Cries of “Where’s first grade?” echoed over hundreds of kids and their parents as they arrived for the first day of the school year today at places like Rose Hill Elementary School in Kirkland.

“It won’t be like this after the first day,” said Margaret Franchuk, school employee and crossing guard. “They’re all excited the first day.”

The excitement began showing up in an unusual way on the first day, with not only the school’s expected 417 students arriving early, but with their parents tagging along, holding hands and giving last-minute hugs.

“This is his first time here,” said Patricia Anders as she guided her son, Jasper, 6, to first grade, explaining that he’d been at a kindergarten last year with only five kids in the class, so Rose Hill would be a big change.

The kids and parents began arriving at the Rose Hill school, opened in 2006 at 8110 128th Ave. N.E. to replace a school that dated to 1954, before 8 a.m.

When doors opened at 8:30 a.m., hundreds of backpacks, and their owners, were lined up on the concrete outside, waiting to get to classes.

Then it took only a few minutes to file inside, with some confusion, as dozens of parents and children headed for the office for last-minute assignments.

By 8:40 a.m., groups of kids were sitting quietly in classes, the parents had left and another school year had begun, a process repeated for some 24,000 students throughout the Lake Washington School District, operating with a $231 million annual budget.