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Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott continued a tradition Thursday, playing instruments and puzzling over geography lessons with students across the five boroughs on the first day of school, all while being trailed by cameras, reporters and local officials.

In the Bronx, he liked the way students debated about a character's motivation. In Brooklyn, he searched for cucumbers in a school garden. In Queens, students didn't even notice him because they were so absorbed in making scientific observations.

He opened a new school in Lower Manhattan with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, shaking somewhat startled students' hands, and on Staten Island he promised student government leaders he'd communicate with them regularly.

It was a celebratory tour, but issues like budget cuts came up nevertheless.

“We are enormously short on supplies, paper, technology,” said Anna Hall, principal of the Bronx Academy of Letters.

In one class, some high school students struggled to label the states on a map.

“I didn't even draw the map. I didn't want a have news story about the chancellor didn't know where the state of Washington was. The beauty of our teachers is they are able to meet the needs of individual students and having them grow to make sure they are able to produce at the end of the school year,” said Walcott.

When NY1 asked a student if he was excited for third grade, he nodded but quickly added that he’s nervous for the state tests.

Third grade is when students first take state tests. The so-called "high stakes" were already on his mind, even in a first-day art class.

Art class is what made the chancellor nervous. He said it wasn’t his best subject. The teacher was diplomatic when asked to review his performance.

“Chancellor got a little incomplete, he didn't get to finish it, but he worked really hard,” said the teacher.

When asked about releasing teacher performance reviews by name to the media, Walcott said he's very conflicted.

“It's an issue of transparency, but it's also an issue of making sure our workforce is not denigrated,” said Walcott.

The chancellor, who turned 60 yesterday, said he needs to catch up on the students’ favorite books after being asked what he likes to read, but added that he doesn’t think he’ll have much time to tackle that particular issue this year.