Once upon a time there was a silly, brave, kind, and sooo loved Kindergarten class. We met together everyday at St. Paul American School with our teachers Ms. Joanne and Ms. Hien.
Everyday we sang a song to share our feelings. We danced to music; jumped on chairs to escape the lava; we played and pretended, laughed a lot, and learned soo much. Everyday was full of joy, magic, and love.
Everyday we explored the wonderful world around us. We rescued snails on wet days and collected cicada skins when the weather grew hot. When a caterpillar was lost and scared in the grass, compassionate Hangyeol found a tree where it could be safe. Explorer Kai, holding Ms. Joanne’s hand, wandered under the trees in search of the smallest, roundest mushrooms to keep and share with his little brother. We even took care of a crab! We learned that all creatures deserve love and care.
We learned how to write. Each day we wrote our own ideas into stories. After each lesson, Yunseol worked hard to improve her writing word by word, sentence by sentence, with so much effort and care. Rosie persevered and found the courage to read her work proudly out loud! We made our stories into shadow puppet shows and movies that made our families laugh and gasp. We were heroes and villains battling ghosts in our castle. We stretched ourselves bigger and greater in the characters we imagined, and kept some courage in our hearts even when play was over.
We learned how to take care of our feelings. Daniel found comfort in a warm hug to heal a broken heart. When we faced disappointment, we found ways to stay positive and solve problems. In Jiho’s words “Ugh,I made a mistake, but I can fix it!” When something felt hard or scary, we persevered. “Md. Joanne, It’s hard but I’m trying my best!” Hayul would say.
We learned that community means loving and helping the people around us. Minh Phuc shared his snack, toys, and silliness with us everyday, giving generously to make his friends happy. We learned passionately to help our brains grow, like Gyumin hungry for every new challenge and chance to improve.
We learned that each one of us is special and important. We learned how much we are loved, and how much love we deserve.
A million little moments make up a year. A million problems, a million solutions, a million ideas and tears and hugs. How special and beautiful to share all of that with a group of people – a community, our Kindergarten. So when our year together was almost finished, it was so hard to say goodbye. We had been happy and safe together.
Facing a big change felt scary. There’s so much we didn’t know yet. What would happen next year? What new challenges would we face? Would it be hard? Would it be good? Could we do it?
But, like little trees in a new season, we knew that through change and challenge, we grow. What we didn’t know yet, we’d learn soon. The next season, the next year, like life, would be as good and happy as we were willing to make it. It was up to us.
And at the heart of it all, there’s nothing we will truly lose. Because all of our learning, all the love and joy that filled our year, will be with us always like the roots that help a tree grow.
And so our Minh Phuc, Yunseol, Rosie, Daniel, Gyumin, Hangyeol, Jiho, Kai and Hayul gathered their courage in their big hearts and stood tall. They looked ahead toward a bright and beautiful future: the things they would learn, the communities they would love, and the wonderful people they would become. And they lived happily, bravely ever after, growing and growing and growing…
The end. And the beginning!