Parents snapped pictures and said goodbye to their children for the next six hours.
For hundreds of children in the Moreno Valley Unified School District it was the first day back to school, bringing an end to summer vacation.
School administrators held events throughout the day to get children back into the school spirit.
"Our kids start learning from the first day of school. That's why it is so important that we get them here on the first day because instruction happens on that very first day," said Kirk Skorpanich, principal at Chaparral Hills elementary.
Skorpanich visited each of his classrooms to encourage students to start the year with good attendance.
They were off to a good start. They had 97 percent of students in attendance. As a reward, students got to enter their name in a raffle. The prizes ranged from baseball tickets to books.
