The magnolia outside of Crocker is in full, magnificent bloom, the forsythia on the Marshall recess field are bursting with yellow blossoms, and the bird songs in the early morning are sweet and clear.  Spring has arrived and with it, our Applewild days are full to brimming with activities and fun.

Last week’s presentation by the Kindergarten through third grade students of The Emperor’s New Clothes was a delightful highlight. We all enjoyed our actors’ and singers’ wonderful skills on stage. We know that when the curtain closes on our Marshall students’ musical, the end of the year is coming all-too-soon. We have had a full and productive year, and the students have grown by leaps and bounds physically, socially, and academically. We are proud of their growth and see that they are very nearly ready to go on to new horizons, yet we are pleased that we do not have to let them travel on just yet. We have more to accomplish this year!

Shorts are permitted on May 1^st, another sure sign of the nearing end of school. We have an exciting Lower School/Upper School Buddy Field Day planned for Friday, May 2nd. Grandparents/Special Persons’ Day is Friday, May 9^th and that special shared joy between children and their guests is palpable and exciting. Our Spring Concert for Kindergarten through grade five is Thursday, May 15th at 2:30 p.m. in the Alumni Theater for Performing Arts. Family and friends are invited, and children should wear “Concert Dress”. The All-School Spring Concert is on Friday morning, May 16th. Concert dress should be worn at the morning concert, too.

We have Step-Up Day on Tuesday, May 20th. Our Kindergartners go upstairs and spend an hour in the first grade to assess what Next Year might be like, while first graders go down the hall to second grade to do the same. Our second graders go up the hall to experience third grade, and I walk our third graders up the hill to visit the fourth grade. Fourth graders travel down the hall to fifth grade classrooms and our fifth graders will go downstairs to the sixth grade wing. New students are invited to attend this event. This short period in the next year’s classrooms does a lot to alleviate some worries and the children are usually very excited to move up momentarily and then return back to the security of their current rooms and teachers.

Being ready to move on does not mean it is easy to leave the familiarity of the current grade and well-loved teacher.�Lower School students often feel the frantic flurries of butterflies in the stomach when they think about Next Year. And surprising and often frustrating to the adults around them, Lower School students, after making tremendous growth all year long, often revert to their September selves at the end of the year. This slipping back before moving ahead is a natural part of the cycle of child growth and development, and one that requires patience and understanding from all the important adults in the children’s lives.