Chapter 1 First Day Of School

Teacher Maria Angelica Ricafranca, a 20-year-old new teacher is very excited as today will be her first day of work at St. Mary's Academy in the City of Batangas. She woke up early and started her morning routine. Took a bath, had her breakfast, and carried her things. She is living alone in an apartment since she will be working in the City while her parents were in their ancestral house in Baybayin, Rosario, and Batangas. She's the only daughter of a couple of farmers Mr. and Mrs. Ricafranca. She grew up with a simple provincial living who only knew the school and their residence. Her friends used to call her a nerd and clumsy girl since her school days for she only studies well and does not join them with the usual teenagers do, partying, mailing, and strolling. She is an obedient daughter of her parents. She always admire her parents' love for each other making her grew of dreaming of the same happy family life in the future.

She took a bus heading to St. Mary's Academy. It will take 20 minutes to ride for her to reach the school. She still had ample time before the Flag Ceremony begins.

"Good morning Teacher Maria," one of her pupils greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning Tiarra," she replied to this cutie, little girl.

"Good morning Teacher Maria," her other pupils are greeting her as well while she is entering her preschool room. She placed all her things and her netbook on top of her desk.

"Good morning dear kiddos," she greeted them as well. Being an only child, she grew up longing for playmates and siblings, that's why she does love children a lot. They always brighten up her days. They are the reason why she decided to become a preschool teacher. She wanted to be engaged with the kids and teach them how to read, write and comprehend. It is her advocacy to be their first teacher, their preschool teacher.

Kring! Kring!

A school bell started to ring as a sign for all the students and teachers in St. Mary's Academy to go out on the school field and form their lines according to their levels for the school's Flag Ceremony and to sing the Philippine Hymn.

After settling in their respective line formation, all the advisory class teachers are standing in front of them. Everybody put their right hand on top of their left chest where their heart is located while standing straight as they started to sing the Philippine Hymn respectively.

The Philippine Hymn ( English version during the American Regime)

Land of the Morning,

Child of the sun returning,

With fervor burning,

Thee though our souls adore.

Land dear and holy,

Cradle of the noble heroes,

Never shall invaders,

Trample thy sacred shore.

Ever within thy skies and through thy clouds

And over thy hills and sea,

Do we behold the radiance, feel the throb,

Of glorious liberty.

Thy banner, dear to all our hearts,

Its sun and stars alight,

O never shall its shining field

Be dimmed by tyrant’s might!

The beautiful land of love, o land of light,

In the embrace ’tis rapture to lie,

But it is glory ever when thou art wronged,

For us, thy sons to suffer and die.

After singing the Philippine Hymn altogether, everybody offered the School's Opening Prayer.

All the teachers now are leading their sets of students to their respective classrooms to start their classes.

Teacher Maria is so glad that she is handling the preschoolers. Her pupils were all cute and behaved well as she had a friendly approach to each of them.

"Okay class, let's all stand up and sing a nursery rhyme altogether," she lead the song and danced with action in front of her 15 pupils. The kids are so excited singing and mirroring Teacher Maria's action dance with the song "The Wheels on the Bus,"...

The wheels on the bus go-'round and 'round

'Round and 'round, 'round and 'round

The wheels on the bus go-'round and 'round

All-day long

The horn on the bus goes beep-beep-beep

Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep

The horn on the bus goes beep-beep-beep

All-day long

The wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish

Swish-swish-swish, swish-swish-swish

The wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish

All-day long

The babies on the bus cry, "Wah-wah-wah

Wah-wah-wah, wah, wah, wah"

The babies on the bus cry, "Wah, wah, wah"

All-day long

The mommies on the bus say, "Shush, shush, shush

Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush"

The mommies on the bus say, "Shush, shush, shush"

All-day long

All the kids are enjoying how Teacher Maria's jolly form of teaching them. They are about 4-6 years old.

"Are you enjoying kids?" she asked her pupils very enthusiastically.

"Yes, we are Teacher Maria," the children said aloud then clapped their hands loudly.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Okay kids, you may take your seats now," she told her pupils. "I am your advisory classroom Teacher Maria. I am single and I love kids like you so much. I will be your teacher for all the subjects here in the preschool department. I am looking forward that all of you will enjoy our class the whole year round," she friendly introduced herself to her class.

The kids clapped their tiny hands once more.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"And now, I want your class to introduce yourselves, one by one so that I can memorize your names and you will know each other, okay," she said to them.

The kids started to introduce themselves one by one as Teacher Maria put a star sticker for every pupil who finished introducing themselves. They were all happy with their Teacher Maria.

"Yey! We love you, Teacher Maria," they all said to her while they were heading to her one by one. They kissed her cheeks and Teacher Maria was so overwhelmed by them.

Teacher Maria and her class had a wonderful day on the first day of classes. They get along well with each other as the kids felt the kindness and patience of their Teacher Maria. She is very approachable and she never gets tired of teaching them one by one, especially those who are first-timers to socialize with the other kids. Teacher Maria ensures that she gave equal attention to each of her students. She wanted to be fair to all of them so that no can will be left behind.

During break time, her mobile phone beeps...

When she saw the screen of her mobile phone, her mother, Mrs. Ricafranca had a message for her. "Hi, Yes, how's your first day of work? How are you with the kids?" her mother asked her.

"I'm good Mom. My students are great and cute. I love them so much," she excitedly shared her moments with her students a while ago.

"Great! I can feel from your voice that you are very happy and I'm glad you enjoy your first day of school. Do you want me to visit and bring you food for your dinner tonight?" her mother asked her. It was the first time Maria left their ancestral house and live alone. Her mother used to serve her from her clothes to wear up to the food she ate when she was still living with them.

"No. It's okay Mom. I can cook for my dinner tonight. Don't worry too much. I am already grown up," she said while smiling over her mother's message to her. Her mother always thinks that she is still the same little girl as before. She is very close with her parents and her mother is very sweet to her.

"Okay, don't skip meals, and always take care of your safe. After your work, don't forget to take a rest first at your apartment before you take your bath to avoid flu and colds okay," her mother's nonstop talking made her smile. It was only 2 days only when she left their residence and she is quite missing her mother's voice. Her nagging is music to her ears.

"Got it, Mom. How's Dad?" she asked.

"He's still at the farm and harvesting some vegetables. We have a new customer who will pick up those vegetables early morning tomorrow," her mother excitedly informed her.

Her father is hardworking. "Tell him to rest Mom, make sure you both take your vitamins okay," she reminded her mother as both of them were already senior citizens.

"Of course Maria. We do take care of ourselves. Our vegetables and fruits are a great source of our strength as well," her mother replied to her.

Ring! Ring!

The school bells, give a signal that the breakdown is already done and that need to start the classes again.

"Okay Mom, time to end up now. I need some classes already. I love you. Bye," she said to her mother.

"I love you more Maria," her mother replied.

She started teaching another subject to her students now. She started to draw the different shapes on the whiteboard and let her pupils copy them on their notebooks. "Okay class, please get your notebooks and pencils. Copy these shapes and color them with your favorite shades," she instructed her students.

"Okay, Teacher Maria. Thank you," they replied and everyone started to pull their notebooks and pencils from their school bags and started to do their performance tasks.