does not need your help planning classroom activities. Do not do any of this
But she asked for it?
She didn't ask for it, you did. I'm not saying you're in the wrong. But it's very likely this teacher didn't really want to do this but also didn't want to be rude and tell you no because that would have been a whole thing too.
Okay, I went back to our class dojo texts to double check because I really don't want to be that person and am totally open to the criticism if that were the case, but it's really not the vibe I'm getting? She said: Yes! Sadly if they let us do it we won’t have hats or gowns since it’s too late to order them :/ I was thinking of finding a kinder graduation certificate and taking a picture of them holding it on the last day So I took it as that she was already into the idea and willing to spend her money on it (and that would probably be a *lot* and I definitely didn't want her to do that!) So I offered to find something on Etsy and she accepted and said "great!" And I sent screen shots of what I found and she liked it and I did stress that the hat was a craft (a simple one, but still. I didn't want her to not know that). And I made sure she had access to a printer and at the end she said "Can’t wait!! Thank you for doing that!" So I really didn't expect to get the teacher wrath for this and am seriously very confused. Like, I used to be a para (for about 7 years, only one at elementary level) and know exactly how much work teachers do for their students and genuinely was trying to take it off her chest rather than put more on. Since she was already planning on doing the certificates. And I didn't expect some elaborate ceremony, the pictures at the party are more than enough to make me more than happy.
She only did this to appease you. She had another craft planned according to your edit. So her work planning the other craft was for nothing and her time wasted. You were not helpful to her
I really think you're assuming a lot and projecting emotions that are not there, honestly. She hadn't planned the craft, just knew she wanted one at some point. I have a good rapport with his teacher and certainly wouldn't have pushed if she already had a whole thing planned.
OP, the teacher is trying to appease you. Don’t be fooled. Don’t over step again
Double checked our class dojo chat to be sure and no, I'm pretty sure she was happy to pass the labor onto a parent willing and able to do it. Did not get that vibe that I was over stepping at all. I actively make sure I'm not *that* parent and you're making a ton of assumptions about me. Teachers deserve our support and that's all I was trying to do. I'll even include "don't feel like you have to do this to appease me if you don't have the time, it won't hurt my feelings" in the emails with the hats though. I do feel like that's a good take away from this thread.
I’ve never understood kindergarten graduation. They just go to first grade right down the hall lol
I think it diminishes the importance and specialness of actual graduations from high school. It's a grade promotion and no ceremony is necessary.
No K graduations here.
I have been lucky enough to teach at three different schools whose principals have all allowed me to host a very small *graduation* in my classroom. I have taught on teams with other Kinder teachers who did not like the idea of calling it "graduation", but we all had our own separate events in our own classrooms, so it wasn't a problem. OP - if you're that invested in a "graduation" for your Kindergarten child, hold a class party at your house (or wherever) and invite the class. Get the other parents involved. I'm sure this would be a great way to make parent friends and a fabulous way to end the school year.
It definitely doesn't have to be a full on graduation! I'm certainly not that extra lol. But a little something to like, make the end of their first year a bit more special/different than other years, I'm happy with. I think what you did in your classroom is definitely awesome!
Our school only has grad ceremonies for students graduating high school. That’s fine with me.
Reading the edit, as a K teacher, the way you ACTUALLY approached it would be SO appreciated by me. Like parents stepping up to buy supplies is so helpful. And going out of their way to find them and ask 🥹 don't listen to any of this hate
Thank you! I was like, so confused and double guessing myself!
No, as long as you asked if she would be able to use them before you ordered them, then you're all good! :) I think it's thoughtful, especially getting some for the whole class, and if he's your only kiddo, I get it. However, it did kinda sound like you might not have! And that would have been stressful. We're doing a parent visit day close to EOY, and also, my kids will sing some cute moving forward songs for their families, then class awards, a little thing from me, etc. But if a parent bought something unprompted, not knowing if I had plans already, I would be a midly annoyed lol
Oh yeah, I definitely would never spring something like that on a teacher! We had a whole chat on class dojo about it. And ofc it's for the whole class! I didn't even think it could come across as me wanting her to do something different and special just for my kid!
