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Brooklyn Schoolchildren Ring In The New YearThe first day of school is one that strikes fear into many a young heart. There are new friends to be made, old friends to meet again, and most important, a new person standing at the head of the class explaining all the rules and regulations of the classroom. But children have coped for centuries, and 1986 is no different. Off they trouped to the local grammar school on Monday with shiny cheeks and shiny bookbags like so manv pioneers going off to conquor the Wild West.And just like those early pioneers, the school year will bring many suprises to these classrooms and these children. For some it will be a new baby brother or sister. For others a lost tooth. For others an %u2018A%u2019 in penmanship. For others a first love. Learning in school is not just the three R%u2019s. and a hot lunch. It is an ongoing process that touches all areas of the life. And w'hen you%u2019re seven years old that can be pretty exciting.School is different than a generation ago when the second graders in Mrs. Minkowitz%u2019s class%u2019s parents attended the local public school. It offers something for everyone %u2014 the special child or the gifted, or the kids in between. As this school year starts, The Phoenix introduces our readers to two classrooms in Brooklyn. Mrs. Minkowitz%u2019s second graders at P.S. 39 in Park Slope and Ms. Greenstein%u2019s special education class at I.S. 293 in Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill. The first day of school for these children was typical of schoolchildren all over Brooklyn and we%u2019ll use their stories throughout the year to take the temperature of public education in the city. We%u2019ll check in periodically to see whose teeth have fallen out and who has fallen in love and who got that %u2019A%u2019 in penmanship. And so will our readers.name is Jimmie Anthony Perez, but %u201cMy mom is the tooth fairy,%u201d Karin sometimes people call me Jimmie Perez,%u201d responds with certainty, and second grade one boy explained. %u201cAnd sometimes people preciousness.call you Anthony Perez and sometimes Jim- A few glitches entered the system, usual mie Anthony Perez,%u201d Minkowitz added with for the first day of school. One boy was in the her arm folded around his shoulder. He nodd- wrong class. Remembering the teacher%u2019s ed in smiling agreement and took his place in name was another challenge tackled by a few alphabetical order. who blushed deeply when they forgot.The number one rule is that we are always very calm andalways very quiet here. If you%u2019d like to say something thenyou must raise your hand.reigned and when the bell rang, with the usual call for order and straight lines, the children filed into their newly painted classrooms and carefully placed lunchboxes, fresh notebooks and sharpened pencils into their desks. P.S. 39 was open for business.THEY ENTER SQUIRMING Second graders filing into Class 2-1, squirmed in their seats, neatly hung their new sweaters and jackets on the backs of their chairs and craned their necks and called out to familiar faces. They sat facing each other in two clusters of desks, rather than in rows, and jumped to obey orders before the instructions even left the mouth of second grade teacher Renee Minkowitz.All sorts of systems needed to be set up: The new classroom inspected, the new students observed and the new teacher comprehended. All sorts of questions needed prompt answering, the vital considerations in a second grader%u2019s existence.\young student asked urgently. Minkowitz nodded earnestly in the affirmative.It was the moment of introductions that brought the shyness forth from the children as well as the confidence. Arranging the students alphabetically, Minkowitz asked each one to say their name loud and clear to the class, with a resulting series of whispers. Others bellowed out their name label. %u201cMyMy name is Jimmie AnthonyPerez, but sometimes peoplecall me Jimmie Perez.Notebooks and pencils were dropped on the floor as the seat rearrangement began and Minkowitz spelled out the rules for the year before bad habits became established.%u201cThe number one rule is that we are always very calm and always very quiet here,%u201d she stressed. %u201cIf you%u2019d like to say , something then you must raise your hand,%u201d she added. A few blurted out questions and answers received a quiet but firm reprimand and soon hands flashed up and down obediently and earnest announcements were made to the class. Brothers and sisters were a subject of importance. As the kindergarten class trooped through much waving and pointing was undertaken and proud announcements of younger siblings and teenage sisters were uttered.A short tour of the classroom, offered the possibility for those with a bit of knowledge under their belt to voice their facts, and suggestions for classroom animals were presented. A pet turtle soon to inhabit an aquarium received an astonished and happy round of approval from the class. The lizard concept did not go over as well. %u201cOoh, I hate lizards,%u201d one girl said, sealing the discussion.Minkowitz listed the class jobs that would be rotated every week which fascinated the class as she announced the traditional chores of blackboard engineer, responsible for eras- ( ontinued on Following PageBY LIZ KOCHThe first day of school is a mixture of anticipation and dread, effervescence and uncertain somberness. The long days of summer are definitively over and regularity with all its accoutrements of homework assignments, neat penmanship and stars for good behavior replaces trips to the beach, loud ball games and afternoons of television.No hands have been raised all summer, no ditto sheets passed out and no threatened trips to the principal, and also no pandemonium at recess with frantic hop scotch games and best friends holding hands. In September it begins all over again: A new teacher, new friends, a new seating order and the rise of the class clown, the teacher%u2019s pet and the quiet child who never raises their hand.W%u2019hen the bell rang Monday morning for the kids at P.S. 39 to begin their new school year, it was a time of both pandemonium for friends who had spent the summer apart and children lingering with their moms and dads at the gate to school on Sixth Avenue. New sneakers were ground uncertainly into the blacktop and bright pink backpacks, carefully carried to school, were, in a fit of excitement, dropped on the ground, temporarily abandoned, and then in a contrary fit of conscientiousness dutifully recovered. A mood of importance and a mood of excitementKarin Esposito displayed her missing teeth for the class. %u201cWhat happened to your teeth?%u201d Minkowitz asked. %u201cThey%u2019re gone!%u201d Karin declared proudly.%u201cThey%u2019re gone? Did you get a lot of money for them?%u201d%u201cNo, my mom didn%u2019t give it to me.%u201d%u201cYour mother doesn%u2019t give them to you, the tooth fairy does,%u201d Minkowitz says.EDITOR%u2019S NOTE: Our coverage of opening day of school regrettably does not include a school in Community District 13 because officials in theHeights/Ft. Greene/Prospect Heights district refusedlcpcuicu icquests for a reporter to visit classes on opening day.Page 6. THE PHOENIX, September 11, 1986c