Kindergarten-only format on first day receives rave reviews at LPS buildings

August 14, 2025

The introduction of a kindergarten-only first day at Lincoln Public Schools got five-star reviews from parents, teachers and administrators on Tuesday.
 
Hundreds of LPS kindergarten students like Ella, Carter and Oliver enjoyed meteor showers of support from staff members when they walked inside their buildings. They explored their schools by themselves without having multiple older grades alongside them in the hallways. LPS has followed a similar plan for students in sixth and ninth grades for multiple years, and the school district felt a kindergarten-only format would be just as successful this fall.
 
Ella’s top concern when she entered Cavett Elementary School’s doors for the first time was learning how to pick out her milk carton during lunch period. Her mother Lisa said giving kindergarteners an extra day to find answers to those types of questions was a good thing.
 
“I think it’s really smart,” Lisa said. “They are not as overwhelmed with the people here, and they have extra staff on hand to really just help them get accustomed how to do the simple things.”

 
Cavett parents Derrick and Jeff echoed Lisa’s happiness after a kindergarten family meet-and-greet session with Cavett Principal Kathleen Dering. Derrick and his family brought their son Carter to school earlier in the morning, and Jeff and his family watched Oliver walk into the main hallway at the same time.
 
“It’s awesome for kindergarteners to have their own day,” Derrick said. “It’s been really good for all of the kids. All of the teachers have been helping out and doing a great job, and the kids have been able to come here and not be as nervous on their first day like they might be with a full building here. I think it’s been great overall.”
 
“It’s great having a day where we can drop them off and everybody’s focused on them,” Jeff said. “The first day of school for your child is always a big thing, so this has been really nice.”
 
Teachers at six LPS schools – Adams, Cavett, Kloefkorn, Maxey, Sheridan and Wysong – brought the starry idea for a kindergarten-only first day to their principals earlier this year. Those six principals enthusiastically passed along the suggestion to LPS Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Sarah Salem, who worked with other LPS leaders to change the district calendar.
 
“When you think about all the things that kindergarteners have to learn, it’s not just literacy and math,” Salem said. “We also have opening the milk cartons and how you go to specials and how you put away art supplies. When you think about just taking that first day to slow down, the principals thought this would be a really great opportunity to let kindergarteners experience that without all of the other students and classrooms that are happening.”

 
Dering, who has been principal at Cavett since the 2022-23 school year, has also led elementary teams as principal at Elliott and Beattie. In previous years, Cavett teachers from all six grade levels were focused on their own classrooms on the first day. This fall, all of them gave their sole attention to kindergarteners, which meant more smiles, high-fives and nods of encouragement to the school’s youngest Cardinals.
 
“You know your kindergarteners need more. They just do,” Dering said. “They need attention in the lunchroom, because they’ve never gone through the lunch line before. They need more help outside, because they’ve never come into the school before. To be able to take an entire school staff and have them give kindergarteners that extra support is beneficial to all of the kids. I’ve loved how it’s gone today.”
 
That same level of appreciation filled the hallways at Randolph Elementary School. Emily Mujica said she and her fellow kindergarten teachers noticed how much their co-workers pitched in to make the first day special for their students.
 
“Just having more hands on board with other teachers in the building, that was just very helpful for us as kindergarten teachers, but I feel like the kids as well,” Mujica said. “I feel like it eased a lot of nerves for sure.”

 

Mujica and Salem said the kindergarten-only setup led to many other positive outcomes across LPS. Every member of Randolph’s kindergarten class met their music, art, technology, physical education and library media teachers throughout the day. This helped them learn where those specialized subjects were located in the building.
 
Many schools held informational sessions for kindergarten families as part of their first day. This gave them a chance to form stronger bonds with parents and guardians. Many students also displayed a lower stress level during the morning and afternoon.
 
“There’s a lot of those first-day jitters, and they feel nervous coming the first day, both for parents and for kids,” Mujica said. “I feel like it was a good transition getting acclimated to the building.”
 
“We’ve had pep rallies and activities and shoutouts,” Salem said. “It’s really been fun to watch every school have their own little twist on what kindergarten day means to them.”
 
Lisa said Ella had been looking forward to stepping into Cavett’s hallways for many weeks. She said her daughter’s bright first-day experience made her even more eager to become part of the Cardinal family.
 
“She’s very excited,” Lisa said. “She’s nervous, but excited. She wants to make a lot of new friends.”
 
Want to see more LPS first week of school coverage? Visit our website at https://news.lps.org/first-week-2025/ for more highlights. 
 
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