EditorialMichelle Liwacz, top, leads her first grade class on a lesson about cause and effect at Slackwood Elementary in Lawrence Township, N.J. on May 31, 2023. (Desiree Rios/The New York Times)
EditorialFirst grade teacher Maria Wozniak teaches phonics at Panther Valley Elementary School in Nesquehoning, Pa. on April 4, 2023. (Hannah Yoon/The New York Times)
EditorialFirst grade teacher Maria Wozniak teaches phonics at Panther Valley Elementary School in Nesquehoning, Pa. on April 4, 2023. (Hannah Yoon/The New York Times)
EditorialFirst grade teacher Maria Wozniak teaches phonics at Panther Valley Elementary School in Nesquehoning, Pa. on April 4, 2023. (Hannah Yoon/The New York Times)
EditorialFirst grade teacher Maria Wozniak teaches phonics at Panther Valley Elementary School in Nesquehoning, Pa. on April 4, 2023. (Hannah Yoon/The New York Times)
EditorialJasim McDonald, 14, who who was diagnosed with autism in first grade, in Sacramento, Calif., March 6, 2022. (Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times)
EditorialSchool Chancellor David Banks greets Alexandra on her first day of first grade at P.S. 161 in the Bronx on Sept. 8, 2022. (Brittainy Newman/The New York Times)
EditorialLyudmila Somova, left, leads a math class for students in her first grade class at Irpin Christian Gymnasium on the first day of school in Irpin, Ukraine on Sept. 1, 2022.(Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)
EditorialLyudmila Somova, left, leads a math class for students in her first grade class at Irpin Christian Gymnasium on the first day of school in Irpin, Ukraine on Sept. 1, 2022.(Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)
EditorialPreparation for the new school year, with restrictive measures, masks and disinfection. Almaty, Kazakhstan, Almaty, Almaty, Kazakhstan - 31 Aug 2020
EditorialJennifer Dawson teaches her first-grade students at at PS 249 The Caton School in Brooklyn, New York on April 14, 2022. (Thalia Juarez/The New York Times)
EditorialA first-grade classroom damaged from a Russian missile strike the day previously in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, July 22, 2022. (Laura Boushnak/The New York Times)
EditorialThe wreckage of a first grade classroom in the local school in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, on Friday, July 22, 2022, one day after it was destroyed in a Russian attack. (Laura Boushnak/The New York Times)
EditorialA first-grade class at Atlanta Classical Academy, one of the member schools in Hillsdale’s network, on March 16, 2022. (David Walter Banks/The New York Times)
EditorialGarensha John leads a first-grade class at Capital Preparatory Harbor Lower School in Bridgeport, Conn., on Feb. 23, 2022. (Christopher Capozziello/The New York Times)
EditorialMasked first-grade students and teachers at James Monroe Elementary School in Edison, N.J., on Nov. 3, 2020. (Victor J. Blue/The New York Times)
EditorialKatrina Brownlee, who retired from the New York Police Department in July as a first-grade detective, holds a portrait of herself as a younger police officer at her apartment in Brooklyn on Sept. 1, 2021. (Laylah Amatullah Barrayn/The New York Times)
EditorialKatrina Brownlee, who retired from the New York Police Department in July as a first-grade detective, holds a portrait of herself as a younger police officer at her apartment in Brooklyn on Sept. 1, 2021. (Laylah Amatullah Barrayn/The New York Times)
EditorialStudents participate in a math activity in a first-grade class while their remote classmates are projected on a screen at James Monroe Elementary School in Edison, N.J., on Nov. 3, 2020. (Victor J. Blue/The New York Times)
EditorialUniform of a naval student of the first grade, Eleve de premiere classe, 1844. Handcoloured woodblock print by Pauquet after Bara et Gerard from Eugene Paninis Marine, arsenaux, navires, equipages, navigation, atterages, combats, L. Curmer, Paris, 1844.
EditorialFirst grade teacher Tania Oliver leads a class at Mullen Hall Elementary, which has set up several outdoor classroom areas, in Falmouth, Mass., Oct. 5, 2020. (Tristan Spinski/The New York Times)
EditorialUniform of a naval student of the first grade, Eleve de premiere classe, 1844. Handcoloured woodblock print by Pauquet after Bara et Gerard from Eugene Paninis Marine, arsenaux, navires, equipages, navigation, atterages, combats, L. Curmer, Paris, 1844.
EditorialFirst grade teacher Lena Thorup’s students sit with just one student at desks made for two, at the district elementary school in Logumkloster, Denmark, April 16, 2020. (Emile Ducke/The New York Times)