We end the school year with many lovely traditions.

Tradition #1. Children draw names out of a hat and secretly make a gift for a fellow student. Then using materials at school, the children spend many hours creating just the right gift after thinking about what makes that person unique. Sitting in a circle, one by one the children present their gifts and describe how they were inspired. This is a touching way we celebrate each and every child.

Tradition #2. We spend our penultimate day at Shove Park.Highlights of our day included the creek walk, and building dams and playing on the playgrounds. This year we also had a chess tournament. The high water level in the creek added excitement to our day, as did the frigid temperature of the water. Our long day ended with an emotional moving on ceremony for eight children.

Tradition #3. On the last half day we celebrated all the children by reading letters to each and every one. They were also presented with a “gift” which represents the content of their letter. The letter is the “real” gift, though the box often grabs each child’s attention more…. as it should because the boxes are all so fascinating to look at. This was a very moving four hour ceremony.