West Elementary School hosted a Meet the Teacher event Tuesday for kindergarten students to meet their teachers before starting school Wednesday.

West Elementary School Principal Deanna Hollimon said she and the teachers decided it was a good idea to give parents and students a chance to meet their teachers since the first day of school will look different this year because of COVID-19.

“Normally parents are allowed to see their child to their classroom and help them feel more comfortable on the first day of school,” Hollimon said. “Unfortunately with everything going on with COVID, we just can’t do that this year.”

Hollimon said she hopes having the teacher be a familiar face on the first day of school will help ease first-day nerves for students.

“Normally we see a lot of nerves on the first day from kindergartners just because this is their first time in school,” Hollimon said. “There are a lot that are probably extra nervous this year with so many unknowns, so we just want to do everything we can to try and make things easier on them.”