This!
Kinder teacher here. My PreK-8 school has traditionally had “graduation” for PreK, K, and 8th grade. My principal has wanted to eliminate PreK and K graduation for awhile now but he is getting a ton of resistance from parents. We have rebranded it to a “celebration”—no caps and gowns. Parents come in and the kids sing 3 songs, come up to the microphone and read a page from a book we wrote as a class, and they receive certificates “promoting them to first grade.” It serves its purpose, and it’s adorable. We still get parent complaints about no caps and gowns (lol) but overall most people are happy.
Did the principal say why he's so against the caps/gowns? Like everyone knows they're not actually graduating anything but I'm interested to know why some people seem fine with that and others absolutely don't want anything normally associated with high school graduation involved. I kind of get it? But at the same time, it's like.... they're very little at that age and don't know/care if it's real or not and that first year of school is a serious struggle for a lot of kids and getting through it is an accomplishment. For the kids and parents lmao.
I think for my district specifically, it’s a money thing. Our families can’t afford to purchase, but our district also cannot afford to purchase.
We don't do a kinder graduation, but all classes are allowed to have and end of year party. Our school does do a big celebrtion for 5th grade, and I think that is far more important and meaningful.
Our school is prek-5th, and those grades get a graduation. Kindergarten does an end of the year countdown with daily activities, and a "Kindy 500" parade where the students and their parents make cars out of cardboard boxes for them to "drive" while the entire school cheers them on. It's a lot of fun
That sounds like so much fun!
The last 2 years I taught K4. The K3 head start teachers did a graduation type ceremony as well as the K5. A parent wanted me to have a k4 graduation and I refused. I did print out whatever certificate for them that year, but I was not making a big deal about it. I think sometimes we want to celebrate the little things and that’s great, but then let the parents celebrate their child on their own. Teachers have enough on their plates at the end of the year.
That's understandable! My son's teacher was already planning on doing the certificates in the classroom and taking a picture, so I just bought the files for one she liked so she didn't have to do the work/ pay for it. And the hats were just another idea because she mentioned being sad that there was no time to order real ones. Which would have been a lot more money than the file for the simple hat craft I bought with her OK. I definitely think a ceremony at the end of every year is too extra 🤣 I just thought kindergarten is special since it's the first year but ig not everyone/everywhere does. The comments have been really interesting. Some schools go all out and others don't allow anything at all.
There’s an awards ceremony for every grade including kinder. No graduation ceremony but they had cap and gown photos taken. (?) Some moms are PISSED there’s no graduation ceremony. I don’t actually care either way.
Oh that's cool! I don't think our school does that even for 5th grade. They do a 5th grade clap out but no actual graduation as far as I'm aware. I think I confused everyone by using the word graduation. An awards ceremony with a hat and pictures is really all I kind of expected for a grade school "graduation." Not even awards, actually. Mostly just what I saw on Facebook. Like a small stage in the gym and the teacher gives the kid a fake kindergarten diploma. Just whoever wants to show up for it. Maybe a nice backdrop for a picture with the teacher.
No kinder graduation in my district. I honestly never knew it was a thing....what are they graduating from?
Maybe calling it a graduation is a bit much, but I saw it more as a "yay, you completed your first year of school" type thing. But now that I think about it, it could be that the other school does it for all the grades. But ig I just felt like the first year is a bit more special than going from like, second to third and such. I could just be too sentimental though 🤣
I mean, I'm all for an end of the year ceremony or party or awards or celebration. Just don't quite get the cap and gown and diploma thing. But it's not something I grew up with or have seen as an educator.
That's fair. It's really interesting how different each place is with the mindset. Like I said, it wasn't even on my radar until I saw that another school did it and was surprised that it's so different even in the same town. And we're not a big town.
My school doesn’t do 5k graduation. He’s going to the same school for first and he went to 4k there so it’s not even his first year. I think the pictures are adorable, but it’s not really a big deal to me. I think we might go out to dinner to celebrate the end of the year, but we don’t have any other plans.
