The MSOSV Moving Up Ceremony is a milestone marker for our kindergarteners, a moment when the whole school community pauses to recognize how far these children have come. And the journey has been remarkable.

Montessori Kindergarten is the final year in a three-year journey through primary. By the time a child reaches their kindergarten year, they have accumulated skills, habits, and a depth of understanding that most people outside the Montessori world find surprising. The Moving Up Ceremony is a chance to show that work and reflect on each child’s growth.

Each child will receive a certificate recognizing the completion of their kindergarten year. They will showcase three year-long projects: a scrapbook that documents their growth from the beginning of the year, a set of original narrative stories that demonstrate their developing language and writing skills, and a button tree that represents the accumulation of fine motor and practical life work over years of practice.

Together, the kindergarteners will plant a tree on campus. It will stay there long after they have moved on, a living reminder of the children who cared for this school and for each other.

Each campus will add its own personal touch to the ceremony, whether that is reciting a poem, sharing a self-portrait, or talking about what they want to be when they grow up. Primary classrooms will come out to watch and cheer on their kindergarten community. And when the ceremony is complete, there is an ice cream social and a reception for kindergarten families to celebrate this milestone in their child’s Montessori journey.

For the children, this is the moment when everything they have worked toward comes into focus. For the families, it is a chance to witness who their child has become. And for all of us at MSOSV, it is a reminder of why we do this work.

The Moving Up Ceremony takes place on Friday, May 29th for our Cabrillo and Peak Ave Montessori campuses and on Friday, June 12th for our Cantera and Crescent Montessori campuses. Families of kindergarteners, along with grandparents and loved ones, are warmly invited. We look forward to celebrating with you.