The First 2 Days

Well, I a made it. I have officially had 8 first days. My class consists of 19 little 6-7 year olds. I have 2 others that have not shown up, but watch out! I betcha they come on Monday! I was ready for the most part. I got to meet some of my darlings on Monday night. Others on Thursday. I have made many interesting observations so far and boy am I in for a year. A good one I hope and pray. I have doubles in my class. I have 2 boys and 2 girls with the same name! I am supposed to have 3 boys with the same name, but one of them is a student who has not shown up. We will see! The last year I had multiples like that was in 2005. IT was by far my best year. 3 Emilys, 2 Codys, 2 Katherine Lees....I am not joking! Luckily then, the latter went by Katie and the other Kaylie. :) Anyway, I digress...
I was able to thwart a breakdown at the end of the day and for that I was happy. It was Friday afternoon for goodness sakes! He is a cutie and I think pretty doggone smart (I can tell just by our conversations!! No time for assessments YET).
We spent the last 2 days covering routines, procedures, and community building. We did a really cool thing today with an energy ball. If you don't know what that is, I'll tell ya! It's a little ball that lights up when their is a circuit that is fully connected. Basically, the 2 pieces of metal have to be connected. I can't explain it any other way. It makes a weird sound and lights up. My kids loved it! Our school also emphasizes movement (it's all based on brain based research). So I bought this crazy CD that has the best songs for movement. We did one today about colors. With each color you do something. For example, "if you're wearing red, stand up and shake your head! If you're wearing white, stand up and turn to the right!" Get it? The other song I did yesterday is called Tarzan. It's my favorite because it gets fast and faster! It reminds me of some Camp La Vida songs we used to sing.
My favorite activity though was reading a book called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? It is about how everyone has an invisible bucket that they carry with them daily. We can either be bucket fillers--those do nice things for others, be caring, loving, sharing, etc., or you can be a bucket dipper. Students worked on thinking of ways to fill buckets and how NOT to dip. If you dip out of someone's bucket, you also have nothing in your bucket. LOVED IT! The kids really got it too!
Now, you ask, why did school start on Thursday? Because we teachers are so exhausted just getting ready, we need the weekend for a break! No, really, one reason is for our littlest darlings. I know this is a fact because my nephew Memphis started kindergarten. He was wooped after the first day. Poor babies...they are so tired. And so am I so I am signing off for now! Oh, check out Erik's blog. I have no idea what he is thinking! He just can't share anything with his wife! Just kidding....bye!