Dirigo Elementary School student Kennedy Stuntz is greeted Wednesday on the first day of classes at Dirigo Elementary School in Peru. From left, foreground, are Special Education Educational Technician Cathy McDonald, Title 1 Educational Technician Tammy Averill, Stuntz and librarian Cindy Petherbridge. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

PERU — Dirigo Elementary School teacher Angela Palmer encouraged her 14 first grade students Wednesday to write their names on a large touch-screen board to indicate their lunch choice on the first day of classes.

“This is how we do it every morning,” she said. “It takes longer on the first day because they have never used a board like this so, like, they get amazed,”

Palmer does most of her teaching using the Promethean board which projects her lessons and allows interaction with her students.

“It’s really awesome to watch,” she said of the interactive screen activities with students.

Andrea Palmer, first grade teacher at Dirigo Elementary School in Peru, asks students Wednesday to write their names on a touch-screen board indicating their lunch choice. It was the first day of classes for the more than 300 students in grades kindergarten to five. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

Before entering their classrooms, students were greeted by Principal Charlie Swan, teachers and staff waiting outside to direct them to their classrooms.

Among the greeters were librarian Cindy Petherbridge, Title 1 Educational Technician Tammy Averill, Special Education Educational Technician Cathy McDonald and occupational therapist Liz Heath.

Petherbridge said students have weekly 45-minute classes in the school library to support classroom lessons. If they are learning letters, she said, “there will be centers on learning the alphabet and then maybe sounds. As they get older, and then in third, fourth and fifth (grades) we do a lot of computer skills, keyboarding and digital citizenship.”

Online digital citizenship teaches students how to be a good citizen, she said in an email later Wednesday. “Common Sense Media has created a comprehensive curriculum that can be used in grades K-12. “The website helps parents and educators navigate the cyber world and some of the current issues, skills and mental health around internet and digital use,” she wrote.

Swan said this year’s enrollment is about 330 students.

Ava Webster gets off the bus Wednesday morning at Dirigo Elementary School in Peru, followed by Aubree Hutchins as Principal Charlie Swan waits to greet them on the first day of school. He said enrollment stands at about 330 students. Marianne Hutcinson/Rumford Falls Times