South Grafton Kindergarteners to Get First Taste of Their New Grade

South Grafton Elementary School Kindergarteners' first taste of their new grade level will come in orange, grape or another cool flavor.

The school's first popsicle social is from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday (or Wednesday, if it rains), Principal Doreen Parker said.

Some North Grafton Elementary School parents started such an event at their school last year “to welcome incoming Kindergarten students and their parents," she said.

“It’s just a social gathering: meet for an hour on the playground, have a popsicle, let the kids make some new friends, let the parents interact and meet some new parents," said Parker, who starts her eighth year as South Grafton principal, and 30th year as a Grafton educator.

The first day of school in Grafton for pre-Kindergarten to grade nine is Sept. 3. The first day of school for grades 10 through 12 is Sept. 4.

South Grafton Elementary is its second year as a pre-K to grade one school, Parker said.

Full-day Kindergarten began there last year, and “it was also our first year transitioning to pre-K, K and one," she said. The school had served pre-K to grade two.

“Now we know how far the Kindergarten can go," Parker said.

"We understand that lunch for Kindergarten can be very difficult, opening things.”

South Grafton Elementary will have seven first grade classes and six Kindergarten classes this year due to an enrollment shift, Parker said.

"We had to move a Kindergarten teacher to the first grade," she said.

Visitors will notice three significant facility changes at the school, one driven by Grafton's population growth.

The cafeteria carpet has been replaced with polished concrete, which, “health-wise, safety-wise, looks beautiful," Parker said.

In addition, the main parking lot is being expanded to 42 spaces.

“The original parking lot had 10. With the growing enrollment and the growing size of Grafton, and the amount of teachers and staff members that we have, and parents, we needed more parking. So, this is going to be wonderful,” Parker said.

“It will change not only how it looks – we used to have a great big grass area out there at one time, which will now be parking lot. But, we’ll actually be able to get the buses closer to the school for the kids. Safety was the number one reason for doing this. Convenience was the second.”

In addition,“the crosswalks will be better defined," Parker said.

And a new sign "that you'll be able to read from the road" will welcome people to the school, at 90 Main St., she said.

The sign will be "very elementary-like looking," Parker said.

"It’s going to look different than anybody else’s sign in town. Our original sign was actually on the lawn, so you couldn’t see it from the street," she said.

“Our director of buildings and grounds has a really good artistic background."