Kindergarten Graduation @ Little Giraffes Teaching Ideas

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	KinderGraduation/End of the Year Songs 4 Teachers

We begin with a poem called Kindergarten, where one or two kids hold up the letters and each recites one line. Then we sing several songs, including one to the Addams' Family tune; First Grade, First Grade; and America to Me by Jack Hartman.

KINDERGARTEN Poem

Each child (or pair of children) hold a large letter and have one line to say. I send their line home for parents to help with the memorization.

K is for Kindergarten---hip, hip, hooray.
I is for imagination we use everyday.
N is for numbers--we know one, two, three.
D is for drawing, the best you can see!
E is for exercise to keep our bodies strong.
R is for reading books all day long.
G is for good friends. We made more each day.
A is for the alphabet we know how to say.
R is for remembering everything we learned.
T is for treats every Friday we earned.
E is for excitement. This year we've had some.
N is for next year. First grade here we come.

Addams' Family Song

(tune of Addams' Family-snap fingers on the "clicks")

Duh-duh-duh-duh, click, click
Duh-duh-duh-duh, click, click
Duh-duh-duh-duh,
Duh-duh-duh-duh,
Duh-duh-duh-duh, click, click

We learned our ABC's
And counting 1, 2, 3's.
And now we know all these,
The kindergarten class.

And we learned how to share.
And we learned how to care.
Just ask us if you dare,
The kindergarten class.

Duh-duh-duh-duh, click, click
Duh-duh-duh-duh, click, click
Duh-duh-duh-duh,
Duh-duh-duh-duh,
Duh-duh-duh-duh, click, click

It seems we've just begun
And now we're almost done.
This year's been so much fun!
The kindergarten class.

But we must say so long.
With this our little song.
But we'll be back ‘fore long.
The kindergarten class.

Duh-duh-duh-duh, click, click
Duh-duh-duh-duh, click, click
Duh-duh-duh-duh,
Duh-duh-duh-duh,
Duh-duh-duh-duh, click, click

First Grade, First Grade

(Sing to the tune of New York, New York. It ends with a kickline.)

Start spreading the news.
We're leaving today.
We want to be a part of it,
First Grade, First Grade.

We're ready to go.
We've worked very hard.
We want to be a part of it,
First Grade, First Grade.

We know our ABCs and 123s so well.
We've worked at sounding out words
And stories to tell.

Just ask us to rhyme.
We'll say "tens" and "pens".
We've learned to share and get along
With all our friends.

So now we've made it here,
We'll make it anywhere.
We're on our way
First Grade, First Grade.

We usually do the songs first. Then we go back out the door, put on our mortarboards (they would have fallen off during the kickline) and parade back in to the graduation song. I give each child an award and a diploma. I end by saying, "I'd like to present the Class of 2016." That usually gets a big laugh.

Afterward, we have a small "reception" with some goodies. I bring the drink and cookies, but I ask parents to help with the snacks.

The program probably takes 20-30 minutes and another 15 for the food. I always do it at the end of the day so the kids can leave with their parents when they want. Also, keeping it short means some parents can use it as their lunch time from work and don't have to miss work. I also do it a week or two before the end of school because it is just too much to organize on that very last day of school.

Make graduation hat cookies to serve. The base are chocolate covered marshmallow cookies. Use chocolate frosting to "glue" on a chocolate covered graham cracker (square shape if you can find it). Then use more frosting to attach the string licorice tassels.

More Ideas from the A to Z Teacher Stuff Forums

TUNE: Toys R Us jingle - substitute your school's name

I don't want to grow up
I'm a Walnut Hill kid
I've learned so many things at school that I can grow with.
like reading books and making friends at the best darn school there is
And if you ask me when I'm grown I'll say,
I'll always be a Walnut Hill kid.

We also played a video to " What a Wonderful World" and "Friends" . There wasn't a dry eye in the whole room. Hope this helps.

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We are singing some of our favorite songs from the year. We are sing ABC from one of the Greg and Steve CD's, and The cool bear hunt, Macerna Months, the shape song, and the little red box(a song about loving our families) all by Dr. Jean. We are singing with the CD b/c we (3's &4s) do better that way. We are also singing you are my sun shine. Each child brought in a family picture and we put them on Sun SHines the kids colored after the song the kids give them to their parents. We also video us durning a day and interviewed all the kids. We asked them thier name, the parents name and what they want to be when they grow up. The parents always seem to love these.

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I am also a first year Kindergarten teacher and struggled to come up with something to do. My class wrote a new version of The Ants Go Marching that contains each of their names. Here is an example...

The Kindergarteners go marching one by one,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The Kindergarteners go marching one by one,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The Kindergarteners go marching one by one,
Jacqueline stops to enjoy the sun.
And they all go marching down to the school to go in to first grade.

Four by four... Sandy stops to sweep the floor.
Eleven by eleven... Kevin stops to shout,"We're done... Thank heaven!"

Good Luck!!!!
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When we started kindergarten we couldn't have felt smaller
But we've been growing, growing and not just growing taller.

We've learned to read and learned to write and learned our numbers too.
There are many other things that we have learned to do.
Kindergarten is over now but we're not afraid
Because we know we are ready for 1st grade!
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