We Both Survived the First Day!

Today was my first day of school, and Zach's first day of preschool. He went into it with much more confidence than I did! His daddy had to drop him off, since I had to be at work SO EARLY, but he just went to the new classroom, found his friends, and sat down. He had a great day, took a long nap (unfortunately), and was in a great mood when I picked him up. He is zoning in front of the TV while I play on the computer, and his dad gets the yard ready for his 4th birthday party on Saturday.

Today was exceptionally long, especially when I kept the same group of kids all day. We had a break at lunch and fine arts time, but some of the kids were with me from 7:30 this morning until almost 5:00 this afternoon. It was time to get away from each other! The parents cracked me up this morning; they all had huge smiles on their faces, and were very excited to get their freedom back after the summer. I don't think most of the moms were worried about their kids' first day; they were too happy about having an empty house to let it bother them!

I think it is going to be a good year (I'll be interested to read this again in May); I seem to have a pretty good group of kids. There are a few who already seem like they will be a lot of work, and a few who can't sit still, but that is all part of the job. Most of them seem to be caring, kind individuals, and it will be fun to watch them grow this year. Fifth grade is such an important year for the kids; they come to us from elementary school, and suddenly have lockers, four teachers, and electives. When they leave us, they have usually grown several inches, discovered the opposite sex, and have a much more developed personality. It's always so much fun to see my students from the previous year in the fall; they grow up so much! I have four kids this year who are younger siblings of previous students, and it is nice to be able to "check up" on former students.

I am thrilled to be able to only teach Social Studies this year! I feel like I will really be able to go in-depth with the material, and maybe get through all of US History. We are starting with geography tomorrow, which is a necessary evil. The students need to learn how to read maps, but it is hard to make it exciting!