Preschool

I get to go to preschool today,
My friends are there as well!
We play all day and have some snacks,
And bring a toy for show-and-tell!
I can paint a picture for my mom,
Pretend or build with blocks.
Have a puppet show or look at books,
Do a puzzle or go on nature walks!
My teacher is so very nice,
We learn so many things each day!
I get to be the class helper
I just love preschool,
Can I stay?

First Day of School

(Wendy Silva)

The Happiest Child

I'm the happiest child alive
I had a birthday, now I'm five.
So to the big school I can go,
To learn all the things I need to know!

The First Day of Kindergarten

I used to be little, but not anymore,
Tomorrow I'll get up and walk out the door.
I'm going to Kindergarten - it's the first time for me.
It's great to be big, but I'm scared as can be.

My tummy's in knots. You want to know why?
I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe I'll cry.
When Dad leaves the school and I'm there all alone,
I'm thinking that maybe I'll want to go home.

But wait - Mommy said I'll play lots of new games,
And meet lots of friends - I can learn all their names.
The first day of Kindergarten, oh there's so much to do!
There's painting and books and a big playground, too!

I used to be little, but not anymore.
Tomorrow I'll get up and walk out the door.
I'm going to Kindergarten - it's my first day, you see.
It's great to be big! I'm so glad that I'm me.

Nothing to Worry About

(Erma Bombeck)

Confessions of a child entering school for the first time - who according to adults "has nothing to worry about."
My name is Donald and I don't know anything.
I have new underwear, a new sweater, a loose tooth and I didn't sleep last night. I am worried.
What if the school bus jerks after I get on and I lose my balance and my pants rip and everyone laughs?
What if I have to go to the bathroom before we get to school?
What if a bell rings and everyone goes into a door and a man yells, "Where do you belong?" and I don't know?
What if my shoestring comes untied and someone says, "Your shoestring is untied. We'll all watch while you tie it"?
What if the trays in the cafeteria are too tall for me to reach?
What if the thermos lid on my soup is on too tight and when I try to open it, it breaks?
What if my loose tooth wants to come out when we're supposed to have our heads down and be quiet?
What if the teacher tells the class to go to the bathroom and I can't go?
What if I get hot and want to take my sweater off and someone steals it?
What if I splash water on my name tag and my name disappears and no one will know who I am?
What if they send us out to play and all the swings are taken? What do I do?
What if the wind blows all the important papers out of my hands that I'm supposed to take home?
What if they mispronounce my last name and everyone laughs?
What if my teacher doesn't make her D's like Mom taught me?
What if I spend the whole day without a friend?
What if the teacher gives a seat to everyone and I'm left over?
What if the windows in the bus steam over and I won't be able to tell when I get to my stop?
I'm just a little kid but maybe I'm smarter than I think I am. At least I know better than to tell a five-year-old with a loose tooth who has never been out of the yard by himself before that he has "nothing to worry about."

I Trust You'll Treat Her Well

(Victor Buono)

Dear World:
I bequeath to you today one little girl...in a crispy dress...with two brown eyes...and a happy laugh that ripples all day long.. and a flash of light brown hair that bounces in the sun when she runs.
I trust you'll treat her well.

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning...and skipping off down the street to her first day of school. And never again will she be completely mine.
Prim and proud she'll wave her young and independent hand this morning and say "Goodbye" and walk with little lady steps to the schoolhouse.

Now she'll learn to stand in lines...and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called. She'll learn to tune her ears for the sounds of school-bells...and deadlines...and she'll learn to giggle...and gossip...and look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy 'cross the aisle sticks out his tongue at her. And now she'll learn to be jealous. And now she'll learn how it is to feel hurt inside. And now she'll learn how not to cry.

No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch on a summer day and watch an ant scurry across the crack in the sidewalk. Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn and kiss lilac blooms in the morning dew. No, now she'll worry about those important things...like grades and which dress to wear and whose best friends is whose. And the magic of books and learning will replace the magic of her blocks and dolls. And now she'll find new heroes.

For five full years now I've been her sage and Santa Claus and pal and playmate and mother and friend. Now she'll learn to share her worship with her teachers ...which is only right. But no longer will I be the smartest woman in the whole world. Today when that school bell rings for the first time...she'll learn what it means to be a member of the group...with all its privileges and its disadvantages too.

She'll learn in time that proper young ladies do not laugh out loud...or kiss dogs...or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms...or even watch ants scurry across cracks in sidewalks in the summer.
Today she'll learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. And I'll stand on the front porch and watch her start out on the long, lonely journey to becoming a woman.
So, world, I bequeath to you today one little girl...in a crispy dress...with two brown eyes...and a flash of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

I trust you'll treat her well.

Dear World

(Dan Valentine)

My young son starts to school today...It's going to be sort of strange and new to him for awhile, and I wish you would sort of treat him gently. You see, up to now he's been king of the roost...He's been boss of the backyard...His mother has always been near to soothe his wounds and repair his feelings.
But now things are going to be different.

This morning he's going to walk down the front steps, wave his hand, and start out on the great adventure...It is and adventure that might take him across continents, across oceans...It's an adventure that will probably include wars and tragedy and sorrow...To live his life in the world he will have to live in, will require faith and love and courage.

So, World, I wish you would sort of look after him...Take him by the hand and teach him things he will have to know.
But do it gently, if you can.
He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, that all men are not true.
But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero...that for every crooked politician there is a great and dedicated leader...Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend.
Steer him away from envy, if you can...and teach him the secret of quiet laughter.

In school, World, teach him it is far more honorable to fail that to cheat...Teach him to have faith in his own idea, even if everyone says they are wrong...Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with tough people.
Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the bandwagon...Teach him to listen to all men - but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and take just the good that siphons through.
Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he's sad...Teach him there is no shame in tears...Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success.

Treat him gently, World, if you can, but don't coddle him...Because only the test of fire makes fine steel...Let him have the courage to be impatient...Let him have the patience to be brave.
Let him be no other man's man...Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself.
Because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind.
This is quite and order, World, but see what you can do...He's such a nice little fellow, my son!

First Grade

School Days

(Crystal Bowman)

Opposing Views on School Days

School-days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency. It doesn't take a reasonably bright boy long to discover that most of what is rammed into him is nonsense, and that no one really cares very much whether he learns it or not. (H. L. Mencken)

No one can look back on his school days and say with truth that they were altogether unhappy. (George Orwell)

Arithmetic

(Carl Sandburg)

Arithmetic is where numbers fly
like pigeons in and out of your head.
Arithmetic tells you how many you lose or win
if you know how many you had before you lost or won.
Arithmetic is seven eleven all good children go to heaven -
or five six bundle of sticks.
Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze
from you head to you hand to your pencil to your paper
till you get the answer.
Arithmetic is where the answer is right
and everything is and nice
and you can look out the window and see the blue sky -
or the answer is wrong and you have to start all over
and try again and see how it comes out this time.

The Night Before School

•  Young student to mother on returning from school: "Today we learned about a nervous breakdown...thanks to poor Miss White."
• The elementary-school teacher began his unit on wading birds. "The largest, of course, is the stork..." He cut off his sentence when one of the students began to giggle. "What's so funny, Tracy?"
  "Gosh, Mr. Cummings," young Tracy blushed, "Don't you think we're old enough to know there isn't a stork?"
• My nephew Scott returned from his first day at school complaining that the chairs were too hard. He felt better when his mother said she'd make a cushion for him to bring in.
  The next day Scott handed his mother this note from the teacher: "Dear Mrs. Weeks - Thank you for your generous offer to make seat cushions for Scott's class. We have 21 students in the first grade."