First Day review

Okay, so honestly speaking, my first day was a little rough.  I thought I had enough plans for procedures and routines, but found out very quickly I was wrong.  Good thing only half the class came today... I can do better with it tomorrow.  You should see my before and after lesson plans for the first day... I really should retype them now because I wrote notes all over them as I reflected on each part of the day.  I'll put them in a file and save it for next year.  :)

I've heard from a few kindergarten teachers that you just have to make it through the first six weeks, because those are the toughest.  If you can conquer them, then you'll be just fine.  

Meanwhile, I feel so blessed to have an amazing network of teacher friends ranging from first years that I graduated with, the teachers from where I student taught (my cooperating teacher and I have become really good friends and I'm soooo thankful to have her... It was very weird teaching without her there today though!).  The teachers and assistants (and janitor!) on my hallway at my current school are also incredibly amazing, constantly encouraging me, genuinely wanting to know how I'm doing, bringing me all kinds of kindergarten materials, helping plan lessons, and sharing ideas.  It's not often that I feel like I truly BELONG somewhere, but I really do feel like I belong at my school, and that means more to me than words can say.

I'll leave you with a little anecdote my TA posted on facebook earlier this evening... It's always good to remember the positives (and cute moments of each day!)-----

"Today after lunch our kids had rest time. Our counselor came in to introduce herself and talk some about what her job was as a counselor. When she finished talking one of our little boys asked, "can we go back to bed now?" I had to share...made us smile. Gotta love Kindergarten :)"