Onward and upward

Suzie Harrison

It’s one of the rites of parenthood and they must be prepared; their

children are getting older now, more independent. It’s time for them

to branch out, seek higher education and spend a little bit of time

away from home. It’s a fact of life and there is no turning back once

one’s child gets on that bus in pursuit of kindergarten.

The first day of school is of course the most difficult, for the

parents that is. In Lisa William’s and Gretchen Sjule’s class at El

Morro, Sjule said the parents had a hard time saying goodbye, not

wanting to leave, peaking into the classroom a few times just to

double check that everything is going as well as it was the second

before when they last peered in.

Even the weather cooperated -- it was dressed in fall fashion,

with crisp air, and a slight cool breeze, blowing in the tides of a

new beginning.

The most popular emotion the kindergarten students said they were

feeling about their first day of school was exciting or excited

depending on how one wanted to use the form of the verb.

“I feel exciting and happy,” Cayla Henderson said. “I was coloring

and being happy with my friends.”

She said she feels like a big girl now and thinks kindergarten is

going to be really fun.

Tyler Lavine, 5, could have written a book about all the great

things he experienced on his first day.

“It was great, I liked the part when everyone sits down at the

table and made the schools,” Tyler said. “I liked the Clifford story

too -- my favorite part of the story was when he accidentally gets in

the powder and they have to clean him off and when he is the king of

the castle and there is paint all over him now. Then he climbs up on

a sail and falls, I just like that part.”

He said he also enjoyed playing with his friends.

Tyler compared the class to pre-school, he was in pre-Kindergarten

too, he found it to be a bit easier there, holding his fingers a

couple inches apart to illustrate.

“I’m going to try my best,” Tyler said. “And when I grow up I want

to be three things -- a doctor, a singer and a hockey player.”

Before he achieves those goals he is looking forward to learning

more things, how to write cursive and learning how to play right.

On the first day there was some intensive groundwork being laid.

“They had play time outside, circle time for stories, puzzles,

they wrote their numbers, identified colors,” Sjule said. “They made

a cute school house for craft and learned the rules.”

Kelsey Paul, 5, said her first day of school was good.

“I woke up tired, I was excited waiting and waiting for the bus,”

Kelsey said. “I was asking my mom when, when, when is the bus coming?

I got excited when it got here.”

She said she liked going on the bus and she thinks that she is

going to meet a lot of new friends.

Charlotte Rose said with a huge smile, while she was on a swing,

that her first day was fun.

“I liked the teacher reading a book and going on the swings,”

Charlotte said. “I woke up feeling excited and riding on the bus was

fun. I like learning the most.”

She said she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up because

she likes dogs and cats.

Of all the children spoken with, the success rate of satisfaction

was 100%. Learning and having fun was on the menu for kindergarten

and all the children enjoyed every last bite.