First Day of School.

I remember that the night before the first day of school I would always be too excited to sleep well...I would be going through my mental checklist over and over again making sure I didn't forget anything. Last night was no different except this time I was anxious about being a teacher instead of being the student.

There are a couple ways to describe my first day at B Elementary but none of them remind me of how elementary school was for me. My first impression was that little black kids are so cute, especially when they're in their uniforms! The pre-K and Kinder kids were so tiny and many were carrying around backpacks too big for them. I really wanted to take pictures but we're not allowed to unless they're for classroom purposes. I used to hate uniforms...but they really do save one the trouble of having to worry about what to wear. By the way, I am in need of having to go shopping because I don't have enough business casual clothing. I miss the good ole days when I could just throw on my sweats and a t-shirt and head out for school. :p 

I spent the day in Ms. M's classroom and all I can say about it is that it was intense. We spent all morning going over procedures...the breakfast routine, fire drill, how to line up, bathroom routine...we probably went through each procedure 3-4 times. Ms M is this small black lady but she's scary...I wasn't even a student and I found her intimidating. lol She was yelling at the kids and calling them out on everything. This poor boy was trying to tie his shoe and she made him take off his shoes and place them in the front of the classroom so he wouldn't get distracted. Today was the first day of school and she already sent 4 kids out into the hallway, one boy to time out for not being prepared with an answer to a question, and two boys to the middle of the classroom to stand for almost an hour. I've heard that her kids are always really good and it's obvious why.

These poor kids also don't have recess. They have an hour of auxiliary where they might have P.E. or art but even that is very structured. When I went to go check up on them they were all in rows under the cover doing jumping jacks and stretches...it reminded me of a military camp. Maybe it's what these kids needs because of their background but I'm definitely not used to it. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the week plays out, I'm pretty excited for teaching to begin so I can start doing something.