10 Things Thursday

10 Things about the first week of school.

1. Last year I had 7 kindergarten students. This year I have 14. You would think that would mean twice as much work. It doesn't mean that at all. It means at least 10 times as much work. Surprising, but true.
2. I like having a bigger class. Last year I felt like half my class was always absent and I had a hard time wanting to teach to half a class.
3. I have no students whose first names begin with any letter past M in the alphabet. No Ts or Rs or Ss. Weird.
4. But I do have two little girls with the 209th most popular name according to Baby Center. What are the odds?
5.  I always forget, and this year was no exception, that I have to teach everything...from where the bathrooms are to every single little rule to how to walk in line. At least most of them know how to hold a pencil, so that's a bonus.
6. Sitting in chapel with 14 four and five year olds and trying to keep them still, quiet, and listening is like, well, sitting in chapel with 14 four and five year olds and trying to keep them still, quiet, and listening.
7. After a year, it has been determined by an expert in the leopard gecko field that my class's leopard geckos are, in fact, girls. Here are the names the kids suggested. Sparkle (3 votes), Shiny, Butterfly (2 votes), A (yes, the letter A), Rainbow (2 votes), Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Head, Robot, Grabber, Praying Mantis, Petshop, Sunny Day, Pencil, Mr. Potato Head, Mrs. Potato Head, Cake, and Sprinkle. And after a lengthy Facebook discussion (and lots of more appropriate, but no less amusing, suggestions), the geckos are to be named Lucy Sparkle and Ethel Rainbow.
8. My afternoon class has been fun, too. More challenging in some ways, like lesson planning and preparation. But less challenging in some ways, like how they all know that if they tip their chairs they will, in fact, fall out of said chairs.
9. On day 2, after an exciting and informative lesson on human migration to the Americas, I got the best teacher compliment ever. Josh, my very own son, told me that he liked how I taught history. And in my head I did a fist pump and said, "YES!"
10. I am thinking that this year is going to be one of, if not my most, challenging year yet. Larger class sizes, combined ages in each class, switching from kindergarten mode in the mornings to middle school mode in the afternoon, having my own children in my classes, trying to not just be a good teacher, but a great teacher. Yes. All challenges. But challenges I'm willing and able to undertake. For the sake of the kids. (But I have a feeling I'm going to need lots of Diet Coke and Oreos to get through it!)