After having a wonderful break and spending so much precious time with my little peanut I had a terribly difficult time falling asleep last night, literally! I was up till 2am and I had to get up at 5:30am in order to get to school on time! I think part of me was in denial that my vacation was really over, but alas it was. So off I went to school (rather sleepy I might add). I spent an hour setting up my room... rearranging the furniture and hooking all the electrical equipment back up. I don't know about you guys but we have to clean off every desk and moveable shelf and lock up any valuables and remove all the electrical equipment so that the floors can be cleaned over the break. After an hour of cleaning and organizing I didn't have much time to prep for the day BUT on the bright side I have 2 preps today so I knew I just had to be prepared for first period and then on my prep second period I could get the rest of my day ready.
Off I went at 8:45 to get my kiddies knowing I had a lot of work to do second period but I was excited to see them and hear all about their adventures over the vacation. As we walked up to our door I decided that the start of the New Year should me a fresh start in our classroom as well. I had the kids go right to the carpet (with all of their stuff) and right then and there I decided I would let them pick their own seats. I have never done this..well except for the first day or two of school, but other than that I always pick there seats for them. Do you let your kinders pick their own seats ever? We had a very nice discussion about "Making Smart Choices" which is one of our class rules. We talked about how it's a New Year and I want to give them more responsibility and that I think they can "Make Smart Choices" and pick good tables to sit at. To my surprise MOST of the kids did a really good job, not all of them of course, but the majority of them did. I told them that if they "Make Smart Choices" they can keep their new seats, but if they start to fool around then I can change their seats.
I have to say I was pretty impressed and amazed at how receptive they were to this idea. Our new class motto for the remainder of the year is "Make Smart Choices"... Now I just have to make some sort of banner or something to keep reminding them of this every day. I am liking this resolution! It's been a good one for me too because it's helped remind me to "Make Smart Choices" throughout the day too!
Did your class make any resolutions this year? What are they?
I hope everyone had a good first day back!
PS - Some of you have been wondering what ever happened after the hurricane... let's just say it's not a pretty picture out here. Yes the schools are re-opened (for the most part) but so many people (my parents included) no longer have a house to call home. Some people lost their houses to fires, but the majority of the people (like my parents) had so much salt water in their houses that they houses have to be gutted and/or knocked down and rebuilt. It's going to be a long slow process to get everyone back on their feet again and unfortunately so many people have already started to think that things are 100% back to normal, but the reality is that it will take many months if not years for people to get back to normal!
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