I won't go into details about my first day, but it was traumatic. I cried all morning, had a student throwing up in my bathroom (if you know me at all, you know that the one bodily fluid that I just canNOT handle is vomit), and tried to contain more than one student who was bound and determined to get OUT of the building. To make matters worse, my parents were in Scotland and I couldn't even talk to my mama after my first day! I was sick for a week and a half and dry heaved on my way to school every day. I ate nothing but saltines for at least the first week of school. I had honestly never considered that I might not be completely ready to handle my own classroom, but I felt so incompetent after those first few days that I just didn't know how I was going to make it through the year.
I am so blessed to work where I do! My mentor teacher was able to come to my room and model our morning procedures for me. Since I had never considered Kindergarten as an option before, I wasn't very confident in how to manage and teach my class. My coworkers were so supportive and I quickly got into a routine with my wonderful class. My principal has joked (more than once) about my first day of teaching. I'm just glad they let me come back! Haha!
Over the past 4 months, I have absolutely fallen in love with Kindergarten. My students are so eager to learn and excited about everything we do. I have the opportunity to teach my students more than just academics on a daily basis. My students have come so far since the first day of school, and I like to think that I have, too ;) We are doing really great things in Room 11. I love watching my students form relationships with each other. It absolutely melts my heart to watch them play at recess. They are protective of each other and have just built this incredible little community of learners and friends.
I am a literacy person through and through. That's totally the way my brain works. I love to read and my goal for the year has been to instill in my students a love for literacy. It melts me when my students run to me from our classroom library because they are so excited to share with me a book that they found. When I announce that it's time for writing, every single one of my students cheers. I send home a book order each month and it is my students' favorite day. They already know what the "red box" means and gather around me as I show them our new books. They thank me for ordering new books for our library and LOVE to be read to.
Kindergarten is a challenge on a lot of levels, but I can honestly say that I am so blessed to be in Kindergarten! I love my students SOOOOO much and it is so much fun to see them grow. Kindergarten was not my first choice and I was a little bit less than prepared at the beginning of the year, but I have fallen in love with the innocence and joy of my sweet students and I don't want to be anywhere BUT Kindergarten for a long, long time.
