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We're a small K-8 school - 130 kids, give or take, more like a really big family - and we usually graduate 8-10 kids per year (many of whom will be going to different high schools in the fall), so we're very much into tradition. The last two weeks of school, tables are set up outside the office and on them, each eighth grader's family places a tri-fold board (like science fair boards, you know?) covered with pictures of the graduate from birth to the present, and centered with a one-page biography written by the graduate's parents. Some are serious, some are funny, all bring tears to your eyes, especially the ones that over the years have included pix of deceased siblings or parents. Teachers and students cruise the halls looking at the pictures and tearing up as they realize that these kids are going away and they may never see some of them again. This tradition started in our church, which does the same thing on the first Sunday after high school graduations in the area, as each family of a graduating senior gets a whole or half table (depending on the number of kids graduating that year) to set up a display of pictures, trophies, certificates, scrapbooks, autographed footballs, and so on. The displays also make an appearance at that family's graduation party. Our eighth graders are then sent off in grand style at a semi-formal banquet graduation ceremony to which all families and students are invited (it's a pay-per-plate affair, but people who want to be there just to see the ceremony can come after the meal), at which the displays are set up again for the enjoyment of all the visiting families. The grads sit together at a head table, where their gifts from teachers and classmates (pens, little gag fits, bookmarks, small gift books, and so on) are arranged at each plate, and tons of pix are taken. A class video made by one of the parents is usually shown, made up of still pix borrowed from parents and classmates, bits of field trip videos and holiday performances and sporting events, overlaid with music popular with that class. Each grad gets a copy of it, one of their most treasured gifts. The evening always ends with the class being timed as they come around the table and arrange themselves in alphabetical order for the last time, in order to go forward and receive their diploma from the school board president and a hug from the principal. This always makes everyone laugh, since they do it so fast, having practiced for so many years together. It's always a funny/sad/nostalgic night. At some point in the evening, the class president and VP present the principal with a class gift for the school, paid for with some of the money each class starts raising in sixth grade, for their eighth grade trip (They do car washes, hot dog lunch sales, babysitting nights, and so on, so each child's trip is paid for by the time they graduate. Trips have included Cedar Point, MI dunes, skiing, and a trip to Chicago, depending on the class's drive, creativity, and work ethics, since they must raise the money, plan the trip, and make all the arrangements, backed up by watchful parents.Gifts have included books to the library, a picnic table for the teachers, and sports equipment.) Then, as a last act, the eighth graders are driven to the school the night before the last day by a couple of cooperative (and chaperoning) parents, to decorate the school grounds as a going away gift. They TP the bushes, put up funny signs, and chalk messages on the sidewalks to the kids they leave behind; the seventh graders then clean it up the next day, knowing that their time is coming.... I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Betty Winslow, Media Center Director BGCA Bowling Green, OH bgcalib@wcnet.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/ EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/ LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html --------------------------------------------------------------------