NATCHEZ — While some local students are finishing up their final year of school in Natchez, others have just completed the first leg of the 13-year journey.

Kindergarten students from Diane Verucchi’s West Primary School classroom are counting down the days to summer vacation after the nine months of school.

But those students aren’t leaving school the same students they were the first day they walked the halls at West Primary.

Verucchi said her students have spent the year learning letters, letter sounds, addition subtraction and reading.

“Children at this age are excited about learning,” Verucchi said. “They want to be here.”

And while Verucchi said her students have shown enthusiasm for all the activities they have done this year. The students said some have been more fun than others.

Marquez Townsend, 6, said one of his favorite kindergarten activities is using the computers to learn about letters and sounds.

“I like the octopus game,” he said. “You click on it and it makes an X.

“And I like the race car game, too, that’s on the computer.”

Marquez said, when he isn’t working on the computer, he likes to put together the floor puzzles, but he was very specific about which ones he’ll use.

“There are three for boys,” he said. “I don’t do the ones for girls.”

But while Townsend’s favorite activities take place inside the classroom, Michael Hunt, 6, said he’d rather be outside.

“I like going outside and swinging high on the swings,” he said.

But when recess is over, Michael said he is just as happy inside doing math and working on his letter sounds.

Jhanyla Smith, 6, said that while she learned a lot — her favorites were adding and subtracting — she liked the social aspects of kindergarten the most.

“I like my teacher because she is nice to me,” Jhanyla said. “And my friends because they are nice to me and we swing and slide.”

Brandon Johnson, 6, shared Jhanyla’s enthusism for math.

“We learned it on an overhead projector,” he said.

Sadie Bond, 6, who just enrolled in Verucchi’s class a month ago, said she has made a lot of new friends since coming to West Primary.

“We play duck, duck, goose and slide on the slide,” she said.

In the classroom, Bond said she really likes reading and writing. Her favorite word to write is “here.”

Sadie said she has also learned about colors — her favorite is red.

“Because it is beautiful,” she explained. “Barns are red.”