KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION AND THE AMCA AWARDS CEREMONY

Tonight was Agape Montessori Christian Academy's Kindergarten Graduation and Awards Ceremony. James has been looking forward to his turn in the cap and gown for a couple years now, so he was pretty pumped to get there and get the celebration started!

(Brandon, Ashia, Josh, Abbi, Ms. Tina, James, Adrian, Coley, and Kayla)

After a quick photo shoot, the graduates walked in to 'Pomp and Circumstance':

 

They sang a kindergarten graduation song (sorry, I didn't catch the start of it!), recited a Psalm, and demonstrated their knowledge of money:

After all the graduates were on stage, their teacher, Ms. Tina, and AMCA's director, Ms. Amy, handed out the kindergarten awards. James received "All A Honor Roll" and the "Mathematics Achievement Award", and we are all very pleased with those accomplishments!

Not only are we pleased with his final grades, we are happy to see that he improved throughout the year (not just in his studies, but in how he works and listens too). Now we just need to work on his participation for next year... (And I'll just note that attendance must not have been tracked as diligently this past semester, because I know James missed a couple days due to illness. Those 3 absences at the beginning of the year were our fault though - the kids missed the start of school because we were out in California.)

 

 Next up was the presentation of diplomas, where each graduate received a rose from Ms. Tina and a framed certificate, and a few seconds of glory at the front of the group while they posed for photos and everyone clapped and cheered! I'm thankful that the kids had the opportunity to get up in front of their families and fellow students to celebrate their big milestone - they were visibly proud, and it felt really good to witness that.

 

When it was Cora's turn, her K4 class (well, some of them - just the girls!) came on stage to sing a song called "The Rules Rap", which was pretty cute. Then they each received an award or two. Cora took home the "Best Reader Award" (which she loved receiving!) and we are super proud of how much she has learned this year. She's going into kindergarten ready and excited!

(Hannah, Emma, Cora, and Avery)

Before we left the house earlier, we snapped some photos of our graduate:

And to celebrate after the ceremony, we went to Orange Leaf, per the kids' request:

He's pretty happy about the graduation medal he received - far more exciting than a framed piece of paper! (Though he did immediately request that we hang his diploma up in his room, so we'll need to do that tomorrow!)