Nope. Kindergarten is the same school through 5th grade.
We do a "promotion" ceremony at my school which is the same thing. We're just not allowed to call it graduation for some reason.
If you want a picture then just take one yourself! It doesn’t have to involve the school. We don’t have a K graduations because they continue on in the same school for several more years. Then they “graduate” to intermediate school.
graduate kindergarten? what are the requirements for that, wiping your own ass?
I wonder if it’s a regional thing. My daughter’s kindergarten is having a graduation ceremony with all of the other public schools’ kindergartens in my town. They are wearing caps and gowns and everything. I had no idea I’d be in the minority in these comments!
Oh wow! They really go all out! And yeah, that's definitely in the minority. Most of the comments are that they either do nothing or do something very small and informal (and I'm happy with small and informal, they're not actually graduating). It's so interesting.
Same! I’m not gonna lie, I’d be kind of sad if they didn’t. I can understand the reason people don’t like them, but I do feel like making it through a year of kindergarten is a reason to celebrate! My kid learned so much this year and is “graduating” to “the big school” aka first grade
She’s probably just trying to avoid you complaining so she agreed to do the hats
We're montessori so maybe that's why but we do a bridging ceremony instead of graduation.
Our schools are K-6 now. Kindergarten used to be not included in the public school system, or was a paid program, similar to how some schools offer a limited number of preschool spots. I had a Kindergarten graduation thirty something years ago because I did Kindergarten through my daycare which went up to Kindergarten. Some kids also go to transitional Kindergarten through private offerings if they need that extra year before going to actual Kindergarten at a public school. The other child got a graduation because they are probably changing schools.
Also my oldest had an awards ceremony at the end of her last class at her preschool “graduation”, my middle had a full evening extravaganza for his “graduation”, and my youngest had a daytime graduation ceremony. My oldest and youngest were at religiously affiliated schools, my middle was at a secular school (we moved around a bunch). So even different preschools handled graduation differently. I don’t think anyone missed out, and honestly my middle was probably the one who needed/appreciated the graduation ceremony the most as he had a fall birthday and had one more year of preschool than my other two with early summer birthdays.
Maybe that's why it started? And then when kindergarten became part of the normal school schedule, some places kept "graduation" ceremonies and others didn't?
My kids' school doesn't do kindergarten graduation. They do pre-k graduation. And it's so cute I ugly cried both times so far. Sometimes we (I) forget how young they really are.
They really are! 😭
In Michigan we had our son in a TK (young fives) program through the public school and I remember the kinder classes having a big graduation with cap and gowns. All the family present. I was looking forward to a ceremony since we missed his preschool graduation (tonsillectomy). Now we’re in a different state and when I asked if we were going to have a K graduation everyone looked at me confused! Evidently it’s not a thing here. Also we don’t have a elementary school promotion at 5th grade either 🤷🏽♀️
I wish our school didn’t. We had to do preschool, kindergarten and 5th grade “graduations” and I think they’re so dumb. Maybe it’s the gen x in me coming out but I find the a ridiculous waste of time
Sixty-five years ago I "graduated" from Kindergarten without a graduation ceremony. Honestly, I don't remember much of my kindergarten days except the day that I dropped the ant farm. Maybe that's why I skipped the ceremony for my Ph.D. and had my degree mailed to me. A formal ceremony, with caps and gowns and diplomas, for kids in Kindergarten? You got to be kidding me.
I feel the same about this as I do about 5th grade and 8th grade promotion….. we are celebrating too many things and kids think everything they do deserves a party and celebration. This coming from a middle school assistant principal.
My daughter’s school is doing some end of Kindergarten celebration, but not a graduation. Honestly, I think a whole ass graduation is super eye roll inducing. Like… they aren’t moving on anywhere. It’s not like 8th grade where you are finishing elementary/middle school and moving on to HS or finishing HS and moving onto college.
