First day

Well...sort of. My "official" first day of teaching was on Friday, but that was only half a day & it was mostly "fun", so I'm not sure that it counts. :) Today was our first full day, and to say that I'm tired would be an understatement. I can hardly keep my eyes open. I just got the kids in bed & now it's "okay, what do I HAVE to do before I go to sleep?". Not what do I want to do, or what needs to be done, but was has to be done in order to make it through tomorrow. That makes it sound like I'm barely surviving, which isn't true.

I felt like today went really well. I'm learning how to adjust, that I need more comfortable shoes, that Kindergartners need a lot of movement, that I can let go of some things, and that despite the work, I'm going to love this job.

I was a little nervous about rest time. I decided that instead of showing a movie (which honestly, would have been a wonderful break!), I would read a Thomas Burgess book. They are older books, and I needed to modify some of the wording, but I was amazed at how it captured the kids' attention. We read the first 3 chapters of The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk. They seemed to enjoy it & I was glad I had some beanie babies for visuals. I ran into one Mom just as I was leaving & she told me her son said his favorite part of the day was "story time". That the skunk story was so funny & he wanted to hear what happens tomorrow. That made my day.

I'm also learning that it pays to be organized. I'm okay at doing things impromptu, but not great. I need a plan. I'm anal that way. Now I just need to learn how to be flexible when what I've planned doesn't turn out exactly as I expected...

All right. Enough about school. If I'm going to survive my second day...I'd better get to bed, and soon!!