Photograph by Robert Scheer
Parents are on the outside looking in at Cherry Chase School as they watch their kids through windows and an open door on the first day of class.
By Lester Chang
When Karyn Dobson entered a kindergarten classroom for the first time in her native Toronto in the 1960s, she didn't know whether to cry or smile.
When Dobson, now a 34-year-old Sunnyvale resident, brought her son, Ryan, to his first day of class at Cherry Chase Elementary School Sept. 5, he smiled and jumped with joy.
"Back then, it was a confusing time. But it is totally different now for kids," Dobson said. "They have been to preschools and are used to being away from parents. My son is ready to go to school."
Most of the 85 or so kindergarten children entering class for the first time at Cherry Chase School--the smallest of seven elementary schools in the Sunnyvale Elementary School District--felt the same way.
They were eager to get their school careers in motion. And their kindergarten teachers obliged by filling their first days with activities, encouragement, cuddling and genuine smiles.
Kindergarten teachers Diane Farley, Betsy Randolph and Laurie Otsuji--with about 60 years of teaching experience among them--radiated warmth to take the chill out of the first day of school for many.
Few students cried or fussed about leaving early during class, which was held from 8:15 a.m. to 3:05 p.m.
For the most part, they were comfortable because they had attended preschool in the past and were used to being temporarily separated from their parents.
The children chatted, listened as their teachers read to them and took a tour of the school to familiarize themselves with their new home away from home.
In line with children of past generations, Cherry Chase students chomped on graham crackers, but milk was not necessarily the beverage of choice. Some children sipped on containers of juice they pulled out of brightly colored, plastic lunch boxes.
Oliver Manning was excited about going to school, but his sister Hillary, 3 1/2, who accompanied him to school with their parents, wished he could have stayed with her and played.
"They are so close. They attended the same preschool for one-and-a-half years," said Catherine Manning, their mother and an engineer. "Oliver is excited about today. Hillary is upset."
Both Manning and her husband, Jeff, a contractor, knew Oliver could get through his first day of school without any problems. But they stayed around the school for more than an hour, partly because they wanted to make sure he would be OK, said his father, who carried his son's snack in a brown paper bag with his son's name on it.
"It is a stressful day, but it is also a special one," Jeff Manning said. "I normally work a lot of hours, but I wanted to be here."
Ryan Dobson breezed through his first day because he had three years of Montessori schooling (which encourages self-education with teacher guidance) under his belt, mom Karyn Dobson said.
"He can read and do his math," she said with pride.
Bob and Sande Taylor said their son Josh easily accepted kindergarten, partly because they taught him in a school setting at home.
Josh also attended Sunday- school Bible classes, where he became familiar with the nature of classroom instruction, said Bob Taylor, a software engineer.
His wife cried when she walked into his classroom and gazed down at her son. "I cried because I could see he will experience all the neat things I experienced when I went to kindergarten," she said. "The cubby holes [where children stash personal belongings], the games, the learning."
Jared Nishimoto was all smiles and mugged for his mother, Linda, as she photographed him in front of his classroom.
The most important thing on his mind on the first day of school? "Playing," said Jared, wearing a shirt with the words "outdoor adventure" across it.
Aki Namba felt out of balance in her new surroundings, but only temporarily.
As she sat with other children on the floor, she fought back tears. Her mother, Keiko, the only parent to sit on the floor with the children, comforted her by extending her hand out to her daughter, smiling and giving encouraging nods.
Later in the day, Aki, after she had gotten used to her new surroundings, played with new friends at a school playground.
"She is shy," said Keiko, who moved from Osaka to the United States six years ago. "But she is OK."
The children were comfortable because of the supervision and warmth given by the teachers and their helpers, Bob Taylor said.
"The atmosphere here isn't clinical," he said. " Mrs. Farley has a motherly thing the kids like."
Otsuji, who is starting out her teaching career at Cherry Chase school, stayed up the night before to prepare for her first day of teaching.
She received a four-year degree from Fresno State University in communicative disorders with an emphasis on education for the deaf.
She said could have gotten a job elsewhere, but she grew up in the Sunnyvale area and "wanted to come home."
Randolph, in her 26th year of teaching, said she loves teaching at the kindergarten level because "the children are eager to learn" and "they are wonderful to be around."
Pitching in to help were volunteers Dasha Estes, Phyllis Chan and Pat Tomosada.
Estes, who looked very businesslike in dark-blue pleated pants and a light-blue, long-sleeve cotton shirt, is a consulting engineer who recently started her business.
"I could have gone to work, but I enjoy being with children," said Estes, who will volunteer three times a week. "I would rather do this. It is my way of giving back to the community."
So would Chan and Tomosada, who want to continue helping Farley even though their children are no longer in her class. Their daughters attended Farley's class last year and are now in the first grade.
"With school money tight, we want to help in any way we can," Tomosada said. "It is nice to help out. Kindergarten kids are so special."
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, September 11, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.