Promotion Day

Molly is off in Hawaii (more on that soon!), and I have a moment to gather photos from last Friday, which marked Molly's Promotion from Elementary School to Middle School. This is a major milestone in the Berkeley Schools, which breaks things up into Elementary (K-5th), Middle (6th-8th), and High (9th-12th) schools. Molly attended John Muir Elementary for Kindergarten, and we switched to Malcolm X Elementary for First Grade, simply because it is two blocks from our house (Berkeley assigns schools based on a very complex lottery, which means all the schools are awesome, but choosing schools is not exactly possible - long story, but the result was that we had Molly switch schools after Kindergarten).

The Promotion ceremony itself was absolutely beautiful: beautiful (well rehearsed!) choral singing interspersed with very short statements of gratitude from all ~80 5th graders.

Pictures:
Our family card (Zach dug up an absolutely amazing picture of Molly & Clara on Molly's first day of Kindergarten); Molly & Clara on their last day of school together; Molly giving her "gratitude" speech; on stage with classmates; receiving her certificate; post ceremony celebrations with Zach; Ms. Arroyo (her 1st grade teacher); and with Ms. Speiglman (her 5th grade teacher).