Day One

The first day with kids is in the books!  I cannot believe how quickly the day went.  One of the reasons why I work with kids is because time with them is easily spent and I feel like I never have enough of it.  First off, let me just say that my students are adorable.  I mean that in the most superficial way, of course, because you can't possibly get to know the personalities of your students in your first five hours with them.  I have always, always loved the first day of school.  Many of them came in with new school clothes, new kids, and new backpacks.  While they were excited about all of these things, many of them gravitated towards old friends.

I think our biggest struggle this year is going to be dealing with friendships.  We've already had parents and past teachers telling us stories of pairs of BFFs that love each other one minute and hate each other the next.  I'm curious to find out what strategies will work in terms of pairing kids into learning groups instead of purely friendship groups.

My CT has the students use sign language to ask to use the restroom or get a drink of water.  They sign for one or the other, and an adult either nods that "yes" it is okay, or "no" it is not a good time. This has worked pretty well so far and cuts down on kids raising their hands to ask for this.  One more strategy that I like is playing three-note chimes to get kids' attention.  Any teacher that has spent any time in a classroom has likely been frustrated by yelling over students to get their attention.  While call and response strategies work at times, the chimes are a nice way of calling attention without using a tired teacher voice!

I got a migraine at the end of the afternoon today... no fun! So when I came back to my apartment I took some ibuprofen and spend some quality time laying on my bed.  I ended up sleeping about two hours- way more than I had intended.  Hopefully I'll have more energy and no headache to get some cleaning and organizing done around my little place.  To wrap up my night I did a quick treadmill workout and got in a good phone call with my parents.  My mom is a 2nd grade teacher in my hometown, so she is a wonderful resource to me!!  I love sharing ideas and stories with her.  Off to bed to prepare for another exciting day tomorrow :)

Love,
BJT