GREENFIELD – Five-year-old Lucille Lonnemann tackled her first day of kindergarten like a seasoned pro.
While she was most excited about playing on the playground, she was also a big fan of the cheese pizza she ate with gusto at lunchtime Wednesday — the first day back for the estimated 4,300 students at Greenfield-Central Schools.
Lucille wore her favorite yellow sundress – with oranges all over it – for her first day at Harris Elementary School.
The blue eyed, blonde haired girl – the youngest child of Joe and Laurene Lonnemann – said she wasn’t nervous but excited about her first day.
Her principal, Sarah Greulich, said there were surprisingly few tears as the youngest of students hopped off buses or out of their parents’ cars that morning.
“Our routines and procedures worked really well this morning, with mostly smiles and excited students doing what they needed to do …They’re off and running,” said Greulich, who attributes the smooth-running first day to her “wonderful staff.”
She also credited parents for getting their kiddos back into a routine and following the procedures for a successful drop-off in the car rider line.
“I think really good clear communication has helped our parents and students be successful today,” she said.
Over in the intermediate school lunch room, 10-year-old Maeleah Thornburg was enjoying the same cheese pizza Lucille was having at the adjacent elementary school.
This was the incoming fifth-grader’s second year at Greenfield Intermediate School, so she pretty much knows the drill, she said.
While she had some trouble getting into her locker at the start of the day, Maeleah said the fist half of the day leading up to lunch was an overall success.
“For the most part, it’s really fun because there’s a lot of new students in my class I hadn’t met before, and my cousin’s in my class,” she shared, between taking sips of chocolate milk.
