Happy First Day!

I love the first day of school!  New faces, new smiles, new energy....  That said, though this was my 12th first day as a teacher, I still get nervous!  When you count up all the "first days" I've had, you'd think I'd be old hat by now.  Not the case.  I'm up way too early, can't eat breakfast (so I drink it, thank you protein shakes!) and my energy comes from a mix of giddiness, delirium, and excitement.

This was a big first day, with 24 smiling 4th graders making their way into the classroom that is now their home away from home for the next almost ten months.  When they came in, a short writing activity and word search was waiting on their desks.  The kids were so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.  A few of the parents looked rather surprised, likely because it was the quietest they've seen their kid all summer!

Alas, the quiet never lasts long enough, and within 40 minutes, the class was eagerly (and quite loudly, I might add) exploring the classroom and getting to know each other, and their teacher!

Learning the new bus loop.

My favorite getting to know you activity for the first week of school is usually a big hit, and this year was no different.  It's a simple activity, really, requiring nothing but a plain piece of paper (scrap paper works, as long as they're all the same size scraps!) and a writing utensil.

Unpacking supplies!

The kids write down two or three things about themselves.  Then, while they wait for their peers to finish, they get to doodle on their paper.  This is the one time of year I tell them to NOT put their names on their papers, which is puzzling, considering this activity usually comes after I teach them the name song:

"The first thing I do is always the same, I get my paper and write my name!"

What do we do with those scraps of paper, you might be wondering?  Well, we crumple them up into balls.  Considering I tend to use white paper..... and we live in Michigan, where an over abundance of white fluffy stuff usually descends from the skies for a few months every year....

Yep.  It's a snowball fight.  Indoors.  In a classroom.  Complete with throwing paper snowballs!

Anyway, the balls get tossed around for about a minute, then at my signal, everyone scrambles to find a snowball, un-crumples it, and tries to find who it belongs to.  We have three or four of these snowball fights each day the first week, which makes for a memorable way of getting to know each other!

And hey, you know the saying about snow in July?  Might not be July, but I love making it snow in September!

Professionally Developed

Photo taken by @Dshulks

Back to school means lots and lots of time spent being professionally developed.  Meetings.  Speakers.  Articles.  Research.  Data.  Data.  Lots of Data.

It also means my district's annual Welcome Back Day celebration and kick off.  Every year, all the staff in the entire district converge at one of the buildings for a continental breakfast with lots of indulgent breakfast goodies (read: donuts and donuts and donuts) along with the requisite fresh fruit and other healthy ways to start the day.

From this lively breakfast, we descend upon the gym, climb the bleachers (this year, more comfortable thanks to a staff appreciation gift of stadium cushions!) and settle in for a rousing kick off, complete with the requisite "rah-rah" speeches.  Thankfully, the speeches are usually really good.

This year was no different.

What was different, was what came after the yearly spiel.  Our guest speaker.

Three words.

Ah.  May.  Zing.

And inspiring and motivating and entertaining and engaging and resourceful and knowledgeable and humble and enthusiastic and WOW.

Kevin Honeycutt.  If you haven't had a chance to hear him speak, google him.  Now.  Find his YouTube.  Explore his website (yes, it's overwhelming - he, like me, has ADHD.)  It will be worth your time.  Not sure about all of this?

Well.  Let me tell you.  Today's Welcome Back Day was scheduled from 8:00 - 10:30.  From there, we had the rest of the day to head back to our buildings and classrooms and work on getting things ready for day one.

There were two optional breakout sessions with Kevin, one from 10:45 - 12:00, and one from 1:15 - 2:30.  I signed up for the morning session, thinking it would be a treat to work with Kevin in a smaller setting (only 30 people for the breakouts, verses the 650+ at the kick off) and knowing I'd have the afternoon to work.

Photo taken by @mwmedvinsky

Nope.  Not happening.

Instead, I found myself SO inspired, SO engaged, and SO excited to have this time with such an awesome speaker, I stayed.  For the day.  So I was at Welcome Back Day from 8:00 - 3:30.  That's how worth it Kevin's presentations were.  Don't believe me?  Go google him.

Some tidbits from my day....

• Relationships trump all - make that connection with the un-connectable kid and the impact can be life changing....
• Kids don't know what they don't know - give them a chance to change the world, you may be surprised at what happens!
• Value what kids are good at, not what they can't do.
• Perfection is the enemy of done.
• Relationship is key - believe in kids, especially when they don't believe in themselves, and maybe, just maybe, one day, they'll start to believe too.

Reflecting on the day (reflection is KEY in learning) I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to spend my day learning with such an engaging, motivating, and meaningful person.  I look forward to connecting again..... and again..... and again!

Photo taken by @mwmedvinsky

My Room

This time last year:

Exactly one year later:

What a difference a year makes!

(And the fact that there was NO construction in my room means that I won't have to spend my Labor Day weekend at school this year!)

Back to school......

Every year, the first official work day kicks off with a staff meeting.

Every year the staff meeting is scheduled to last one hour.

Every year, we watch one hour come.... and go.

This year was no different.

An hour and thirty-five minutes later, we dispersed into our classrooms..... or, at least, we were allowed to head back into our rooms and work.  But, since this is usually the BEST staff meeting of the year, we lingered.

Staff meeting and best in the same sentence?  How is that possible?

Well, because at my school, we're like family.  And as this first staff meeting back is the first time we're all back together, it's a pretty fun reunion.  Kinda like when kids get shipped off to camp for the summer, and at first, it's all fun and games - the kids are having a ball at camp and the parents are loving the kid-free time.  But eventually you hit a place, where, while you don't want camp and summer to end, you really want to have everyone home and together.

Which usually lasts for a few days before you want to send the kids back to camp.

At my school, while we really don't enjoy the end of summer...... it IS nice to be back together again!