I decided to go alone without any little helpers only because there wasn't much for them to do and I was really tired. The drive to school was a pensive one. I worried about walking into the class and having ants everywhere. Would I finish everything today or not?
I was greeted again by our lovely secretary and our assistant principal. Our assistant principal always has some encouraging words that get you motivated and feel good about who you are and why we do what we do. This started off my morning very well.
As I opened the classroom door I was hesitant to look down, afraid to see an ant party happening in my room. I was ready to do the ant stomp once more but to my surprise...NO Ants!!! Yay! I have no idea what the custodians used but it worked! Thank goodness!
Looking around the room I was happy to see how much really was done with the help of my munchkin helpers. I took my time to decide what I was going to do next. I wanted to ease into things so I decided to do something simple and easy. Since the desks were cleaned off and in their little groups I decided to fill their "community" baskets with crayons. MMMM...the smell of brand new crayons! In my classroom we learn to SHARE our things from day one. I fill their baskets with crayons that I provide and store their supplies until we need them. I tell them that these were my crayons but I'm sharing with them and they will be sharing theirs with each other. Many times they come in with their names on EVERYTHING...and I hear "that's MINE!" Well, not in my classroom. Yes, I'm a meanie! heehee I make sure to tell parents this and some like it and some don't...oh well! I have their child for 7 1/2 hours of their day and they learn real quick how to share, what happens at their home after my time I don't question. I had to learn that over time and lay the law down with the munchkins and their parents. I stress we have to work together not against each other. As I sat opening the crayon boxes, that's when it hit me... I was going back down to Kinder!!! Yikes! I had looped up with my last bunch for three years so going from being in 2nd Grade to Kinder is a BIG drop down. Eeeek! I'm getting nervous! Can I do this again???? Being nervous is good...right?
Oh my gosh!!! What do I have to do to get ready for Kinder?? I was being hit with a bout of forgetfulness or maybe denial. Letters....right? They need to learn their letters.. right?? Yikes!! I went to the area of my classroom that's called our "ABC Workstation," yes, different areas of the room have different names. I opened the cabinet and saw a sea of different letters...magnetic letters, wooden letters, foam letters, plastic letters, tactile letters, big letters, small letters, letter cards, letters, letters, letters! Wow!!! I almost had an anxiety attack! My brain started to revert back to Kinder mode...what did I do with all these letters??? Duh! Everything! It was starting to come back to me as I got them out and organized them.
I also found unopened Play-doh! I had to open it to see if it wasn't rock hard!!! Ok who am I kidding...I wanted to play with it! It was fresh and the smell was....yummy! Love the smell of Play-doh! I had to laugh because it reminded me of my 6 year old nephew's visit to El Paso. We were relaxing and he poked at my side and said, "oooo Play-doh!" Haha! That little booger! I started eating salad for awhile after that!! Haha! As I played with the Play-doh, I started to relax a bit and accept I was a Kinder teacher again. I was happy because that's where my heart has always been...with the little ones. Love that a majority of my munchkins come in with a blank slate, not knowing how to hold a pencil, how to work with new friends, how to read & write, so many things and they leave making such tremendous growth! Gotta love it!! :)
I started to poop out and with perfect timing... my other Kinder teachers came to school to work but their rooms were still blocked off so we chatted in my room. I'm so excited to work together with them next year. We have a new mix of teachers in Kinder. Two of us have always worked together, even through the looping and the other two were Kinder last year. After chatting for some time I cleaned up and decided to leave and contemplated if I was coming back the next day or wait until next week.
Well, as I write this it's tomorrow already and nope I didn't make it in. Heehee! Day 4 will be pushed for next week.. so stay tuned! :)
XOXO!
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