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| M. with Big Sister A. |
A.: M. do you know what a graduate is?
M.: No.
A.: A graduate is someone who has their shoes on the top
shelf.
We thought this was so cute! A. is absolutely right, graduates's shoes are on the top shelves of our shoe shelves. We have little traditions at our school and the placement of shoes on the shoe shelves is one of them. When you begin at our school, your shoes are on the bottom shelves. Each year you are with us, your shoes move up until they are on the top shelves. That is the year that you are a graduate. It is your final year before you begin grade one.
Inspired by A., we asked this year's graduates to tell us what a graduate is.
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| Half Day Graduate A. |
A. says that as a graduate "We need to listen more than the younger ones."
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| Full Day Graduates Z. and A. |
This is what Z. (on the left) and A. (on the right) had to say.
Z.: A graduate is someone who helps little kids. If they get hurt we help them.
A.: Yeah. They zip up little kid's jackets too.
Z.: Yeah. That's what a graduate does.
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| Half Day Graduate D. |
D. says "A graduate is a big person who helps the small person."
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| Full Day Graduate E. |
E. says "A graduate does really hard stuff and they do the things the little kids don't do. They do the really hard work."
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| Full Day Graduate R. |
R. says "A graduate helps people do things. When someone is sad a graduate helps you feel better."
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| Half Day Graduate S. |
S. says "A graduate is a big person who does big work!"
It was such fun to speak individually with each child. It is always very interesting to see how the children are perceiving their world. As a whole, they captured what a graduate in a Montessori classroom is. This year's graduates are doing hard work, helping and comforting their younger classmates and setting a wonderful example for all of us. We are looking forward to being a part of all the fascinating things that their final year at our little yellow school holds for them.
