The Busiest Time of the Year for Early Childhood

Welcome Back Friends 😊

This is one of the busiest times of the year at our preschool/childcare centers. Over the past 20+ years, we have created many traditions within our company culture, but springtime traditions seem to be the busiest of them all, starting with celebration of young children, then creating excitement for summer camp with a teaser of activities during spring break week, leading into teacher appreciation week, and the biggest milestone tradition of all...Pre-k Graduation!

Let’s talk about Traditions!

What are traditions? It’s a significant event that has a history and special meaning that occurs each year.

So, why do we tire ourselves out with all these traditions?

Why are traditions important?

Rite of passage –a child is moving from stage in life to the next. In our schools, this Pre-K Graduation. We want to celebrate the all they have achieved in their first five years with us, and create excitement for their next adventure into Kindergarten. 

Creates a rhythm for the year – This allows children, teachers, and families to know what is ahead and to get excited! Our annual traditions start out with the fall fest and lead into holiday concerts.

Fosters community – These traditions allow for families, children, and teachers to gather to get to know each other. It provides the families an opportunity to celebrate, learn, and to be involved in their child’s school.

Creates memories- For the children, families, and teachers to reflect back on through shared stories and documentation. We create photo books that are placed in the classrooms and shared spaces.

Are traditions necessary and valued?

 “YES!”

Let me share this memory with you of one year that really stands out: (you may have a similar memory)

It is March 20, 2020, and we are required to close our centers because of COVID. It is a long six weeks before we have any guidelines about when we can resume the school year. As we rush to put all the new guidelines in place so that we can continue to care and educate children, a teacher asks me, “How are we going to celebrate children graduating this year?”

With so many new restrictions such as masks, no large gatherings, needing to be so many feet apart this was going to be a challenge. Pre-K graduation is a rite of passage for the children to celebrate what they have learned; it is a sense of accomplishment and pride that each of them deserved to celebrate to help with the transition to kindergarten.

Unable to continue with all our annual Pre-K graduation plan, we have to pivot because this was a very important tradition that was valued within our center. Instead of gathering in a large school auditorium, we gathered outside in our school parking lot. Each child had a designated parking spot for their parents to park the car. We encourage parents to decorate their car, we decorated each parking spot with a yard sign and the graduates name in chalk. Parents sat in chairs outside the car, with their camera ready for pictures, as we played Pomp and Circumstance, each child was dressed in their cap and gown ready to receive their Pre-K diploma.

We were able to carry on this tradition! As a community we created new memories that honored this rite of passage for those 2020 Pre-K graduates and their families!

Just remember that ….

And each journey is worth celebrating!

Till Next Time,

Jen

P.S. Here are my Top 5 Graduation Ideas.

P.P.S. Are you ready for teacher appreciation week? Read here to get some inspiration🍎