A New Friend On The First Day Of School

Hello future readers!

This past Monday was our first day of school. The broken pipe got fixed, the water got mopped up and the new floors are in, (and they look pretty groovy, too!). I finished my whole assignment packet, including the book report. I checked out "The Littles".  I had already read "Tom Little Great Halloween Scare" from our class library last year, but I didn't know there was a whole series of "Littles" books! They're fun to read and the chapters are short, so getting the book report done was a breeze. Anyway my mom kissed me good-bye and I ran out the door to meet up with Cheryl and Sunny.

We were all kinda sad, because we're not gonna be in the same class this year. I was gonna in my Miss LaSalle's (yay!) and Cheryl and Sunny were gonna be in Mrs. Johnson's class. (boo!) OK, Mrs. Johnson is really very nice, but I was gonna miss Cheryl and Sunny. But at least we'd see each at lunch, recess, assembly and Gym class. Miss Johnson had given her class assignment packets, too. So we were walking and talking about which assignment was easy and which one was hard, when I just happened to look down the hill. I saw a girl with curly red hair walking along with a knapsack on her back.

She looked like she was our age, and was walking towards our school.  I got really curious, and told Sunny and Cheryl I'd be back in a minute, and ran down the hill to see who this new girl was.

I caught up with her and said "Hi". I think I must have scared her, 'cos she jumped. I told her I didn't mean to scare her and I introduced myself.  She told me her name was Bridget and her family just moved here. All of a sudden, Cheryl and Sunny came running up. Sunny was kinda annoyed that I just ran off like that, but as soon as she saw Bridget, she understood why. We said hi, and the other girls introduced themselves.

Bridget said she was from Kansas, (hey, like Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz"!) , and that she was starting 4th grade this year. We told her we were all in 4th grade too, and asked her whose class she was in. She answered "Miss LaSalle". Outta site! I told her since I'm in that class, I'd be her friend, so she wouldn't feel like a total stranger. She seemed happy about that. As we were talking, we started walking kinda slow. Cheryl reminded us that if we didn't get a move on, we'd be late for school on the very first day! Man, would that ever be a bummer! In our school, if you're late, you have to go to the office, and get a Late Slip to get back into class, and your parents have to sign it! So we all walked really fast and made it to the playground just as everyone was lining up! I showed Bridget where we lined up. Miss LaSalle came outside and walked us to our classroom.

After we were all seated and settled down, Miss LaSalle introduced the class to Bridget.

She was kinda shy, and talked really softly. I guess she was a little embarrassed getting up in front of the whole class. Since she wasn't here to get the assignment packet, Miss LaSalle give her an extra one.

Then she introduced the class to Kyle. We all giggled a little, 'cos we've known Kyle since the beginning of the summer.

Miss LaSalle met Kyle the day before she left for France to visit her family over the summer, so she knew he'd be here, so he got his assignments already. When Kyle sat down, Miss LaSalle went over the class rules, and pointed out the Class Helpers. Because we had 9 kids in our class this year instead of 8 (me, Bridget, Kyle, Danny, Stephanie, Shante', April, Susan  and Robyn) , she had to add another classroom job to the Helpers list: Classroom Watch Monitor. That's the person who watches the class when the teacher has to leave the room. They write on the board which kids have been good, and which kids have been bad. Then Miss LaSalle thanked us all for turning in the assignment packet, and gave us all Commendation cards!

Bridget would get hers next week. Then Miss LaSalle told us that later in the school year, we'd get to do a "Classroom Switch" day with Mrs. Johnson's class. Far out! That means that class would be in here for a day, and we'd go to Mrs. Johnson's room and have her as our teacher for a day! Groovy! But she told us that meant that both classes had to keep their grades up and turn in all their homework, and not goof around in class.

Wow, that sounded great! I've always wondered what other classes do, and now I'll get to find out. After, she finished all the announcements, Miss LaSalle gave us a spelling pre-test. *groan* Pre-tests don't count towards our grade, it's just to see how well we know this week's words, and what we need to work on. I'm an OK speller, but wow a test, even a pre-test on the first day of school...too much!

Well, even though it was late, it looks like the school year is off to a groovy start. I made a new friend, got a commendation card, and found out about "Classroom Switch" day! I wonder if kids in the future get to do super cool stuff like that? I hope you all had a great first day of school, too.

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman