Originally Posted By LVBelle OK, you wonderful, creative people, I need some serious help! Because we have so many kinder kids at our school, each teacher does their own graduation ceremony. So I'm in charge of coming up with a ceremony for my class. I can pretty much do whatever I want for it. One idea that I have is for us to do sign language to a song. My cousin would be able to translate something for us and teach us so it really could be anything we choose. I want something appropriate and not too difficult, these are five year old kids, most of whom have English as a second language. I think I'm also going to have each student tell their parents what they would like to be when they grow up. Any one else have any ideas for me? Please?
Originally Posted By Ursula How about celebrating them as children? They can sign the lyrics to It's a Small World. They can just do the chorus and the first stanza, or you can do the stanza and they can do the chorus. (How cute would that be with you leading them!) The repetitive factor will help them learn it fairly easy, too. I love the idea of what they want to be when they grow up, too. They can all each say what they want, have the diploma ceremony, then finish with Small World.
Originally Posted By Ursula Another idea to add is to have a craft day and have the boys make paper boutonnieres for the boys and paper flowers for the girls.
Originally Posted By Ursula ^OOps. I meant the boys make their own and the girls make their own. They are mostly not from here? Is there a song mostly in their native tongue they sing for the parents? (Are the parents bilingual as well as most of you children or do they just speak the home language?)
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 I kind of don't get the appeal of the signing thing. Would this exercise be a culmination to what they've learned about languages over the year? Do they know someone deaf, so that signing would have personal relevance to them? If not, it seems to me that this would be a difficult task that would have little meaning to them. If your objective is to create a stunning display, better then to create a choreographed song and dance number in a language that's more comfortable to them than ASL, I think. I like the idea of "What I want to be when I grow up." ESPECIALLY if these kids... are "high risk" or... are from a culture in which educational achievement can't be taken for granted or... have lack of self-esteem that creates a barrier to fulfillment... I REALLY like the idea of celebrating each kid for who s/he is. Could you have each member of the class tell you what they think is special about each other member of the class? This exercise would not only elicit positive feedback about each classmate, but it could teach every kid who gives feedback that there are positive aspects of everyone else in the room. You could take those peer comments and (supplementing with your own insights) write a little personal testimonial to read at each student's graduation. Thank you for taking your task so seriously, LVBelle! Your students are fortunate to have a teacher as dedicated as you are.
Originally Posted By tinkerbell1962 LVBelle, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" is easy to sign to, they just sign the important words - not the song literally. Have your cousin help you with this. It's adorable. How about a few of the more popular Greg and Steve songs - this year we're singing "The World is a Rainbow" and "The Magic of Reading". I'm at Title 1 school and over 50% of our kiddies are second language learners too. There is another song, it's in English and Spanish, sorry I don't know who sings it, but it starts out "When I tell you that I love you," (it's burned onto my Graduation CD) and it's a two kleenex song!! The parents love it!! I'll try to see who it's by. (I'm home sick today) Listen to some Charlotte Diamond songs too. Our promotion ceremony is done at one time on our school stage - we have just under 100 kiddies this year and we only sing 5 or 6 songs and then have cake, cookies and punch. Good luck!!
Originally Posted By alexbook "Kindergarten graduation"?!?! Sorry, but the very idea has me a bit stunned. Do they wear caps and gowns? Do they get diplomas? Is there a valedictorian? A commencement speaker?
Originally Posted By DAR My dad's school usually has one but I don't know if they have any of the things you mentioned. It is however the one graduation across America where there is a 100% success rate. To my knowledge nobody has failed eating milk and graham crackers. <<How about celebrating them as children? They can sign the lyrics to It's a Small World. They can just do the chorus and the first stanza, or you can do the stanza and they can do the chorus. (How cute would that be with you leading them!) The repetitive factor will help them learn it fairly easy, too. I love the idea of what they want to be when they grow up, too. They can all each say what they want, have the diploma ceremony, then finish with Small World.>> So who gets to be Stich Buzz and Woody?
Originally Posted By tiggerdis_ Maybe you could video tape the "what I want to be when I grow up" and intersperse it between It's a Small World - I think if most of these kids are from different cultures, they could perhaps dress in their native clothing. This would give meaning to It's a Small World for their parents. Oh and another thought, if you're going to video tape it.... have the parents provide a baby picture, and scan it in to your powerpoint presentation, then show the picture of the child saying what they want to be when they grow up. My experience with K children, is that all of a sudden in front of the parents they get quite quiet. This way no parent would miss what their child had to say.
Originally Posted By mater4 At my DD's kinder graduation they had a bbq where the parents brought the supplies or side dish to go with hotdogs. They then sang a few songs and did a little dance. Before the bbq lunch there were several activity stations for them to play at.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains What about a DVD showing of pix of the kids from throughout the year - to see how they have grown and matured!
Originally Posted By LVBelle Thanks for all of the great ideas, everyone! I'm starting to get an idea in my mind how I want this to go, I'm hoping we'd be able to do a powerpoint or video presentation. I love the idea of showing pictures from throughout the year! Inspector, the idea for the sign language came because I usually do invite my cousin in to do a lesson or two with it, the kids love it and it's always nice to teach a bit more about diversity. The kids always catch on really fast and have a great time with it! And, yes, I do have little caps for my kids, I ordered them from Oriental Trading and they're so cute!
Originally Posted By dsnykid I make a power point slide show with pictures of the kids throughout the year and scan in some of their drawings and writing, along with quotes of cute or funny things they have said. We watch it at graduation and then each family gets a copy of it. We begin the ceremony with Oh Canada, which always impresses the families, then we do a sample of our favorite things throughout the year; last year we sang our favorite phonics song, read aloud our favorite poem, and had all the guest do the chicken dance with us. After that it was the recognition of parent volunteers. We then watch the slide show and break for cake and punch. After the break the guests take their seats again and I present the kids with their diplomas. When everyone has their diploma we sing a kindergarten graduation song that goes to the tune of the Addam's Family and I formally present them as the Graduating Class of whatever, but I say the year in which they will graduate high school, instead of the current year. Hope that wasn't too long of a post, or too boring.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Cool, LVBelle! I assumed that the kids would struggle with ASL. I'm glad I was wrong!
Originally Posted By LVBelle Oooo, dsnykid, what are the lyrics to the song that goes with the Addam's Family? We already do a days of the week song that goes with that and the kids love it, I bet they'd love the graduation song!
Originally Posted By LVBelle Nevermind, did some googling and found the song! Have you seen this website? <a href="http://www.littlegiraffes.com/graduation.html" target="_blank">http://www.littlegiraffes.com/...ion.html</a> The cookies are too cute!
Originally Posted By dsnykid The cookies are very cute! And that is the song we sing, and they love it because it is so easy to learn. I may just have to make those cookies in Kindercooking.
Originally Posted By JazzCat I love the "It's a Small World" idea. What if you had the non ESL kids sing it in English and then the ESL students could sing it in their language.
Originally Posted By LVBelle Thanks for asking guys! Preparations are going well. The kids have pretty much nailed the song to the tune of "New York, New York," complete with dance moves. It's adorable! They're close to being ready with the song set to the "Addams Family" theme song. I have a power point about halfway done, I just need to add the pictures that I took last week. Unfortunately, due to a death in the family, my cousin hasn't been able to come in yet for sign language. I'm not sure we're going to be able to do that part. But if we can't, that's OK too, I think we have enough going on and I can always add more to the powerpoint.
