The First Day of School!! (And Week)

The first day of school, I was nervous and excited; the night before I kept wondering what the families would really be like, and would the children like me, what would the schedule be like, and so on and so forth my thoughts bounced around in my head. The next morning, I was up and ready to go and once the doors of the school opened and the new kindergartners arrived, it was a whirlwind of teaching or reminding parents of the classroom morning routine and it was intense, but in a good way. I admit, I had a hard time remembering all of the parents/guardians names from the interviews the week prior and while that was slightly embarrassing, I am proud to say that I was able to retain all of the childrens' names. Once the parents headed out to the new family tea and surprisingly only one teary goodbye, Jean, Sheila, and I set about getting to know the children individually and encouraging new play experiences by helping them into Caycee's classroom as well as introducing them to new friends. We also started pull outs that morning and thus the submergence of establishing the routine and social etiquette began. Actually, the entire week whizzed by and over all, I must say things went pretty smoothly, with a few bumps along the way, but after a brief team meeting, we have a game plan on how to handle any further situations that may arise. That's the great part about being in Jean's room, she's not afraid to speak up when a behavior is inappropriate and I appreciate being included in the team planning and decision making process. The atmosphere is awesome! :)