“Now that everyone is here, I would like each one of you to tell everyone at your table what your name is,” Miss Nell told the class. “I’m Brian and you must be cry baby,” he said to Aleisha. “Yeah, only babies cry for their mommies,” Katie added. Katie and Brian had arrived on the bus that had been late and had joined Tyler, Aleisha, Jerome and Miranda at their group table. Aleisha started to get upset again, “I’m not a baby!” she protested. “Miss Nell! Miss Nell!” Miranda called out. “The new kids are being mean to Aleisha and calling her names!” Miss Nell arrived at their table to see what the problem was. First, she reminded Miranda that this was everyone’s first day. Then she comforted Aleisha. Finally, she addressed Brian and Katie. She told them, “You are not allowed to call anyone names. We only use nice words when we talk to each other. It’s hard to come to school on the first day. Everyone is a little scared and we all express being scared in a different way.” “I’m not scared,” said Brian. “That’s great, Brian.” Then Miss Nell continued, “But you must remember to respect the feelings of all the other students. Okay?” “Okay!” Brian agreed. But when Miss Nell turned around, Brian stuck out his tongue at Aleisha. She quickly looked down and hoped that no one else had seen what he had done.

“I need everyone to line up at the door quickly and quietly,” Miss Nell instructed the class. “We are going to go on a tour of the school.” “Miss Nell?” said Jerome. “I don’t need to go. I already know where everything is.” “That may be true, Jerome,” Miss Nell answered him. “But this is an outing that we will all go on together.” She then turned to Aleisha and said, “Aleisha, since your name starts with ‘A’, you may be our line leader for today.” Aleisha smiled shyly and walked to the front of the line. Everyone was very quiet as they started out on this new adventure. They wondered; which rooms would they visit? Would they see any older kids? A few of them wondered if they’d be able to find their way back to their classroom.

The first room they visited was the school office. The secretary was on the phone but they all said ‘hi’ to Mrs. Green as they walked past her desk. Next they visited the library. Everyone but Jerome, who had been there before, was amazed at how many books there were. They learned that once a week they would be able to come to the library and borrow a book to take home. Miss Nell pointed out the nurse’s office and some of the classrooms that they would visit when they were in first grade, like the reading room and the science room. They turned around and walked back towards their classroom. They were shown where the bathrooms were and they were told that they always had to ask permission before they went to the bathroom. No one was ever allowed to leave the classroom without first asking Miss Nell. They moved on to the gym and finally to their last stop which was the cafeteria.

Everyone felt a little more relaxed when they arrived back at their room. “How could a room that used to seem so scary now feel safe?” Tyler wondered. They also felt excited. Just about everyone had seen a room that they really liked and could hardly wait to go back again. For Tyler, his favorite room was going to be the library. He really wanted to learn how to read.

“You were all so well behaved on our tour. I’m very proud of you!” Miss Nell praised the class when they returned. She then instructed, “I’m going to pass out two pieces of paper; the first is a piece of writing paper, the second is a piece of coloring paper. The writing paper is the one with the lines on it.” “Miss Nell?” Jerome spoke up. “Everyone knows what writing paper looks like.” “Jerome, if you have a question please raise your hand, if not, you need to be quiet,” Miss Nell told him. “Some friends may not know and they need to be able to hear what I am saying.” Then she continued, “On the writing paper, please write your name and as much of the alphabet that you are able to. On the other paper you may color a picture to take home. Please start with the writing paper.”

Miss Nell walked around to each table. She gave everyone the two pieces of paper, a pencil and she placed a box of crayons in the center of each table. This was it, their first school work assignment at kindergarten! Everyone was excited. Some were a little nervous and wondered, would they do as well as everyone else? Others were confident that they knew more than anyone else. Everyone got to work. Everyone that is, except for Brian. He started playing with the crayons. Miranda said, “You’re not allowed to do that. I can help you write the alphabet, if you don’t know how.” “I don’t need your help,” he responded. “I’m not going to do any writing.” He then started to draw a picture on his coloring paper. Everyone else looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders as they went back to work.

When Jerome finished his papers, he saw that Brian looked like he was trying to write a ‘B’. “Man, don’t you even know how to write your name?” he asked shocked. “So, what if I don’t?” Brian answered back. He then crumbled up his paper. Jerome hadn’t meant to upset him and he wasn’t sure what to do. When he looked around to find Miss Nell, he saw Tyler’s alphabet paper and couldn’t believe his eyes. Tyler had written the alphabet twice, once in upper case and once in lower case. Jerome didn’t know how to write in lower case and for the first time he thought, “Maybe, I’m not the smartest kid in the class.”

The bell sounded. They were all surprised that their first day of school was over. Miss Nell told them to place their alphabet paper in the basket on her desk. They were then to go get their backpack and pack up their coloring paper and line up at the door.

As the bus neared his house, Tyler could see his mom waiting for him. Tyler excitedly told her all about his day. He said, “I met new kids! We went on a tour of the school and we got to see the library and the gym!” “That’s great!” his mom said. Tyler kept talking, “Do you want to know the best part? We got to work on our first paper! It was easy!” Tyler’s mom hugged him and said that she was glad he had a wonderful day at school. Tyler asked, “Did you miss me?” His mom responded by stretching out her arms as far as she could reach and she said that she had missed him more than that much. “Would you like a snack?” she asked him. Tyler nodded that he did. As they walked into the house, Tyler thought, “I had so much fun at school. I can’t wait to go back tomorrow!”