First day back

Today was the dreaded day we came back after vacation. It was hard getting up at 5:20 AM, making it to the bus stop by 6:05 (in the dark), and arriving to school by 6:55 (still dark). Like Ms. Brave mentioned, I had also prepped my classroom as much as possible to ease the transition. The last day before vacation I had changed the calendar, schedule, put the homework in all of the notebooks, graded the math books, prepped the phonics lesson, etc. etc. but of course it was not enough. By 7:10 after I'd had a little coffee, I was running around like crazy already trying to get the rest of the day prepped.

The morning went pretty smoothly. I had zero expectations of the children which helped. They usually come back from vacation tired, hungry, and on another planet, but they were surprisingly with it this morning. I actually enjoyed their little company.

By noon, I was feeling the shock of being back at work. I kept thinking that it would be really nice to watch TV or take a nap as if that would be at all possible.

For homework tonight, they had to think of three New Year's resolutions and write them in their notebooks. We did a lot of oral storytelling on the subject and I modeled some of mine for the kids. I think they were genuinely touched when I wrote the one about being more patient with them. We talked a lot about what patience means and how Ms. Peace can be more patient with them. A lot of them wanted to be more patient with each other after that. Some of them said really meaningful resolutions. A girl who gets in trouble a lot said "I want to learn how to play with my friends without hitting them so they don't get hurt." Another girl said "I want to listen to my friends more so I don't yell at them." A lot of kids want to try harder in school. Some boys said that they wanted to help their moms more (I know, sooooo cute).

This is why I love first grade!

P.S. It was dark when I left school in the PM. So much for daylight!