First day of Kindergarten

Maria was so excited - she was going to school for the very first time. She was going to be a big kid!

Maria and her mother picked out a dress and a sweater for her first day at school. She received a clear plastic bag with yellow flowers on it and a long handle to carry all of her papers and supplies - two pencils, big crayons and manila paper. Maria did not have a lunch box as Kindergarten was only half a day.

That morning, Maria dressed quickly and ate breakfast. Her mother wrote her name, address and telephone number as well as her teacher's name on a piece of paper and pinned it to Maria's sweater.

Maria walked with her mother to the end of the driveway with her bag and they waited for the bus. It was a very big bus and Maria felt like she was the smallest person there.

When the bus arrived at the school, Maria got off with all of the other children. There were several other buses with exiting children as well. There were so many children, Maria just saw blurs of color moving around her. She felt a little lost.

Finally she saw an adult who looked like she was directing the chaos. Maria went to her and tugged on her jacket. The woman looked down and asked what she could do for Maria. Maria felt very shy and just pointed to the note pinned to her sweater. The woman read the note, kindly took Maria's hand and walked Maria to her classroom.

Maria was very relieved when the Kindergarten teacher smiled at her and welcomed her to her classroom. Then she saw all of the children and was very happy to be in the bright sunny room. Her socializing days had just begun!