Week One - Over

I must say that this may be the easiest class I've had in my 6 years of teaching first grade. We will see as the year progresses, but as of now, my discipline problems are very normal, ordinary 6 year old issues. The kids seem to be reasonably bright and capable. I have never had the "good" class, so I don't really know how to react. Every year I have had amazingly wonderful students, but also very challenging children. I am curious what it would be like to have the "good" class.

Here are some great quotes from my classroom:

Girl during career discussion, "When I grow up, I want to be a cash register." Boy, "I want to be a Target."

I caught a girl with something that's not hers, and asked her where it came from. She looked at me with her big eyes, and without missing a beat said, "I stealeded it." - ?!?

I had to talk to one student who kept inviting her friends at recess to come over to our class to play. "You should come to the fun class." She was crushed that friends can't come over to hang out in our room. They have their own classes.

The grown-up drama is a little funny as well. We have a new dress code - think business professional. To give the girls credit, I have not heard a single complaint about the clothes. Everybody bit the bullet, spent the money, and is showing up looking like movie stars.

It's the shoes that are killing us all. The first week of school, elementary teachers never sit. NEVER! I only sit during my 10 minute lunch or if I am reading a short book to the children. All day we are on our feet in our classroom and walking the halls. We are all struggling to find shoes that we can stand to wear all day. Several teachers are ordering the high-heeled crocs that I have. At a teacher meeting we were comparing blisters, redness, swollen feet, and ripped toe-nails. The winner had seven bandaids on one foot. Our principal passed out band-aids in our mailboxes yesterday. She makes this all bearable. She's a hoot about the whole thing. She even said a eulogy for our flip-flops.

My schedule is crazy. I am up a little after four to start my day. Some days I work out before school unless I am taking James to football practice at 6:15. On those days, I am having to work out after school. It is rare for me to get to bed before 10:30 - leaving me permanently exhausted. I will say that the workouts seem to add a lot of stamina to my day. A good run provides the same level of perkiness and energy as about 6 cups of coffee. On running days, I don't have the afternoon energy slump either. Weights are like having only about 3 cups. It is definitely worth the early mornings (can we all say -8 pounds woo hoo!), and I think eventually the routine will smooth out a little.

Our life is slowly improving. The air conditioning at the house is finally repaired and we got our suburban out of the shop. Now we are waiting on a friend to see if he can fix the dead PT Cruiser. I want to say a HUGE thanks to all the friends who supplied rides and loaned vehicles while we were carless. I know some of them sacrificed a lot of convenience to provide for our needs.

Keep praying for me. I have an insane weekend ahead of me. I have tons to do at work, tons to do at home, and urgent ministry projects as well. Pray that I would seek God first