126 Days in the Books!

It is hard to believe that I am well over half way--almost 3/4 of the way through my first year of teaching!  I can still remember getting offered the job, Back to School Night, my first day like it was yesterday!  There are lots of things though that have flown by in a blur!  I was always told that my first year would be challenging.  I have definitely had my challenges but none that I haven't been ready to step up to the plate and take on.  Along the way though, there are lots of the things that I already know I will do differently.  Actually, there were things on day 2 that I said I would do differently!  Here are just a few.

Keep in mind that I am typically not a patient person, although I have to say I have done a pretty good job keeping patient with my little ones!  Gavin says I use all of my patience up at school and have little none at home!  Opps...will need to work on that

• Starting with Day 1, we will practice tying shoes!  Most kid shoes now-a-days are velcro from day one but lots of new school shoes come with laces!  126 days in and I refuse to tie shoes! I could spend my whole day tying shoes. Please go find a friend to tie your shoes before you leave the room.  It has become one of my biggest pet peeves!  I hate seeing shoe laces destroyed because they just walk on them and I'm sure parents don't appreciate it either!

• How to HANG things in your locker!  I totally overlooked this!  I just figured they would know how.  WRONG!  They like to just shove it all of the bottom in no particular order.  This probably wouldn't matter a ton but we have the wettest, sloppiest, and muddiest playground!  Lots of times I find coats on the bottom, then snow pants, and then dirty boots!!  We had to have a little discussion and practice hanging everything up.  Note to self, do this on Day 1!

• How to put things in a folder--another thing that I thought they would know how to do!  It blows my mind watching my munchkins shove, crumple, and fold things to put them in their Take Home Folder.

• Lining up!  I have battled this one all year!  It may have been partially my fault because I let them get away with chatting too much in line at the beginning of the year.  After Christmas break, I cracked down on it and they haven't been a fan!  We simply don't leave the room until everyone is facing the front of the line and with their voice off.  This is a challenge and it some times takes us 4 or 5 times of lining up before we walk down the hall.  If they are talking, I send them all back to their seats to try it again! This can become quite the fuse blower to some of them that think they won't make live another moment without lunch.  You would think this would be a motivator to not talk....

• When I say hustle, I don't mean continue talking to your buddy and not taking off your snow clothes!  I picked up a little trick from a friend of a friend---she gives one mini marshmallow to the first 10 little ones into her room after recess!  This has shortened our recess undressing time into a fraction!  It didn't work for all but certainly a majority!  Bribery at its best!  And one mini marshmallow?!  I feel the need to eat the whole bag every time I allow myself to have one--handful! ;-)

• Bathroom breaks!  There was a time when I would have half of my class asking to go to the bathroom---right in the middle of core instruction time!  It has always been a first grade rule that you must use the restroom before each recess.  Evidently that wasn't enough or my littles were eluding work!  We had to switch some things up!  They now get one freebie through out the day and they have to make the choice any other time during the day if it is an emergency or not.   If it is not, they have learned how to hold it.  If they still think they need to go, they will need to move their clip down. Now, I am not a bully about this.  If I can tell that it really is an emergency, I let them go.  I figured out real quick that they could hold it.  Our bathroom trips deceased dramatically!

• Simplicity is best!  Short and simple!

There are certainly more that I have written down here and there but this is all I can think of right now! I hope you are having a great weekend and are looking forward to your week to come!

~Toodles!