First Friday

At 2:45 PM today I will have officially made it through my first week of teaching first grade! Granted it wasn't a full week since we started on Tuesday, but I think 4 full days is more than enough time for it to count. I feel so blessed to be absolutely IN LOVE with my first grade babies. I adored my kindergarten class, but, I was so exhausted that first week because my class was tough. I don't want to jinx it, but my class this year seems to be incredible! I am beyond thankful! I haven't even needed to go to bed early this week or nap after school and any teacher knows what a big deal that is.

Having taken a year off from teaching, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to see that first week 1st graders are an awful lot like end of the year Kinders. I don't feel quite so lost in working with them and every bit of confidence boost is fantastic when you're a relatively new teacher.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm still a little disappointed that certain circumstances, mainly moving and living three different states over the last 14 months, are making this my second year of teaching, not my third. Since this is my third year out of college, obviously I feel that this should be my third year of teaching. I'm trying to be thankful because I know there are graduated teachers that still haven't found jobs and I need to be aware of how lucky I am to be at a fabulous school with a fabulous team. I'm going to work on making this the best year ever to make up for it!

I've got a small classroom tour for ya! Remember when it looked like this?... It's really transformed over the past few weeks. I promise to take some more detailed, better pictures soon. But for now...

This reading area is getting some new, exciting decor come next week! 

(Hopefully...)