First- and second-graders practiced pronunciation. Third- and fourth-graders learned basic Spanish while learning their classmates' names. Fifth- and sixth-graders discovered their teachers' backgrounds.

Monday was the first day of school for the 230 kindergarten to sixth-graders at Polytechnic Elementary School in Mesa. The nonprofit charter school, managed by University Public Schools Inc., is affiliated with Arizona State University. It's been in the planning stages since ASU President Michael Crow envisioned it in 2002.

The school promises innovative, team teaching, individualized learning for every student and new teaching styles, implemented with the help of mentor teachers and ASU graduate students, said Principal Donna Bullock.

Students sit in what are called clusters. First- and second-graders share two classrooms divided in part by a wall. This is the same for third and fourth grades and fifth and sixth grades. Each cluster has two classroom teachers and an instructional aide, and students stay with the same teacher for two years, Bullock said.

"We're not really teaching kids first grade," Bullock said. "We're teaching where they are academically. We're grouping kids by their ability."