Made it Through!

One school day down, how many more do I have left? I think today was much more exhausting that any other first day of school in 8 years of teaching. After thinking this, I realize that my next child needs to be born in April or May so that I miss the end of the school year and then have the whole summer to be with the baby. Not to mention I don't have to be 39 weeks pregnant while trying to teach 30 first through third graders routines and how a Montessori school works. Just doing the last part is exhausting. Doing it while pregnant is something I'm hoping I don't have to go through again.

I wish I had a picture to show you of my class today. It's interesting teaching 3 different grades at once because there are so many things you need to adapt to so that you meet everyone on their level. Once we get into the swing of things it won't be so bad but getting used to it is going to take some adjusting for all of us because it's the first time for most of my class as well. I certainly have some characters in there and my IA is amazing with the kids. We have a crier but that always happens when you have younger kids in the room. Shoot, it's happened with my 5th graders! The difference though is when I have a first grader crying and the third graders are able to console him and explain why he doesn't need to be crying. I'm not the one doing it. This child saw that his peers were able to reason with him rather than a teacher telling him he needs to stop. And the kids did a great job being polite and explaining. I heard things like "We'll all get a chance. Come over here and do this activity with me while you wait. Don't worry about it because there are other things to do!" That doesn't typically happen in a classroom with students of the same age. We also have one who is going to keep us on our toes. Pretty much all morning I thought this child was talking to other students and distracting them. Finally I sat down and observed him. Nope. He was talking to himself and rather loudly. And singing. In way it was amusing to watch because the other students didn't even seem to notice and just quietly moved away to give him space. I also have a king of schedules. He wants to know what happens when and any little change that's going to happen. The first day of school never runs quite how you want so it threw him off but he relaxed when I explained we would put up a schedule so he could see what happens each day. He even said, "I'm not a good writer cause I'm younger but could I pick an older kid to help me and I can help make the schedule for us and be in charge of it?" I was impressed with his maturity!

So all in all, I'm exhausted from the day but I enjoyed it. Enough to hope Monkey holds off so I can get my students through the first week of school. Now if I can figure out all of the Montessori stuff we'll be good to go. Here's to hoping I get all the supplies I need so I can really jump into teaching all of this! Nesting has taken control again. This time it's not just me. My husband cleaned like crazy today. Scrubbed everything I haven't been able to get to. I came home and even though I wanted to sit and relax I couldn't. I ended up sorting through boxes and found a ton of books and supplies to take into school. Super excited to start using all of them. If only I could get my hands on some chart paper so I can write my Morning Message!