Friday it happened. That wonderful, magical, nightmare inducing first day with the kids. It went fast, in fact, besides the occasional hunger pang from not having lunch until 12:30, I didn't notice the passing of the day much. Just a blur and then done.
So what does a teacher do on their first day? We laughed a lot. We also spoke a lot. I led some discussions but the kids did most of the talking, sharing, and deciding. We discussed rules but not in a traditional sense with me setting them, rather we discussed what they already knew. What types of rules are helpful for a classroom? Why do teachers set rules? Do we need them posted or do we know them by heart? In fact, I wrote a whole post on the rules discussion we missed.
But we also worked on clerical stuff like lunch magnets, popsicle sticks, pencil cup name tags and where in the world do you put your lunch box. The kids asked questions, dispelled myths about their teacher - for some reason they say I am fun and I don't know where they have that from. They also tried to figure out what the 10 pictures below meant to their teacher. They all thought I liked to collect china and liked to kick rocks.
And then we connected, we opened up and we just came together. I shared how nervous I get before the first day of school. I shared how excited I was and how I couldn't wait to learn with them. I shared how we have one word that shows us as a class and that word is represent. We live up to that word in whatever we do.
I challenged them in the Bloxes challenge, which if you haven't tried this with your students, you should. We spent time with the other 5th grade classrooms because we believe that we are on this grade level and that all of the kids are our kids. And then the end of the day. How to dismiss, how to remember everything, and already sad to say goodbye. These kids snuck into my heart faster than I had thought possible and I am thankful for them. I get to be a part of their life this year; what a gift. One student said it best at the end of the day as I waved goodbye, "Thank you." And I wanted to say, "No, thank you."
So what does a teacher do on their first day? We laughed a lot. We also spoke a lot. I led some discussions but the kids did most of the talking, sharing, and deciding. We discussed rules but not in a traditional sense with me setting them, rather we discussed what they already knew. What types of rules are helpful for a classroom? Why do teachers set rules? Do we need them posted or do we know them by heart? In fact, I wrote a whole post on the rules discussion we missed.
But we also worked on clerical stuff like lunch magnets, popsicle sticks, pencil cup name tags and where in the world do you put your lunch box. The kids asked questions, dispelled myths about their teacher - for some reason they say I am fun and I don't know where they have that from. They also tried to figure out what the 10 pictures below meant to their teacher. They all thought I liked to collect china and liked to kick rocks.
And then we connected, we opened up and we just came together. I shared how nervous I get before the first day of school. I shared how excited I was and how I couldn't wait to learn with them. I shared how we have one word that shows us as a class and that word is represent. We live up to that word in whatever we do.
I challenged them in the Bloxes challenge, which if you haven't tried this with your students, you should. We spent time with the other 5th grade classrooms because we believe that we are on this grade level and that all of the kids are our kids. And then the end of the day. How to dismiss, how to remember everything, and already sad to say goodbye. These kids snuck into my heart faster than I had thought possible and I am thankful for them. I get to be a part of their life this year; what a gift. One student said it best at the end of the day as I waved goodbye, "Thank you." And I wanted to say, "No, thank you."
