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Children dressed in pink sequined dresses, light-up shoes, hair bows and T-shirts with pictures of dinosaurs, unicorns and sharks ran this way and that around their new classroom — shrieks and giggles coming from every corner.

“Look at this!� one girl shouted at her friend Thursday morning, displaying a plate with an array of plastic food.

“Oh, that looks so yummy,� the friend yelled back before returning to her own pretend meal.

On the other side of the room, preschoolers sat in a circle surrounded by mismatched, wooden puzzle pieces, red and blue shapes and plush dolls.

“Wow! I have a big tower,� a boy said, flashing his stack of colorful blocks.

Their teacher worked to keep the chaos controlled, cooing at her students to take turns, ask nicely and leave certain toys alone.

The classroom, filled with 11 preschoolers, was buzzing with nerves and loud excitement — and the occasional out-of-tune dings from a child banging on a small, rainbow-colored xylophone.

The long-awaited first day of preschool was finally here.

Standing Bear High School opened the doors to its two brand new preschool classrooms Thursday morning, three days after ninth-graders walked through the doors of the brand new high school.

In addition to housing ninth and 10th graders, the new school is equipped to hold four total preschool classes each day — two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Each room can hold up to 14 students. Right now, there are only two classes using the space throughout the day.

The preschool rooms were built as part of an effort to increase early childhood opportunities in Lincoln with funding from the 2020 bond issue. Northwest High School and Robinson Elementary each opened two preschool classrooms last year.

The new rooms were all built in response to growing preschool enrollment at the preschool age. Last year, between August and May, the early childhood program at LPS grew by about 29%, according to Cara Lucas-Richt, director of the early childhood department.

Even with the additional offerings, Lucas-Richt said there is still a lengthy waitlist to get into preschool. However, LPS has plans to continue adding preschool classrooms across Lincoln in areas where the need is high, specifically at Arnold, Kooser, Huntington, Humann, Fredstrom and Roper elementary schools. In total, LPS will spend about $10 million of bond money on the expansions.

Bridget Eckhout, who lives near Standing Bear and has a preschool-age son, was happy to see the addition of a preschool to the neighborhood, primarily because of the close proximity to her home.

The Eckhout family only lives about a two-minute drive from the school at 70th Street and Saltillo Road, she said. If they couldn’t go to Standing Bear, Eckhout’s son, River, would have attended preschool at Kloefkorn Elementary, which would’ve added about 10 minutes to their drive each morning.

River was among the first students at Standing Bear on Thursday morning and was very eager for his first day of preschool, especially after the playground outside caught his attention, Eckhout said.

“He was super excited,� she said.

Sarah Jumnongnart, a preschool teacher at Standing Bear, was equally excited for the first day and said everything went smoothly.

"We've had very few tears, which is always a plus," Jumnongnart said. "It's been good. The kids are excited to be in here."

From exploring insects and trees to raising butterflies, there's a lot Jumnongnart is excited for about the school year, including the possibility of working with some high school classes.

Having the preschool inside a high school adds the chance for collaboration between the two groups of students, Jumnongnart said. So far, she has been working with several teachers to create opportunities for high schoolers to get exposure to young children and vice versa.

“I just think that this is a really amazing opportunity for everybody here at Standing Bear to come together and have our ‘littles’ in the building and our ‘bigs’ come together and work together,� Jumnongnart said. “I think it will be beneficial not only for the preschoolers, but for the high schoolers to take initiative working with young children.