Alex Slitz/Daily News Kristiona Morrow, 7, (left) and Kenshyiah Morrow, 5, (right) greet first grade teacher Beth Moorman, all of Bowling Green, Ky., during the first day of school at Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary School, Tuesday, Aug 6, 2013, in Bowling Green, Ky.

Decisions, decisions.

The biggest decision in the first minutes of kindergarten teacher Nicole Lee’s class at Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary School this morning was what color of Play-Doh to pick.

“Do you like orange? Do you like purple?” the fifth-year kindergarten teacher asked a couple of the dozen students sitting at the tiny tables. Just before that, she handed out horse and elephant shapes so the kids could turn their Play-Doh into something familiar. For the kindergarten kids, many had seen the school building last week during “Jump Start,” so the shock of walking into a new structure cold didn’t come into play. There were a few tears and some one-on-one chats. For the most part, the kids sported smiles and snazzy, colorful outfits.

Thousands of children – just under 4,000 – in the Bowling Green Independent School District attended their first day of the 2013-14 school year today. Warren County Public Schools start the year Thursday.

Tabitha Meadows, seeing off her first grandchild, Ethan Lancaster, 5, tried not to tear up. That was also the task for Ethan’s mother, Amber Lancaster.

“This is his first of everything,” Meadows said of Ethan, who did not attend preschool. “I’m OK. I’m just trying to keep from crying.” 

Meadows said “Jump Start” helped keep Ethan calm on the first day. “He got used to the other kids,” Lancaster said. 

She put on a brave face as her little one headed to kindergarten. “I’ll cry when I get home,” Lancaster said.

While kindergarten progressed in Lee’s classroom, parents Dustin and Sarah Emily kept an eye on 5-year-old Landon as he settled into his chair and took off his backpack with Batman symbols emblazoned on it.

“They have done a really good job of keeping everyone together and organized,” Dustin Emily said.

Parker-Bennett-Curry has 370 kindergarten through fifth-grade students, Principal Cheri Smith said. English as a Second Language students comprise 52 percent of the students, and 96 percent qualify for free and reduced lunch, the principal said. Many quietly filed into the Ambassador’s Cafe, as the cafeteria is known, for the first school breakfast of the year. Smith said 10 languages are spoken at her school, and that’s the reason the cafeteria is named the Ambassador’s Cafe. “We picked the name because of our diversity,” she said.

Many kids this morning knew the drill once the doors opened at 7:20 a.m., greeted by fourth-grade math and science teacher Jonathan Stovall at the front door. They stowed their backpacks in the gym and headed for the food.

“I jump in,” Stovall said of directing traffic. “We try to direct the kids to where they are supposed to go. It’s usually pretty calm. We try to be active and visible. It makes a big difference for kids when they know you and have a comfort level with you.”

Before the front doors were open, Victoria Summerhill pulled up and dropped off Laken Pritchard, 10; Damentrez Hamer, 5; and Jeremiah Gaad, 8. “These are all my babies,” Summerhill said. “I am blessed.” 

Damentrez said he was looking forward to kindergarten. “It’s going to be fun.”

Heather Johnson walked up to the front of the school with 7-year-old Gabriel, who is in second grade. Gabriel said he likes the playground at school because the monkey bars are higher than the park’s monkey bars where he literally hangs out.

Johnson said this morning went well. She said her husband, Eric, got up at 5 a.m., while mother and child got up at 6:30 a.m.

Smith said as the school year progresses, kids will apply for leadership positions to help guide schoolmates to the cafeteria tables or to help in the school office. Just like the big world, there will be an application process and interviews. 

“I believe you become a leader at an early age,” she said.

Outside the building, bus driver Larry Whitman, beginning his seventh year in the city schools, worked to lower three students in wheelchairs. The bus takes three students at a time. Leslie Peek, city schools spokeswoman, said the district has 24 bus routes and many buses have double runs.

The kids gathered outside the kindergarten classrooms in the commons area of the school, awaiting their first day.

“We look at kindergarten as beginning with the end in mind,” Smith said. “Our itty-bitty Purples.”

— Chuck Mason covers education for the Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/bgdnschools or visit bgdailynews.com.