It’s a whole new world for this kindergartener

Elise Gee

EASTBLUFF -- With scarcely a backward glance, 6-year-old Grant

Garrett marched off into the half-sized world of finger painting,

“pretend kitchens,” and ABCs.

Grant began his first day of kindergarten at Eastbluff Elementary

School on Thursday morning and the prospect had him in tears before

breakfast. Less than a few hours later, however, the only crying Grant

was doing in Mary Jo Carew’s classroom was the mock “Wah! Wah! Wah!” of

the baby in the third verse of the popular children’s song “The Wheels on

the Bus Go Round and Round.” And he was doing it with a big wide grin.

A few minutes later, he was chirping with numerous tidbits of

information that 6-year-olds seem to soak up with spongelike ease such

as: “Uno means one in espanol,” and “If spiders spin webs, that means

it’s a girl and if spiders don’t spin webs, that means they’re a boy.”

Grant will make up the very first kindergarten class in the newly

opened Eastbluff school. As an “early bird,” Grant begins his day at 8:30

a.m.

As his mother scrambled to pack his lunch with his favorite yogurt and

meet his 7-year-old sister Amanda’s insistent cries for pencils for her

pencil box, Grant attacked a bowl of Cheerios.

“Who’s excited?” asked Grant’s mother Julia.

“Me,” said the 6-year-old halfheartedly.

One Flintstone vitamin and a bowl of cereal later, Grant began the

15-minute walk to Eastbluff. Armed with a lunch box full of his favorite

treats, a backpack complete with a red flashing light for crossing the

street and a promise of a visit to Chuck E Cheese’s after school, Grant

was ready to tackle the day.

“Who’s happy?” Julia asks.

“Me,” Grant said, a little more convincingly this time.

After a quick pledge of allegiance, in which Grant held both hands

over his nervous stomach, it was off to class. Throughout the next four

hours, Grant and his new classmates learned the ropes of being

kindergarteners: raising your hand to speak, sitting cross-legged on the

carpet, “freezing” like ice cubes when the teacher says to freeze.

One of the highlights of the day was the tour of the bathroom and

learning the bathroom “signal,” which is the sign language symbol for the

letter T (for toilet).

Grant and his classmates volunteered various helpful hints on proper

bathroom behavior including not “peeing” on the floor and lifting the

toilet seat up if you’re a boy and of course, not playing with the toilet

paper rolls.

They spent the rest of the morning playing with blocks, pasting

colored shapes on paper and drawing pictures of themselves.

Grant concentrated on drawing a picture of himself and spent a few

minutes being perplexed over how to draw a white shirt. With the same

concentration he employed to finish off his bowl of cereal, Grant

furrowed his brow and huffed and sighed, as he has a habit of doing, and

drew his picture.

Classmates around him had a series of mishaps and revelations. One

child spilled glue after the cap fell off his bottle. Another child tried

to recite his ABCs until he got to T, U and V and said, “I don’t know my

ABCs.” A third child announced “I don’t know how to read.”

During the coming year, Grant and the children in his class will have

plenty of time to learn the basics, work on their hand-eye coordination

and just be kids.

Asked what he liked best about school, Grant said matter-of-factly,

and with the air of someone who knows how to make up his mind: “I don’t

know yet.”

But he will soon enough.