180 Days of Giving It Your All

You thought Kindergarten was easy?

This is what 180 days looks like.  180 days of blood, sweat, and tears.  180 days of Kindergarten.  You may remember it as passive time spent eating glue.  Not in these times.  This is Graeme's actual shirt after 180 days of giving everything he has into developing reading, writing, math, science, language, social, emotional and artistic skills.  Actually, this wasn't even the worst of the bunch.  I recently buckled and threw one away.

Each morning I ironed these shirts!  You may have heard me gripe from time to time about the condition of the shirts, the poor quality of the materials or how I believed there was a conspiracy with the school store - giving kickbacks to the Art Dept for each replacement shirt bought.  Truth is, I couldn't be happier for his shirts to look like this after 180 days.  This is physical proof of giving it your all.  This is physical proof of developing relationships, making friends, tackling problems head on, making mistakes and, most importantly, keeping the belief that learning is fun and that the journey along the way is worthwhile.  This shirt may be our proudest accomplishment Graeme had all year.

It was an adventurous year.  Learning Journey's, Art Shows, Music Recitals, Gymnastics, Yoga, Soccer, Play Dates, Class trips, Birthday Parties, building of an entire Dinosaur Museum (and then acting as the Curator for almost 400 guests!), Creating and Working a functional Mail Delivery for the entire school, SSIS Innovate, Family Fun Days, Tet Performances, International Day on stage performances......along the way Graeme developed his reading level to surpass that which is necessary for 1st Grade, as well as the requisite skills in Math, Writing, etc...

There is no "Moving On" ceremony at SSIS for KG to 1st Grade.  Personally, I am a bit glad for that but to be honest, watching him get on the bus this morning for the last time as a Kindergartener, knowing the next time he gets on he will be in 1st Grade, was a bit more emotional then I imagined it was going to be.

So this afternoon, I proudly pick up our "Kindergartner" and leave the campus knowing he will return next time as a 1st Grader and that with the help and guidance of such a great team including Mr. Chris, Ms. Hue, Ms. Jennifer, Miss Loan, Miss Barton, Miss Chinh, Miss Mandy, Miss Duyen, Mr. Bouhet, Miss Nhat, Miss Melissa, Dr. Keller, Miss Roxanne, and Miss Reynolds (I am sure I missed someone!) and to the entire Elementary School staff at SSIS who have helped Graeme be ready to tackle the next level head on with all the necessary building blocks in place to continue his educational journey with the foundation that learning is fun.

Here are some highlights from the year in KG -

Last steps as a Kindergartner

Recital shirts stayed clean!

Silly Class Pic

Best Bud Minh

A thinker....

Day 1

100 Days w/ Mr. Chris!

Teamwork

Twins Day

Next stop is USA - NJ first 3 weeks then Norcal for the remainder.....Graeme will be showcasing his new little brother and he is very excited about that!

Hoa Binh, 
The Hawken's in HCMC