Students reveal their hopes and plans
By: Kristin Boyd
Inside Room 117 at Orchard Hill Elementary School, 6-year-olds clump together, exchanging "hellos" and discussing their summer vacations.
Soon enough, they’ll begin sharing the secret rules of first grade:
Lunches can be swapped for something of equal or lesser value.
"Stuff" is the ultimate catchall word.
"Cool" is the best description ever invented. Use it often.
There’s no limit on how many times you can say "really" in a sentence.
And handshakes are unnecessary. Instead, a thunderous high-
five will do.
"First grade is such a big deal," says Orchard Hill Principal Tom Barclay, also known as Mr. Broccoli to those first graders unable to pronounce his last name. "They want to come to school, and they’re all happy to see you."
First grade is when babies become big kids. They ride the school bus, eat in the cafeteria, make new friends, sit at their own desks and learn cool stuff about insects and multiplication.
It’s a special moment of life, forever captured in memories, scrapbook photos, and now, YouTube videos.
Area youngsters say they’ve dreamt about the first day of first grade since graduating kindergarten in June. They bubble with excitement while talking about all the cool stuff that awaits them next week, when most area schools open.
"It will be fun because you get to do new stuff and different kinds of stuff that you didn’t do in kindergarten," says 6-year-old Nathan He, who attends Orchard Hill in Montgomery.
In first-grade, you always make at least 10 new friends, in addition to their kindergarten buddies, says 6-year-old Brendan Kerins, who attends Dutch Neck Elementary School in West Windsor.
First-graders get to tote around cool stuff like folders and plastic pencil cases. Lunchboxes with hearts, polka dots, Disney princesses and sports teams are first-grade favorites. And messenger bags, like the floral one Abigail Wilson at Orchard Hill picked out, are ultra-hip.
Binders look better when decorated with stickers of Yoda and Darth Vader, says William Marripodi, 6, who can’t wait to wear his new black-and-white Vans to Orchard Hill. Wesley Leggett, who’s enrolled at Princeton Day School, is ecstatic to have new black Jordans.
Recess is now on the big playground, says Isabel Levatino, who will split her time between the swings, sliding board and hanging out with the older kids in second and third grades at Dutch Neck.
Once school begins, the kids will meet their new teachers, who should be pretty cool. "It’s a boy," Rachel Dentler, 6, says of her teacher at Orchard Hill. "His name is Mr. Raider."
And, in some first grades, there are classroom pets like fish or hamsters. Rachel Bierman, 7, and Sophia Tate, 6, are anxious to find out which they’ll have at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, but they’re pulling for the hamster.
Wesley, 6, will finally get to hold a baby chick after it hatches inside an incubator. In kindergarten, he says, he only got to watch.
And first graders get to ride in style. Never mind the drafty windows and semi-hard seats, yellow school buses are considered luxury vehicles in the 6 to 7 age group.
On the school bus, the kids explain, first graders can sit anywhere and talk anytime, without raising their hands for permission. They also get to school before everybody else, Wesley adds.
But the coolest part of first grade, hands-down, is eating in the cafeteria.
"You don’t have to eat lunch at your house anymore," 6-year-old Isabel says. "You can buy food at school."
Isabel will buy pizza and macaroni and cheese, her favorites. Abigail, 6, will happily plunk down $1.85 for bagels and tacos at Orchard Hill, where Haaris Mian, 6, hopes the lunch ladies serve chocolate ice cream. Nikki DiPento, also 6, hopes they have chicken fingers with gobs of ketchup.
Wesley, William and Brendan say they’ll give their parents a break this school year and pack their own lunches.
They’ll need: bread, peanut butter, jelly, marshmallow, honey, baloney, salami, cheese sticks, crackers, Oreos, chocolate chip cookies and Capri Suns. Fruits are OK, they say, but gummy fruit snacks are better.
In kindergarten, the kids learned how to write the alphabet, add numbers and draw pictures. In first grade, they figure, they’ll learn even more really cool stuff maybe about spelling, animals, music and outer space.
Some will study Spanish or French. Others will learn how to count money and write a check. Everyone will learn how to read "big kid" books that have long chapters and no pictures.
Nathan says he also wants to master chess. His schoolmates at Orchard Hill, Ben Cooper and Jack Callan, both 6, want to find out more about computers and multiplication.
All this know-how will help the kids prepare for their future careers. The Class of 2019 includes:
Teachers Isabel and Abigail, who already practices with her American Girl dolls.
Haaris, the "heart-and-blood" doctor.
Ben, the attorney, who’ll follow in his uncle’s footsteps because lawyers "get to travel all over to cool places."
Sophia, the veterinarian and artist, and Rachel Bierman, the mommy, who’ll also work part time as a language translator, dance instructor and singer.
Then, there are the record-
breaking MVPs.
Wesley, the Pistons player who’s like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Ben Wallace and Shaquille O’Neal rolled into one. William, who’ll start for the Jets, even though his mom is a Giants fan.
And on-field rivals, Brendan, pitcher for the Red Sox, and Nathan, the Yankees’ number-one go-
to guy.
Career talk, however, will be put on hold, at least until fourth grade, the kids say.
For now, they’ll just concentrate on making it through the first day of first grade and remembering those secret rules.

