VIDALIA — In a reversal of the scene that took place at the beginning of summer vacation in May, students at Vidalia Lower Elementary School rushed for the doors when school reopened for the year Monday.

The school year officially began for all Concordia Parish students at 7:50 a.m. Monday.

Waiting for class to begin in Jennifer Smith’s kindergarten classroom, Lauren Edwards was among the students feeling shy.

“I don’t know if I am excited (about school),” Edwards said.

But Jaylin Johnson didn’t have any reservations about starting school, and he said he thought he would learn how to read pretty quickly.

But learning how to read doesn’t change everything, he said.

“My mamaw is still going to read my goodnight stories to me,” he said emphatically.

By the time the classroom had filled and Smith had called all of the students to sit on the checkered carpet in the middle of the room, most of the students had perked up and had started to throw out questions of, “Can we play?” and “What are we going to do now?”

That was when Smith gave the students their first lesson of the school year.

“I want you to give me five,” she said.

Those five aren’t five pushups, but rather, “eyes that are watching, ears that as listening, mouths that are quiet, hands that are still and hearts that are ready to learn.”

“By the end of the week, I should just be able to say ‘give me five,’ and you’ll know what to do without me telling you,” Smith said.

The class spent the rest of the day getting to know each other, storing school supplies and learning the difference between letters and words.

School ended early Monday, but regular class schedules resume today.