Rise and shine.

No more lazy summer days spent splashing around the pool.

Lawrence first- through seventh-graders and high school sophomores returned to classrooms Wednesday morning, ending the summer hiatus.

Pinckney first-grader Stephanie Reed flashed a big grin when asked whether she was excited.

“Yeah, because it’s fun,” she said, dwarfed by her huge “Lil’ Bratz” backpack.

Her grandmother, Diane Reed, proudly walked her to the front door of the school at 810 W. Sixth St.

“I know she will do great. She loves to learn. She’s read all summer and did math pages all summer. She thinks she’s got to do school all of the time, so she will do well,” Diane Reed said.

Pinckney first-grader Edan Cohavi was less enthusiastic about getting up to spend all day in the classroom, but his mother, Melanie, said he would eventually come around.

“He has great teachers, and it’s a great school,” she said.

By today, all Lawrence public school students will have started classes, except for half of kindergartners, who begin school Friday.

Start of classes also had some parents worried that ongoing construction at several schools would disrupt their children’s routines. The district is forging ahead with $54 million in bond-financed construction and remodeling.

But school officials said temporary safety plans where needed have been approved by the fire marshal. Also, district workers on Wednesday were making other construction-related fixes, such as installing a temporary handicap-accessible ramp and placing a security camera near an entrance to Broken Arrow School, 2704 La., said Tom Bracciano, the district’s operations and facility planning director.

Wednesday was also the first day junior high students participated in “Wednesdays at Liberty Hall,” a program providing activities for students on days they are dismissed early from classes for teacher collaboration days. Though this Wednesday, the students had a back-to-school pool party.

Lawrence drivers also will encounter traffic congestion in school zones again.

Cordley Principal Kim Bodensteiner said the school had used a newsletter and fliers to alert parents to drop students off from the southbound lanes of Vermont Street. Also, Cordley had staff in place to direct students on the other side of the street to walk to the corner and cross with a crossing guard. Things went smoothly Wednesday, she said, as the school celebrated its 90th year.

Delores Jackson, a crossing guard at Harvard Road and Iowa Street, said Wednesday morning that drivers need to heighten their awareness in school zones.

“Kids have less peripheral vision than adults. They seem to concentrate on one thing at a time. They will run, and they don’t watch for turning motorists,” she said.

Brothers Noah and Alex Hosford had just crossed there on the way to their first day at Hillcrest School. Noah, a fifth-grader, and Alex, a second-grader, said they would be happy to see their friends and meet their teachers.

“It’s nice to get back into a routine, but I’m going to miss having them around, definitely,” their mother, Niki Hosford, said.