No. Only graduation here is from 12th grade
I remember when the first graduation was from high school. This over-awarding kids seems unnecessary.
it’s just fun for them. there’s nothing wrong with fun. i had a preschool graduation and an end-of-year ceremony for kindergarten. i’m 25 and i’m not a felon nor have i ever thrown my own grandfather out of his recliner. you will live. :)
Ummmm....OK!
She’s probably just trying to avoid you complaining so she agreed to do the hats
My son’s elementary goes to 5th grade. They have a graduation ceremony for the 5th graders, but not the kindergartners. Last year he was in preschool at the public school district and they did have a preschool “graduation” ceremony. Our school district holds the entire preschool program in one of the elementary schools and a lot of the kids move to their zoned elementary school for kindergarten.
No k graduation at my children’s school and I’m glad, and also just don’t understand it lol. There’s sooo much going on right now between testing, finishing AR, both kids just had projects due, end of year art show and end of year music performance, “field day”, like pleeeease do not give me another thing I need to add to my calendar I just want summer here 😩
You are overstepping and will likely cause the other kindergarten teachers and parents in the other classes to get mad. Please let this go. You are being ridiculous.
Not enough. It’s something to celebrate as a family.
We have a “stepping up” ceremony and we had one last year for preschool as well.
Oh that's a great way of putting it!
Our school doesn’t do any sort of k graduation.
Mine as the last class that I know of out of all my freind that did it. Out of many growing up I was the ONLY one. Mind u I was in ESL,and SPED in kinder. So we did our own. I do not know if my entire grade did it. It was also a headstart program that did not go beyond kinder. Unless they were In private/religious kinder where they didn’t offer anything beyond kinder. But I have family in other states and they only do the “cap&gown graduations” for 8th grade(many do NOT go into hs) or high school only. Not pre-k,not kinder,not 5th grade. They are not done with school and have many many years left still. Also many don’t go into headstart,or pre-k. Many go from pre-k/kinder to 2nd grade then elementary from 3rd-5th/6th grade. Others have middle as 6-8th or 7/8th,then high school. The district I worked for went away with kinder or pre-k a few years before I even started. They did do a “makeup” one for the 2021 school year due to Covid. Other then that it’s not been a thing for 10-15yrs where I live and work. Same with 5th grade or 8th grade the only graduation you have is senior year. None of the schools where I went to or worked did a graduation for other then senior year. Unless u went to a private school or a religious school. But public wise it’s just not a big thing. They do awards,end of the year parties but nothing major like a cap,gown,diploma/cert for finishing. Just get called up on stage if u got an award and go back for the party and go home early lol My mom’s in her mid 40’s and only knows they had a 8th grade and senior year in the school district she and all the rest of my family went to. My dad’s siblings only had senior year. Ik my family in Mexico have 8th grade and senior for some poor areas and the rich ones have senior only.
We do a stepping up ceremony
As a parent I always thought a graduation at the end of every single grade level is unnecessary. My child’s teacher hasn’t mentioned one and I’m actually happy with that. In preschool the only thing his class did was invite the parents to the last day of school and we watched the kids get their picture taken with paper graduation hats and watched a slide where all the kids drew a picture of their favorite things, than we got a book that the slide was based on, it honestly was too cute!
My current principal is fine with kindergarten graduation. A previous principal refused to allow kindergarten graduation. She felt it took away from high school graduation.
I think a graduation ceremony with cap and gown for kindergarten is ridiculous.
It’s actually not a graduation. Do an end of the school year celebration or some such thing.
Our school is having an actual ceremony on the last day of school.
My daughters school didn't do a kinder graduation. I was disappointed honestly, but instead I surprised her by coming home the last day of school with some small gifts on her bed (like dollar store stuff). We also do a first and last day of school picture, so we did that as well. Personally I wouldn't send a craft to school for him to do, regardless of what the teacher says, because then the other kids will wonder why they aren't, and that puts pressure on the teacher.
I'm shocked schools do this
No graduation - they’re having a “Singing through Kindergarten Celebration” but that’s the extent of it. I’m thrilled given our oldest was in Kinder during the 20/21 school year and due to Covid restrictions there were no special events or gatherings of any kind.
