Welcome to Kindergarten

So I'm beyond exhaustion...definitely too tired for this blogging...but I also don't want to have to repeat the stories 900 times. lol...so here it is:

6:00 am...wake up and prepare for the day...beginning on my knees in the presence of my Savior...because more than being a good teacher, I want to be the example of Christ to these children--to show them they are loved by at least one person in this world.

7:15 am...arrive at school and prepare for the day...and my first child shows up at 7:45ish soooo excited for life!

By 8:00, my class was full of 19 5&6 years olds. Our principal wrote a grant for free breakfast every day for the entire school because children cannot learn effectively if they are hungry. Today we had cereal with milk and orange juice...let me clarify, the children were allowed to eat DRY cereal and drink the milk to prevent many messes. HOWEVER...within the first 15 minutes of breakfast, we had 4 bowls of dry cereal spilled all over the floor and 1 juice box...making a pretty sticky mess. We actually accomplished much more than I anticipated! There is an aid in my classroom for the first two days and she insisted that I couldn't possibly be a first year teacher...everything was running much too smoothly, which made me feel very good. It makes things easier when you're doing something you were created to do :)

We had a meet your table-mates session in which each student did a puzzle of a picture of someone at their table...which created mass confusion because they thought the picture was supposed to be of themselves and that I had just really messed up. Then we had a meet the teacher session where each child had a picture of something about me (fav drink-Dr. Pepper, my best friends, my fav book- the Bible, my Dad, my Mom, my sisters, my pets, me in Kindergarten, etc.), which they absolutely loved!...especially knowing that their teacher was in kindergarten once upon a time ;)

Kindergarten is so interesting. They say the most hilarious things ("class lets create some rules for our classroom! give me an example" response: "don't throw rocks in the classroom!!!")...which will be documented throughout this blog...and they are really still babies. I had so many parents describe their child's special "potty dance," which has become high priority during my daily general observation for obvious reason, haha. At 11:15, I went to pick my class up from specials (P.E., music, computers, library) and several of them hugged me and looked at me and SHOUTED..."MISS WALKER!!!! We are sooooo excited to see you!!!" They are just too sweet and have stolen my heart already. One of my favorite things??? NOBODY is too cool for anything in Kindergarten. Their favorite part of the day was singing and dancing with me to a four line song about how we get to school! They probably would have done the song 800 times if I'd let them...it's the little things.

I just knew the morning went way too smoothly. We was about 15 minutes late to lunch because we were so engaged in learning...and because Miss Walker looked at the wrong lunch time :) Then, the school blew a transformer, so electricity went out all over the building. Meanwhile, the teacher's aid in my classroom was on the verge of losing conciousness from diabetic shock. I had no juice or candy in the room (which didn't even occur to me anyway until another teacher said it), so I was frantically running around the classrooms...great. And then I went back to teaching.

My students are precious. Their moods change at the drop of a hat and they will do ANYTHING to please the teacher. Every student demanded that I see every picture and paper that they completed. I have a couple of "energetic" ones...one who would probably walk backwards everywhere if I let him, one who insists on not listening and then telling me that he IS listening after I've asked for his attention for the third time, and a couple of very social butterflies...but I just adore every single one of them. When they get to go to the group carpet, it usually becomes a little chaotic, so I decided to create a masking tape grid so that every student would have a certain "spot" tomorrow...if necessary (or legal or socially acceptable) I would have a shock collar or hot wire fence grid because I think that would be very effective, hahaha---very much just kidding. And by the end of the day I learned they all have their trying side...I have cute name plates on their desks that were pretty pricey, so I had them laminated to be reusable. Each students name was written on them this morning, and as a I walked around this afternoon, not one name was one them...they wiped every single one off...hilarious. NOT. So I rewrote and TAPED over them. We'll see how they creatively undo that tomorrow.



So I left day one (at 6 pm) with:
green paint on my dress pants
a sore hand from class high fives gone wrong
heavy eyelids
sore feet
a semi-sore throat
"The first child gets to ride the bus" (to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb) stuck in my head
a new knowledge for taking care of people with diabetes
a new appreciation for air conditioning
"lunch is at 11:30, not 12:10" engraved on my mind
a hatred for tying shoelaces
a new appreciation for parents
19 new loves in my life :)

time for bed...seriously...more to come