Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  “Oh, Where Oh Where Has the School Year Gone?” sang the Nederland Caribou Mountain Preschool students last Thursday.

It was the last day of the Nederland Elementary School preschool and as teachers and students prepared to say goodbye, clean their cubbies, find important papers and hug their teachers good-bye, the pre-K students partied, celebrating their succession completion of preschool requirements.

Parents wondered where, oh where, their babies had gone, as they watched their soon-to-be kindergartners sing to the tune of “Oh Where, oh Where, Can My Little Dog Be?”

The morning and afternoon classes each had their own ceremony, a time to sing for their families and pose for graduation pictures before they got to the cake.

In the morning, there were four graduates and in the afternoon there were 14. Teacher Meaghan McLuckie led the students through their songs and kept them mostly together for the ceremony.

NES principal Laurel Reckert congratulated the young students. This was her first year in Nederland and she agreed that the year had just whizzed by.

“It has been an amazing first year at NES. Our students are fantastic learners and friends to one another. Our teachers are phenomenal and work hard day in and day out to support our kids. Our parents are wonderful and so involved in the school community. I feel so lucky to be the principal of this fabulous school.

“The last day is bittersweet since the halls and classrooms will be quiet for two and a half months.”

The school was far from quiet when the end of the year bell rang and a mighty cheer went up from the classrooms as the kids poured into the hallways and then out the doors and onto the buses.

The preschoolers experienced their first academic milestone, just one of several before they reach the end of their K-12 journey.

(Originally published in the May 31, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)