Last Day of Kindergarten

Despite all the weather that winter threw at us this past year, school did finally come to an end.  Surprisingly enough, this day was just as emotional as day one.  We still find it hard to believe that Callie has completed kindergarten and is moving on to first grade.  How did that happen so fast?

Callie had such a wonderful first year of school, and it was in no small part because of the fantastic teachers she had in her classroom.  Here she is with Miss Bargo, the teaching assistant for her class all year long.  Callie thought Miss Bargo was pretty cool.  Our favorite story about Miss Bargo comes from five days before Christmas break, when she asked Callie if she had a proper winter jacket because Callie kept going to school with her Cape Cod sweatshirt or a fall jacket that was a wee bit small.  John likes to think we were trying to toughen Callie up.  But truth be told, we had bought a winter jacket for Christmas and really just needed her to deal with the cold until Christmas morning.  The guilt was a little deeper in the days after Miss Bargo showed how much she cared about Callie.

Mrs. Bradley was Callie's teacher and was a perfect match.  She is kind, gentle, and firm, with both high expectations of her kids and a good sense of humor.  Callie loved learning about her and her family, and we could tell that Mrs. Bradley really knew Callie well and cared about her as a person.  It was great to be able to get a picture like this on the last day.

And here she is on the very last day, leaving Colts camp and kindergarten behind until school starts up again in August.  It is truly amazing how much Callie learned throughout the year.  She started in August not being able to read a word and ended it reading chapter books.  She also gained a number of friends, and we heard a lot of stories about Maddie Rudd and Kennedy Preston.  We heard quite a few stories about her and her friends chasing the boys at lunch, but we tried not to focus on those too much.  Just as important, she ended the school year excited to start the next one.  And first grade will be here before we know it.