AUBURN — Karen Thompson is excited, and nervous, about the first day of school Wednesday.

It’s her first day as a new kindergarten teacher at Sherwood Heights Elementary. She doesn’t expect the butterflies in her stomach to last.

“I have so much support from everyone here. I know it will be fine,” Thompson said in her classroom, which she’s worked on for the last month.

In the room are little tables and chairs. On the “word wall” letters of the alphabet are posted. The “Helping Hands” and “Happy Birthday” boards don’t have names, not yet.

While new to Sherwood Heights, Thompson, 55, of Lewiston, has worked with youngsters for years.

After graduating from college and teaching at Lewiston’s Montello Elementary School for a few years, she and Linda Mynahan opened Kiddie Kampus, a private preschool in Lewiston in 1981.

“I come from a family of entrepreneurs,” she said. Her late parents owned 3-K Kampers, an RV dealership on Main Street. Her grandparents owned L & A Electric on Lisbon Street. “My grandmother was a saleswoman. She sold appliances.”

Co-owning her own business, her own school, was a dream come true, she said. She was a businesswoman and teacher. She kept her teacher’s certificate current and took classes.

For years, the school was successful, growing from 12 to 72 students. “We had waiting lists” and loyal families. Parents called when their toddlers were 2 to ensure they’d get a spot for preschool.

But in recent years enrollment shrank. Public schools began offering taxpayer-supported pre-K classes, which came with transportation.

“I knew I had to make a change. I was trying to figure out what I would do to rediscover myself,” she said.

She turned the school over to Deb Anthoine, feeling like “I was losing a part of me,” she said. Thompson began searching for another career.

She considered going back to school to become a radiologist, or a medical assistant, or working in sales, or in real estate. Meanwhile she worked as a substitute teacher in five communities: Falmouth, Freeport, Pownal, Yarmouth and Auburn’s Sherwood Heights.

Her favorite place, she said, was Sherwood Heights. “It’s a warm, welcoming, happy environment.”

She was there as Auburn gave iPads to all kindergarten students for the first time, a move she supports. “I saw it working last year,” she said. The iPads reinforce what teachers teach; students learn faster, she said.

“By January these kindergartners were writing stories. Their ‘word wall’ (new words students were learning) was full” compared to schools in other communities, where by January they were learning fewer words, Thompson said.

As she looked for work, friends urged her to stay in education, telling her she was good with youngsters. She eventually agreed.

“What other job can you come in and know that everyone around you is going to be happy, excited to see you, smiling faces,” she said. “I look forward to greeting the children each morning.”

After months of job searching, Thompson was told she was hired at Sherwood Heights after kindergarten teacher Susan Lemeshow resigned because she was moving.

“I cried when they told me I got the job,” Thompson said. “This is a new beginning, and I couldn’t have a better place to have a new beginning.”

Thompson has another new era around the corner, becoming a grandmother. Her son and his wife are expecting a child in January.

Tomorrow: As area schools open this week, we introduce you to one new teacher in Lewiston, Nate Jalbert.

Karen Thompson’s advice for parents

To help your child have success in school, parents should:

* Read daily to their children in the home, encourage their children to read and read themselves.

* “Always be talking about school,” Thompson said. Ask them about what they’re doing, whether they have homework, what happened in school that day. “It instills in them the importance of education.”

* Have contact with their child’s school as much as they can. That helps parents not only know what’s going on, but shows students their parents consider schooling important. Parents should get email addresses and phone numbers for their children’s teachers.