First day of school goes ‘smoothly’ for class

By Cassandra Mickens

The Selma Times-Journal

Kindergarten teacher Adrienne Lee had zero complaints Thursday – the first day of school for students at Byrd Elementary and all schools throughout Selma and Dallas County.

And she’s happy about that.

“It has been going great. It has been running smoothly on the first day,” said Lee, who has taught kindergarten at Byrd for the past three years.

“We had a couple of kids crying – missing mommy or baby sister,” she said. “But I think that’s because all of the adjustments they have to go through. Now, you can’t even tell the ones who cried.”

Lee said parents didn’t take too long to adjust either.

“(Parents) want them to be independent – just getting into the swing of following directions and getting them into the swing of school which is so different from home.”

Lee then looks on at her 13 students, all of whom are stationed in learning centers and conversing with one another while using Lego-style blocks to build structures of their imaginations.

“We’re building a classroom, a community – getting to know each other and interacting with each other,” Lee said.

Earlier in the day, Lee and her new students participated in an icebreaker activity. Students were asked to introduce themselves, tell their age and their favorite color. And then came the big question came along – “What do we want to learn in kindergarten?”

“Some said they want to learn to read, some said they want to learn letters and six said they wanted to learn how to do homework,” Lee said smiling.

“Others said they want to play and do numbers. “I’ve had some interesting answers.”

After introductions were made, the law of the land was established.

“We have gone over the procedures several times. We have gone over the rules and consequences several times,” Lee said.

As the school day drew to a close, the students cleaned up their learning centers and placed their used items back into their assigned cubbies. Lee, who says her work is an “unbelievable experience,” has nothing but a positive outlook on the activities and adventures she and her students will embark upon.

“I know this is going to be an exciting, exciting, exciting year,” she said.