On the First Day of School

 "Samantha, hurry up. It's time for breakfast. The bus will be here soon, and you need to eat." Allison Nixon says as she puts the cereal, toast, orange juice, and milk on the table. She is getting ready to call her daughter again when Samantha walks into the kitchen.

"Sorry, Mom. I was trying to figure out what to wear. I want to look just right for the first day of school."

"I know. And you look beautiful."

Samantha sits down at the table and eats her breakfast. When she finishes, she hurries upstairs to the bathroom, brushes her teeth, and then puts her school supplies in her backpack. She is so excited to begin fifth grade. "Okay, I have my pencils and paper and my notebooks and binders, so I guess I'm ready to go," she says to herself as she checks her backpack. The bus pulls up, and the driver honks the horn. Samantha takes a deep breath and heads down the stairs and out the front door. "Bye, Mom."

"Have a great day at school!"

"I will." Samantha shuts the door behind her and runs to the bus. The bus doors open, and she steps up and looks for a seat. None of her closest friends have been picked up yet, so she finds an empty seat and waits for Michelle to get on. While she is riding, she looks around to see if there are any new kids. She spots one girl near the front that is new, but she knows everyone else. The bus stops, and Cody gets on.

"Hey, Sam," Cody says as she takes the seat behind her.

"Hey, Cody," she replies. "Do you know the new girl in the front? I wonder if she's in our class."

"I don't know. I've never seen her before."

The bus continues on, picking up one child after another and finally gets to Michelle's house. Cody and Samantha are excited to see Michelle, and she heads straight back to them. "Hey, guys! I can't believe it's already the first day of school. By the way, Sam, I love your outfit!"

"Thanks! Your outfit is really cool too!"

The three friends talk all the way to school. When the bus pulls into the driveway of Palthin Elementary, all the kids jump out of their seats. Everyone can't wait to find out who their teachers are and what classes they'll be in. On the first day of school at Palthin, the students line up by the first letter in their last name. They wait until the staff tells them which teacher they have and what classroom to go to. Cody heads to the "D" line. Michelle walks over to the "T" line, and Samantha gets in line at "N." The new girl steps in line behind Samantha. "Oh, hey," Samantha says. "I saw you on the bus. My name is Samantha Nixon, but my friends call me Sam. Are you in fifth grade also?"

"Yes, I am. My name is Karla Northlyn."

"Cool. Maybe we'll be in the same class! By the way, if you want to sit with me and my friends on the bus this afternoon, that would be great."

"Thanks, I will. Wow, this line is slow!"

"Yeah, it always is. That's why everyone gets here so early on the first day. I don't know why they don't tell us which class we're in before we get here."

"Well, maybe we'll get to the front before lunch!" Both girls laugh and continue talking. Karla tells Samantha that she is from North Carolina, and her dad's company transferred him to Arizona. Samantha tells Karla about all the cool things that they can do in town and offers to show her around since she had moved here only a week before. Finally, they get to the front of the line.

"Name." Mrs. Barker, one of the secretaries, says.

"Samantha Nixon."

"Okay. Let's see. Samantha Nixon. Yes, here you are. You're in Mr. Hollan's class. That's room 158. Next! What's your name?"

"Karla Northlyn."

"Well, look at that. You're in the same class as Samantha. Since you're new here, she can show you to the room."

"Come on, Karla. Samantha grabs Karla's arm, and the two girls walk toward their classroom. When they get there, Samantha looks around for Cody and Michelle. She had seen them get assigned to their classes, but neither of them was in her class. "I don't believe this. Cody and Michelle aren't here. I wonder who they got."

The bell rings, and all the students rush to find a seat. Mr. Hollan stands up and begins rearranging them in alphabetical order. Karla and Samantha end up next to each other. Next, Mr. Hollan passes out the class schedules and explains what they will be doing for the year, what their classes will be, and what time lunch and recess will be. The day begins with English. The students go over some grammar rules, and then break into reading groups for thirty minutes. Mr. Hollan passes out the spelling lists for the week and tells them that their first spelling test will be Friday. The students groan while Mr. Hollan tells them to get out their math books. They go over some basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, so the students can remember what they learned in fourth grade. The next class is art. The students line up and head to the art room where the art teacher, Ms. Grotyn, goes over some of the art projects they'll be doing this year. They work on some crepe paper flowers then head back to their classroom where they study science. After they finish their science lesson, they head to the cafeteria for lunch. Samantha and Karla wait in line for their food then walk over to one of the tables near a window. Samantha sees Michelle and Cody and waves to them. They come over to the table and sit down. "Guys, this is Karla."

"Hi," Cody and Michelle say at the same time.

"We're both in Mr. Hollan's class. Who did you get?"

"I got Ms. Joyner," Cody replies. "She's really tough. We already have homework!"

"I have Mrs. Batten," says Michelle. "She is really nice. I think I'm going to like the class. By the way, has anyone had art yet?"

"We have," Karla says as she opens her chocolate pudding. "We made paper flowers today, but Ms. Grotyn says that we will do a lot of different projects."

"Good, at least we'll be doing something this year. Remember last year, she wouldn't let us do anything? All we ever did was glue stuff together!" Michelle laughs at what she just said, and Cody and Samantha laugh with her. The bell rings to signal the end of lunch, and the four friends walk to the door together. "What does everybody have next?" Michelle asks as they walk out the door. "I have Science."

"I think we have History," Samantha replies.

"I have art. I guess I'll go make some paper flowers," says Cody as she heads to the art room. Everyone laughs. "See you guys at recess!"

Karla looks at Samantha. "Cody is a weird name for a girl."

"Yeah. Her parents wanted to give her a unique name." They sit down at their desks and take out their history books. Mr. Hollan tells them how Columbus discovered America. He assigns them a project. They have to draw a map of the route Columbus took to get to America. They complain about having homework on the first day of school, but Mr. Hollan just laughs and reminds them that they are fifth graders who have to get used to doing more work. When the bell rings for recess, everyone cheers. Samantha and Karla walk out to the playground together. "I wonder where Michelle and Cody are."

"There they are, over by the swings," Karla says as she points to the swing set. The two girls walk to the swings and sit down. All four begin talking and laughing and swinging. Before they know it, recess is over, and it is time to go back to class.

"Well, at least it's the last class of the day," says Cody as they rush back to class. Cody finishes up the day with History. Michelle's last class is Math, and Samantha and Karla end the day with Geography.

The final bell rings, and everyone heads to the buses. Michelle is the first to the bus, and she saves two seats. Cody, Samantha, and Karla get on and sit with Michelle. The four talk and laugh until they get to Karla's house. "See you tomorrow," Karla says.

"Bye," the three reply.

"She is really nice," Michelle remarks. "I'm glad she's our friend." Cody and Samantha agree.

Samantha is the next to get off the bus. "Bye!" She walks down the driveway to the kitchen door. Her mother is sitting at the table, planning the menu for dinner. "Hey, Mom!"

"Well, hello. How was your day?"

"It was great! I don't have any classes with Cody or Michelle, but I did meet this really nice girl named Karla. We're both in Mr. Hollan's class."

"Do you have homework?"

"Yes."

"I suppose you should get started on it."

"I will." Samantha walks up the stairs to her room. She sits at her desk and takes out her books. She finishes her math problems and English homework and draws her map. When she finishes, she plays for a while, and then eats dinner with her mom and dad. She watches a little television, takes a bath, and gets ready for bed. After the lights are out, she thinks about her day and what the school year will be like with her three great friends.