Los Angeles — A parade of first graders bursts through the doors and enters the room along with the early morning sunlight. A girl in a pink chef’s hat, a boy in a Spider-Man hoodie, a girl in a ballerina tutu, a boy with light-up sneakers, a girl in a unicorn onesie and dozens of other energetic children meander through the line, clutching their parents’ hands.

One girl, Maria, greets her “bestie” Harmony with an early valentine and receives a warm hug in return.

“Hello Xhyla, my little cheerleader,” the kids’ teacher, Kristin Minkler, says as they skip past the check-in table. “You’re good, Zariah. I got you.”

Minkler, sensibly clad in black leggings, tennis shoes and long puffer coat, informs the children that they are “going straight to school.”

But this is not a normal school.

Minkler is the lead studio teacher for the hit ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary,” which means she is in charge of every child performer on the show from the moment they arrive on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank. Immediately after checking in with Minkler, the young background actors — who populate Abbott’s classrooms, hallways, library and gymnasium onscreen — change out of their everyday attire and into their costumes: tiny blue polos that bear the crest of their fictional Philadelphia grade school.

When the kids aren’t busy acting opposite their TV teachers — played by Sheryl Lee Ralph, Tyler James Williams, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti and show creator Quinta Brunson — they spend their downtime behind the scenes chipping away at their schoolwork.

Around the corner from soundstages 15 and 16, where “Abbott Elementary” is filmed, is a dedicated learning space where Minkler and her team entertain the child actors with educational activities and help them with their studies.

The teachers fulfill a dual role as both educators and caretakers who are responsible for enforcing California’s child labor laws on set. After a production delay caused by last year’s Hollywood strikes, the studio teachers and child actors are back and busy working on Season 3 of “Abbott Elementary,” which premiered Feb. 7 on ABC.

“I always tell (the children), ‘This is real school,’” Minkler said. “‘It’s different from the school that you go to, but this is a real school.’ And if you’re gonna tell them it’s a real school, it needs to look like a real school.”

To that end, Minkler has decorated every wall of her studio classroom with colorful bulletin boards and educational resources — including miniature biographies of William Shakespeare and Langston Hughes, fun facts about the ancient Greek gods, a planetary diagram of the solar system, the periodic table of the elements, guides to converting fractions and solving algebraic equations, giant maps of the United States and the world, and motivational phrases such as “Be brave,” “Dream big” and “Never give up.”

Every piece of decor in the building — from the pink high-heel-shoe tape dispenser on Minkler’s desk to the handwritten name tags waiting for each student at their assigned seat — was procured by Minkler herself. Some of the items have been in her possession since she was a high school English teacher 25 years ago.

Also on display are various student art projects, which the show’s art department occasionally borrows or commissions for its classroom sets.

“We want them to walk in and see their art and see that this is a school, and it’s a safe space,” said studio teacher Ali Bloom. “You can come in here, you can relax, you can get your work done, you can learn something. You can be amongst your peers and feel that feeling of school.”

Because they began their careers in traditional school settings, Minkler and her studio teacher second-in-command, Sandy McNeil, can sometimes relate to the educators and scenarios portrayed on “Abbott Elementary” — which has earned glowing reviews, strong ratings and multiple Emmy Awards since it debuted in 2021. (The show’s sophomore season averaged 9.1 million viewers after 35 days spanning traditional TV and streaming platforms.)

While working as a substitute teacher in Los Angeles schools early in her career, McNeil recalled, there were instances when kids sat on tables because there weren’t enough chairs for all of the students — which isn’t far off from the kinds of funding and resource issues the characters contend with in the show.

Minkler was amused by Season 2’s Halloween episode, which sees the “Abbott” students get sugared up on candy and wreak havoc on the school — a predicament she knows all too well from her experiences both as a teacher and a parent.

As a studio teacher, “You walk the tightrope because you’re with production, but you’re there to make sure everything is OK with the kids, but you want things to run smoothly,” Minkler said.

“It really is this dance between making sure everybody is happy and everybody feels like they’re getting what they want,” she added.

“It’s a lot harder of a job than people think.”

Each season, a portion of Warner Bros.’ budget goes to studio education for its child actors, who hail from all over Los Angeles County and beyond.

According to the California Department of Industrial Relations, children between the ages of 6 and 18 who are employed on a film or TV project must complete at least three hours of school per workday. During weekdays, there must be one studio teacher present for every 10 kids on set.

“We are a show who greatly values real-life educators, so it was crucial that the teachers working here be exemplary,” executive producers Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker said in a statement to The Times. “Kristin, Sandy and the rest of the team’s hard-earned wisdom, patience and care ensure that our show’s young actors value education every bit as much, if not more, than making TV.”

Brunson said the production is fortunate to have such a dedicated studio teaching staff “on a show that is primarily populated with children almost every episode.”

“Abbott Elementary” can require the presence of more than 100 child actors with varying classwork, needs, dietary restrictions and schedules on any given day. Like all studio teachers, Minkler and her staff are equipped with double teaching credentials — single subject, which focuses on one core area of study, and multiple subject, which covers a general array of knowledge spanning kindergarten through 12th grade.

“I don’t know where we’d be without our studio teachers,” Brunson said in a statement. “The team is patient, kind and focused on the children and their education first while balancing the needs of the production.”