Chicklet’s 5th Grade Graduation!

Oh, MAN, peeps. 

What a wonderful, emotional, incredible day we had yesterday, celebrating…Chicklet’s 5th grade graduation!

This girl doesn’t enjoy posing for photos, ever. But holy goodness, did I make the MOST of the couple shots she allowed, once she was all dolled up and ready for her ceremony.

These two (above and below) are golden, and I’m so grateful for them!



Knowing how much time the kiddos have been spending outdoors in the sweaty stinky heat, we made a plan for Chicklet to shower once she got home from school, yesterday. Then I gave her hair a blow out and curled it for her, before she transitioned to Chica for styling. :)

I love how much Chicklet has begun to go to her sissy for up dos. She trusts Chica vastly more than me, and, let’s be honest, Chica has a greater depth and breadth of techniques at this point!



Such a beautiful mane. :)



Considering how INSANE our past few weeks have been, I considered it a massive victory that we made it to the ceremony with plenty of time to spare, without angst, and ready to celebrate our girl.

The night prior, Chicklet told me that, even though Chica had a 7th grade awards ceremony yesterday, as well, she wanted the day to be about HER, and I absolutely agreed! 5th grade graduation is a massive milestone and celebration-worthy event!

I did my level best to really hype up the day and make my beloved middle-born feel special—plus, I’ve learned some tips and tricks along the way to help make things easier. Like, schedule planning, outfit selection (many weeks prior), and just little odds and ends to ensure Chicklet arrived for her ceremony feeling confident and proud—and she DID.

I’m grateful that the cafeteria was jam-packed and standing room only, as it helped me focus on our community of friends so I wouldn’t get overly emotional before the whole shebang even started!

Bless my slew of Mama friends for helping to capture shots of my girl at various times throughout the evening. I love this one…



Having been through one 5th grade graduation and awards ceremony before, I knew a bit more about what to expect this go-‘round. 

That said, beyond having Chicklet’s club honors and affiliations called out when she crossed the stage for her certificate, I didn’t go in to this with any expectations of additional award medals (nor did Chicklet!), so color me shocked and OVERJOYED when my girl snagged not one, but, two, amazing awards!

The first, for Conduct Excellence…



(I love how tickled she was for other friends when their names were also called.)



And the second award, which absolutely floored me: Academic Excellence (Straight A’s)!



Anyone who’s followed along with this here blog knows that my neurodivergent, unicorn of a dyslexic child has had quite the academic rollercoaster to overcome.

She’s had years of turmoil and years of unprecedented growth and I will always, always be awed by the amount of effort she applies to things that come much easier to other students who don’t grapple with the joys and challenges of dyslexia.

Several years ago, I determined that it was unimportant and, quite frankly, unhelpful for us to track Chicklet’s daily or nine weeks grades, as it most certainly wasn’t the marker of her growth and accumulation of knowledge.

Of course, I participated in all homework, glanced at every graded assignment or test that came home in her folder, but I left the slew of in-classroom and digitally graded work alone, without deeming it necessary to micromanage or track.

I had regular parent teacher meetings to discuss anything vital, and I reviewed her tri-annual MAP growth assessment scores, but beyond that…we let it all lie.

So, holy GOODNESS, what a shock and joy to see my girl called out for academic excellence! Of course, I’ve always known she’s academically excellent, but to have her called out as such, among her peer group…ugh. It certainly had me tearing up for two reasons: the surprise of it all, and the mountain she climbed to get there.

Even zoomed in from afar, it was evident how proud she was to be up there on that stage, and knowing she hadn’t expected any medals at all made the achievement so much sweeter.



Following the remainder of the awards, the kiddos two stinking adorable and perfect songs with choreography (one of them was Unwritten, which gets me on a good day), and I was definitely tearing up, yet again, during the performances.



Luckily, they rounded out the whole hoopla with the levity of the kiddos’ future career plans, and I didn’t need to see Chicklet’s slide show to know her answer. :)





Afterwards, the adults and guests were ushered to the gym for photo opportunities and refreshments, and the graduates met us there shortly after, for a whole slew of hyperactivity and silly photos. Truly, the best part for all of them!





























Back home, we devoured some PF Chang’s (Chicklet’s runner-up choice, since her favorite soup dumpling place was closed), and got to the presents. The part she’d definitely been anticipating. ;)





She knew, due to the tradition established with Chica, that she’d be getting a cell phone, but she opened the other present first…a pretty sentimental one.



It’s a special audiobook from the school library that was Chicklet’s very first to ever check out.

Chicklet was granted special early permission by the librarian to check it out in 2nd grade (typically, the device permission slips aren’t allowed until 3rd), when she was having a really tough time with her reading comprehension.

The librarian, who I’ve known and adored for years, also has a neurodivergent child, and took a keen interest it helping Chicklet to boost her reading confidence any way she could. 

This particular audibook selection—The War That Saved My Life—was so random and not at all what I would have guessed Chicklet might check out, that I immediately assumed it wouldn’t snag her interest, especially since I think she just grabbed it by accident when it was the first one she encountered. 

But she adored it, was in a whole world to herself any time she listened to it, and checked it out several times over her elementary career.

When we talked about her transition to middle school and what she would miss, she always listed the library and this particular audiobook as the things she’d be sad to leave behind.

Welp.

I decided I wanted to get her a special copy of this audiobook, but in order to get one exactly like this (an all-in-one recorded device and not a digital file to play on another device), a special registration and approval was necessary, as they only sell to libraries or staff.

When I shared this with the school librarian (she knew what I was attempting), and we ran in to roadblocks getting me proper clearance, the librarian helped me out in a MAJOR way with a “gift” that had me overwhelmed with gratitude…and I made a donation to the school library to help counteract that gift. ;)

Of all things, this audibook is such a representation of my girl and her reading journey and the village of educators who have helped her along her way, and I’m so stinking happy that this copy will get to live with her, always.

After that, the phone was pretty much the downhill slide of our evening and celebration, if you can believe it, ha.

I still have to run Chicklet through the LENGTHY phone contract we required for Chica, as well, and I’ll be pretty stringent with the device and Chicklet’s usage for the foreseeable future, but…at least with our first kiddo under our belt, I know a bit more about what to expect in this regard. :)





I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have this massive, amazing, memorable milestone in the books, and to know it was a GOOD DAY for my beloved Chicklet.

She amazes me every, dang day, her smile lights up my life, and she has nothing but incredible things in her future.

More catch-up posts in the coming days, peeps!

Over and out.