Three First Days

September 4^th 2012, 

         Today was the first day of school for eight of our students.  Wednesday and Thursday we will get 8 new students as well, and Friday all 25 students will be in the classroom. I think that this is a great way for teachers to get their testing done, but more importantly build a strong foundation with each individual student. After the students said their last goodbyes to their parents in the classroom, we gathered them up and had them join us on the circle rug. Once all of the students were seated quietly, Mrs. Irvin had each student introduce themselves to the rest of the class. Then we introduced the calendar chart and had students volunteer to place the day in the correct slot on the calendar, describe the weather, and tell the class what day was “yesterday” and “tomorrow”. Mrs. Irvin has options for the students to choose from that are magnets on the white board. I thought this was a great way to get the students to learn from the resources in the room right off the back. Throughout the day Mrs. Irvin and I called students over to test them on a number of things; such as color identification, shapes, and numbers. We had a rowdy and very excited bunch of students!

         My highlight of the day was when we went out for an extra recess during the afternoon and one of our students (a boy) decided to go to the bathroom on a tree near the playground. Luckily we saw what he was trying to do before he got to far and quickly called him in to go inside to use the restroom. What a great ending to my first day and a great reason to laugh after a stressful morning! 

September 5^th 2012,

         Today was our second “first day”. We got our second bunch of students in and repeated everything that we did on Tuesday with our first group of students (Mrs. Irvin calls this the “groundhog day” week – relating to the movie). Today Mrs. Irvin invited me to read one of our stories for the day to the class and run the activity. I thought it went really well. One thing I noticed that I needed to note for next time was to double check and make sure everything I need for my lesson is where the students are seated. I forgot the example to show them, so I had to get up and leave the circle. I then lost 50% of their attention and had to move/work fast to gain it back. Our group of students that we had today was a lot more cooperative than yesterdays and immediately worked well together! I really enjoyed watching this group while they played together during their free playtime.

         My highlight of the day was when the students all looked at me with a blank stare as I was leaving the lunchroom. I walked back to ask them what was wrong and one of them said “Miss svkalkci (that’s how they pronounce my last name) where are you going?” I answered them by telling them I was going to have my lunch with the other teachers and explained that I would see them after their recess. Then another student asked, “But will we see you after?” I said of course and another student got up and said they were going to miss me while they were gone. The joy of working with kindergartners – still so mushy! 

September 6^th 2012,

         Today was our third, and last, “first day” of kindergarten. We had a few challenges throughout the day with one of our students – not following the rules in the classroom. Today I read Owen by Kevin Henkes to the class and instructed the activity that followed. The activity involved the students coloring in an illustration of Owen the mouse and gluing on his blankie that we learned about in the story. I don’t know if the students were tired or what but the storytelling went over extremely well and every student sat quietly and intrigued. If only every lesson can run that smooth now! On my drive home I was constantly thinking about tomorrow. I am very anxious, excited, and nervous to have all of our students together for the first time. I know we have a great bunch but that is not to say we don’t have our hands full.  

         My highlight of the day was when one of the students (one I would least expect) hugged me during an activity and told me that he loved me. It's the little things that make your heart melt and it definitely reminded me of why I chose this field!