K.C. Heffernan Elementary School Kindergarten Orientation

The first day of school for Kindergarten children and their parents can be a time of both wonder and restrained anxiety. K. C. Heffernan (KCH) Elementary School in the Marcellus Central School District attempted to ease the family anxiety and enhance the wonder as the school held its annual Kindergarten Orientation on Tuesday, September 7, 2010. Gary Bissaillon, KCH Principal, welcomed the young students and their families to the orientation activities, “Believe it or not you are the Class of 2023….My job is to make sure that everyone is safe, we want to make sure that you are safe at all times.” Bissaillon also taught the attentive group the KCH school rule, “We will not hurt anyone on the inside or the outside”, before reading the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear to the Kindergarten students. Following the welcome to school, parents and their children visited with their respective teachers in Kindergarten classrooms. Kindergarten teachers shared classroom routines and expectations as well as allowing time for Kindergarten students to explore their new learning environment. The highlight of the orientation experience was a practice bus ride for all the new KCH Kindergarten students.