CANOGA PARK : Youngsters Hit the Big Time: It’s 1st Grade

The first day of first grade ended just a little too soon for Jamar Hicks.

“I want to stay longer,” Jamar, 6, said as his classmates gathered their backpacks and homework assignments and lined up at the door. “It’s really fun.”

Proud, apprehensive and feeling a little grown up, Jamar and his two dozen classmates at Fullbright Avenue Elementary School in Canoga Park made the transition from kindergarten to first grade Tuesday.

“You get to play in the big yard,” Eddie Rigsby, 5, said. “I’ve never played in the big yard before.”

“In first grade you get crayons on your desk,” Jessica Sanches, 6, said. “In kindergarten, they’re in a big box and they’re broken.”

Elizabeth Sullivan, a region administrator for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said first grade means full six-hour school days and a much stronger emphasis on academics than in kindergarten. The curriculum for first grade uses the social skills learned in kindergarten--such as sharing and following directions--and teaches students to use them for subjects such as math, reading and writing, Sullivan said.

“First grade, boy, it’s big time,” Sullivan said. “(The students) become real little people.”

For Catherine Reimer, Jamar’s teacher at Fullbright whose class includes native speakers of seven different languages including Korean, Vietnamese, Persian and Tagalog, the first day includes much more than fun and games.

“Kindergarten is readying,” said Reimer, who is starting her 27th year of teaching. “First grade begins formal school.”

Reimer’s students practiced writing their names on lined paper and completed math problems between coloring, playing “duck, duck, goose” on the playground and eating lunch.

“You want it to be a happy experience for the children,” Reimer said of the start of first grade. “You don’t want it to turn them off to school.”

For Patricia Thomas, lunching outside, talking to friends and coloring combined to make first grade much better than kindergarten.

“I just want my dad to pick me up late or something,” Patricia said. “I’m having so much fun.”