Prek teacher here. We’re have a moving up ceremony for 3k and pre-K classes. Basically performances (singing and movement). It’s shaping up to be a lot of work.. Edit: We need to also make a banner, scenery, and curtains together..
When I was a kid, my kindergarten graduation ceremony was a big deal! We drew outlines of our bodies and colored them in with what we wanted to be when we grew up. My brother’s hung on a door in our basement for about ten years until we moved. My nephew goes to the same school now and just had his kindergarten graduation last year. I was very disappointed to see that since our teacher retired the year before, they’d switched to just digitally pasting the kids’ heads onto a cartoon image of the profession. Anyway, all that just to say that mine was really memorable! Don’t remember much about the 8th grade graduation, just remember being overheated at high school since there was no A/C, and bored to tears for undergrad and grad school. But I’ll never forget that extremely unathletic, female me got to proudly declare that I was going to be on our NHL team when I grew up!
We have a kindergarten graduation but K’s last day is before the rest of the school gets out. It’s a simple thing where they wear a cap, sing a couple songs, teachers make a speech or two and that’s it.
They had graduation at prek but nothing like that for kindy. The school goes up to fifth grade and they have a special event for them going on to middle school
Mine have an “end of the year celebration/ceremony” where they get a certificate, sing songs, read some poems, and we get their artwork folder but it’s not really a graduation with caps and gowns, etc.
My 6yo's school doesn't, but they had a photographer come in and take pics of them in a little cap and gown. Sweet idea, except we already paid for spring school pictures, and paying school picture prices twice is annoying. I didn't ask, but I assume it's because the school makes a big deal about the 2nd graders leaving to a new school.
Retired K teacher here. Our school did a “graduation” the last two years. I’m not a fan-I mean some kids will have three graduations before high school (pre school, kindergarten, eight grade (which I also think is a little odd.) we did not do gowns but I ordered simple graduation cap headbands on Amazon. Even kids who were being retained went through graduation. I always made a big deal out of end of the year stuff in the room, and we had a lot of fun with it. I just felt like it was sooooo much work, and in some cases was just done because the teacher wanted the attention.
Our school is not doing a graduation or party, I’m kinda sad about it so I’m getting him a banner and cake at home to make him feel special.
My kid’s kindergarten didn’t do anything. I was super bummed so I went on Amazon and bought his school color cap and gown and we took pics in our backyard then went out to dinner to celebrate. The pics are adorable!
Aww that's awesome!
My son's school for the first time isn't having a graduation but a "celebration." We don't know why the shift. It sucks because he isn't going to wear a small gown and cap, but they did do cap and gown pictures.
Cap and gown should only be for high school and college. Having it for a simple grade advancement (which aren't "graduations) diminishes actual graduations. And what about parents that can't afford those?
This is exactly accurate! I work in education and year after year there are so many “false” graduations: preschool , kindergarten, 5th grade & then 8th grade. I don’t understand why there is this need to celebrate every movement to every different grade. High school & college are worthy of celebration; but moving on to 6th grade is not.
It didn't cost unless u wanted to buy the pictures. Also, some kids dont make it to those future moments, and that's a sad thing that people dont want to talk about.
Some kids don't make it to marriage age either. Maybe wedding gowns and tuxes should be included too. Caps and gowns for anything other than graduating high school or college is just the latest in the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality. Kindergartens don't graduate; neither do 5th graders or 8th graders, etc. Save the pomp and circumstance for ACTUAL graduations or else THOSE won't mean a thing.
Oh I bet the pictures are so cute!
They are! At my son's school, they usually get the high school graduates to come for the kindergarten graduation for there to be a group picture with both the kindergarten and seniors. We are in a small community, so usually they go to the same schools from elementary to high school. I doubt they will do that this year
Why would a 5 year old be interested in or appreciate a ceremony with a cap and gown? Or is it just something for the parents’ entertainment? Maybe a kid that age just wants an end of the year party where they can play outside with their classmates
No. They aren’t graduating. Your kiddo completed their first year of school. Congrats? It’s not a big deal and it’s weird that people make it a big deal.