Select box with first option empty

If you are using the HTML package by LaravelCollective, you do the following..

Form::select('size', array('L' => 'Large', 'S' => 'Small'), null, ['placeholder' => 'Pick a size...']);

I found that 'default'=>'Please select' doesn't work with the HTML5 required attribute. This does work:

$listOfValues = [1 => 'Choice 1'];
Form::select('fieldname',[null=>'Please Select'] + $listOfValues);

If you don't like modern PHP syntax,

$listOfValues = array(1 => 'Choice 1');
$listOfValues[null] = 'Please Select';
Form::select('fieldname', $listOfValues);

But the point is to have a label for the null value.