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After Kindergarten graduation this morning, my little girl is now a first grader.

Wait! What just happened? It's been 9 months already??!!

I spent yesterday afternoon going through the 500+ papers that Molly brought home this school year. Yes, I filed them all and no, they aren't all staying!

As I waded through the huge pile, I couldn't help but be impressed by just how much Molly learned this year. I realized that she'd been learning all along, but until yesterday when I sat down and looked at it all, I didn't really appreciate how much she was expected to absorb in the past 9 months. When I went back to those papers from the beginning of the year; the ones where she struggled to keep the letters of her name on the lines and where she stressed about matching letters to their sounds, it seemed like those concepts were from so long ago. I have vague recollections of asking each day what the new letter sound was or which number they were working on, but it all seems so trivial compared to what she can do now.

I spread out the papers on the floor in a neat progression: letters to sounds to blends to words to sentences to stories. I looked at her journal that began with sloppy pictures and ended with fully illustrated stories neatly written on handwriting paper with proper spelling. I laughed about her backwards 2s and 5s and 6s from the beginning of the year. And I beamed at those same numbers written correctly in addition and subtraction word problems from last week.

This year was like the perfect storm for Molly. The right school, the right teacher, and the right time for her. Everything about her Kindergarten experience was terrific and we know just how blessed we are to have this little girl who loves learning so much.

Molly's class put on a half hour performance this morning full of songs and poems and Bible verses. They began by walking in 2 by 2 to Pomp and Circumstance and ended with their own rendition of "New York New York" that earned them a standing ovation. So BRAVO my little first grader... I couldn't be prouder of who you are and what you've accomplished! I know you'll make it in FIRST GRADE!

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We're leaving today.

We want to be a part of

First grade, first grade

We've worked very hard

Our teacher is proud.

So open up those doors to

First grade, first grade.

We know our alphabet

And numbers too.

We all can write our names

And tie our shoes!

So when summer's done

And we're finished with play

Our mom's will send us to

First grade, first grade.

If we can make it here

We'll make it anywhere

So here we come

First grade, first grade.