Their last-year teacher is a security blanket. Clark said Staggered Start allows time for teachers to tend to students who may cry when they first attend school. Philips said the first-day pupils are given a screening test, developed by the Moseley kindergarten teachers, that determines if they recognize the alphabet, colors, shapes, numbers, and counting, she said. Clark, who has spent 16 years teaching kindergarten, and another eight in first grade, said the children also meet their music and physical education teachers during those first four days. Even for students who have attended pre-kindergarten classes, the two subjects are usually new to them in first grade, she said.
Kindergarten teachers can also be nervous on the first day of school.
Echols was one of the teachers who visited St. Petersburg schools last year. Other kindergarten teachers at Moseley are Annie Welsh, Gladys Wade and Suzanne Ryan.