Robin Kennett cleans some sticky syrup off a kindergarten desk on the first day of school Wednesday at Bethel’s Crescent Park Elementary School. Students, from left, Elsie Kimball, Billie Pilgrim and Natalie Gilbert look on. (Rose Lincoln/Staff Writer)

BETHEL — James Erde, a kindergartener, has a question right off the bat.

“We don’t take naps, right?”

“No naps in kindergarten. That was pre-K. No naps in kindergarten. We’ve established that by 8 o’clock!” says veteran kindergarten teacher Robin Kennett.

Wednesday was the first day of school at Crescent Park Elementary in Bethel, and for many of the children, it was more of a reunion than a beginning. Many have been together since pre-K. One student says she and her friend have known each other “since we were toddlers.”

In School Administrative District 44, the smallest regional school district in Oxford County, tight-knit connections like these are the norm. So much so that the kindergarten wing at Crescent Park feels more like a family compound. Kennett is beginning her 40th year in the district. Just two doors down, her daughter, Megan Fitzmorris, teaches first grade.

And helping out in Kennett’s classroom today — as she has every year — is her mother, Laurie Dempsey. The three women and their families live on adjacent properties in Hanover.

Kennett said she plans to keep teaching at least until her second granddaughter joins her classroom. “I had Emmy last year, and I’ll have Stella next year,” she says.

The morning starts with what might be a kindergarten rite of passage: a syrup spill.

“It’s OK — we can clean up messes in kindergarten,” Kennett reassures a student. “Messes happen, and it’s OK. That’s what we have soap and water for.”

“We’ve got another syrup spill over here,” calls her mother from across the room.

“You’re going to smell like pancakes all day!” Kennett says, laughing. “I love the smell of syrup — it’s just like perfume.”

One of her students, Elsie Kimball, is the daughter of Ryan Kimball, the district’s food service director.

“First-day-of-school syrup,” Kennett quips. “Ryan is really setting us up.”

Principal Tania Arsenault and special education teacher Tash Howard stop by to greet the class. The children sit in a circle and take turns introducing themselves.

“We always say good morning to each other because it feels good,” Kennett tells them. “When someone looks you in the eyeballs and says ‘good morning,’ it just feels good.”

A tiny voice chimes in: “Good morning, Mrs. Kennett.”

One student proudly shares that she’s learned how to do a split.

“Not right now,” Kennett laughs, “but put your finger on your nose if you can do a split.” She holds her own finger out from her nose since she used to be able to do a split.

The second lesson of the day is a mix of math and color recognition. The children vote “yes” or “no” on a chart to answer the question: “Are you wearing blue?”

They go over classroom rules — including raising hands and encouraging self-confidence: “Be proud of yourself and your choices,” she tells them.

One boy shares that he has an invisible friend. “They’re also a good friend,” says Kennett,  “They do almost everything you ask them to.”

This year, Kennett has only nine students — something that hasn’t happened in years.

“We’re going to learn so much!” she beams. “I’ll be teaching them French, taking them to Disney at Christmas, and they’ll be reading fluently in no time and … I can fit them all in one backpack!”

“I love tying shoes,” exclaims kindergarten teacher Robin Kennett on Wednesday, the first day of school at Bethel’s Crescent Park Elementary School. Her mother, Laurie Dempsey, sits at right. (Rose Lincoln/Staff Writer)