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GREENSBORO — Kindergarten students at Irving Park Elementary School and schools across Guilford County reached the final day Monday. What a difference a year makes for students and teachers alike.

Kids who cried their eyes out on the first day of school, overwhelmed by new surroundings, cried on their last day, overwhelmed by the loss of something they’d come to love.

Armarion Tearry’s favorite word is action. He learned it this year in Greg Penderleith’s kindergarten class. Armarion said he loves school so much he wishes he could go during the summer, too.

“Because I can learn more and more stuff until I’m 100 (years old),” he said.

Armarion was much keener on school his last day than his first. His teachers said those first few days were tough on him and many of his classmates.

But Armarion, like so many students, found things to love. His teacher, games they played and, of course, friends. Friends like Asher Routh, who loved learning about animals during his first year of big kids’ school.

“We learned about bats,” Asher said. “They can suck blood. And we learned about penguins. When anything that’s danger comes by, they peck them.”

Asher, Armarion and many other kindergarten students spent most of Monday helping teachers straighten up their rooms. That included the traditional soapy fun of cleaning the tables and desks with shaving cream.

Teachers swear by the crayon-cutting, marker-erasing powers of the white foam. Plus, students love running their hands through the slick stuff.

The day marked a beginning as well as an end for these first-year students, and the subject of desks was on Ainsley Hall’s mind. Ainsley is excited about having her own desk in the first grade. That desk comes with new responsibilities.

“I don’t know what testing is, but I know I’m going to do it,” Ainsley said.

The students weren’t the only ones changed by a first year. This was the first year of teaching for dozens of teachers across the county, including Amy Johnson, who finished her first year as a fifth-grade teacher at Irving Park. Johnson shared the kids’ butterflies in the stomach on the first day and their sad goodbyes Monday.

“Honestly, I’m really sad. There were days when I looked forward to this day,” Johnson said with a laugh. “But I’m really excited about having my first year under my belt, but I’m also really sad because I fell in love with my kids.”

Monday was likely Johnson’s last day at Irving Park. Her position was cut from the school’s budget next year. She will be placed at another school within the district but has not learned which school.

Ainsley Hall had advice for preschool kids who might feel a little nervous come Aug. 25, when school starts this fall.
“I would say to them, they’re going to do a great job and have fun,” she said.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com