All right guys, it's another great day at the happiest place on earth, the Central
Ballet Kindergarten Center.
Are you ready to learn, grow and dream?
We are at the Kindergarten Center and this is where it all started.
It started as a vision for how to alleviate the overcrowding in Liberty Lake Elementary
and Green Acres Elementary.
And so the Kindergarten Center opened in 2006.
I think that our first class is now Softmore's.
Ten years ago I came to the Kindergarten Center.
I remember the year that I came was the year that we got the swing set and it was like
the biggest thing in the world.
Everyone was so excited, like the whole school came out and we were on the swing set all
day.
Yeah, the rules were you had to sing the ABCs twice then you got off.
I always love coming to school because of the recess.
What happens here?
Well somebody said once the Kindergarten Center is like Disneyland.
Someone's either always smiling, crying or throwing up or doing all three at the same
time.
The Kindergarten Center, this is Terry.
I'm Mallory and I'm in Kindergarten and my teacher is Mrs. Snipe.
I like to do math.
I love library.
First we play outside, we did pre-choice and we did math.
Kindergarten is magical, I think that's the best way to describe this age.
They're all five and six year olds and everything is like the first time.
They're always so enthusiastic if you say homework, they're like yay or reading, yay.
I've learned words, I've learned subtraction and adding.
I can read words so I can find out what they are without asking mom or dad.
Math is probably my favorite learning to count to a hundred.
I was so bad at that.
I remember releasing the butterflies at the Kindergarten Center.
I remember going to the pumpkin patch.
We got to take a pumpkin.
All of us taught the same grade and so they were all these wonderful ideas that these
teachers had and I loved it.
To me it was like a candy store.
I think my favorite is when we do the gingerbread hunt.
We would have the cookies hidden in the school someplace and our principal or secretaries
might have little pieces of cookie on their face.
And the kids would come in trying to find their gingerbread people and we would have
this frosting on our face and they were like, you ate my gingerbread man's leg.
You know?
I go, no I really didn't.
All of the celebrations that we would put together for the kids to make it special,
to make it something that they would remember.
They've learned so much from September to June, it's like night and day.
They come as little babies and they're leaving now as big kids.
The walls have heard their squeals and their happy voices.
It's just a joyful noise that you hear all through the kindergarten center every day.
One of the most wonderful things a child ever said to me, if I can say it without crying,
he had struggled and we got to a point of learning where he got it.
He totally got it, totally understood it.
I said, I am so proud of you and he said, I know.
I know what proud looks like and that's how you looked at me.
I hope that people can realize what a special place this has been.
We just know each other really, we hang out outside of school, we just really all become
really a family.
We did a lot of life together in 11 years.
I couldn't ask for better teammates or friends.
We've shared a lot of life together.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hi.
It has been heaven on earth for a school.
I'm going to miss it.
I'm going to miss it a lot.
Nobody's going to be able to recreate the kindergarten center and it is probably the
most awesome school to be involved in.
We said our goodbyes.
It was like the bye-bye butterfly and see a later alligator.
That's what I remember the most.
