That’s not necessarily unusual to begin a school year. But this year’s expectations go beyond academics.

During a global pandemic, proper etiquette on social distancing and wearing face coverings is now part of the dialogue.

The fourth-grade met under a tree near the playground to visit. That’s where Lynnae Harvey, the school’s principal, spent part of the morning.

“The first few days, we teach expectations,” said Harvey, an educator with 30 years of experience. “But the expectations are so different this year.”

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Jaci Schrieber, art teacher at Cooper Elementary School, holds up a book she read to students on the first day of school on Tuesday. It was also Schrieber’s first day teaching at the school.

Throughout the morning, Harvey was impressed with teachers and students throughout the building in terms of communicating and following through on the guidelines.

Harvey expressed a sense of relief to have school begin again after students have been away for almost six months.

“You plan and plan and plan and we just needed to do it,” Harvey said.

As students came out for recess, Harvey, wearing a face shield, encouraged the children to try jump roping.

Jaivyon Moss, 7, a second-grader, was quick to give it a go.

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Kolton Brown, 5, a kindergarten student at Cooper Elementary School, cuts out a word to describe how he felt on the first day of school. When asked, Brown said he felt happy about it.

“Last year we got the jump rope out and many had never jump-roped before,” Harvey said. “I thought it was so funny.”

As Harvey was walking back inside the school, Aidric Osborn, 7, a second-grader, had a dilemma.

“I dropped my bracelet,” he said.

Harvey was reassuring.

“We’ll find it, honey,” she said.

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Keegan Christopherson, 8, a second-grader at Cooper Elementary School, gets into his book during reading time on the first day of school Tuesday.

A bracelet wouldn’t be the only thing dropped during the course of the day.

Later on, the school secretary Lacey Utley recovered a lost mask — she can only guess it will be one of many as the year goes on.

“I am gonna need a big bag for all the lost masks,” Utley said.

One of the guidelines for students this year is to remain in order when leaving class.

“This year we have a seating chart and they follow that chart when they leave the room,” Harvey said. “Every time they go to a new space, they wash their hands or sanitize their hands. We walk on the right side of the hallway and keep faces covered.”

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Adalyn Townsend, 7, a second-grader at Cooper Elementary School, reads in Molly Matthes’ classroom on Tuesday.

There are times when students can take them off.

“If students are sitting alone, they can take their masks off,” she said. “But if they are playing together, they need to be on.”

About 275 students attend Cooper. Twenty-two students are beginning the year learning from home.

“It’s definitely hard for teachers,” Harvey said. “There’s things you can’t teach or present virtually. But parents are balancing fear for their child, too. It’s just a tough situation.”

Regardless of the new rules, students didn’t seem to let that get in the way of having fun.

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Emerson Pender, 9, a fourth-grader at Cooper Elementary School poses for a picture next to her locker on the first day of school Tuesday. Her teacher, Carol Tell, took pictures of each of her students with and without their masks on that she sent to their parents.

“The kids seem pretty happy to be back,” Harvey said.

Art teacher Jaci Schrieber wanted her students to know they weren’t alone in beginning something new.

“This is my first day at Cooper, too,” Schrieber said. “So we get to learn together.”

She asked the class when they introduced themselves to share their favorite color.

Quite a few said gold was their favorite color.

“I am going to call you the gold class,” Schrieber said. “There’s a lot of gold in this class.”

Fourth-grade teacher Carol Tell wanted to create some memories for the families of her students.

She took pictures of each child next to their locker — one picture with masks on and one with them off.

“Fourth grade is going to continue the tradition,” she said.

Second-grade teacher Molly Matthes wanted to get her students reading.

“I am going to play music and we are going to read to ourselves,” Matthes said.

In another kindergarten class, students were asked to cut out a word from a piece of paper describing how they felt about the first day of school.

Kolton Brown, 5, chose “happy.”

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Kindergarten students at Cooper Elementary School were asked to cut out a word to describe how they felt on the first day of school Tuesday.

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