Meeting my class

Yesterday, from 9:30-6:00 was Back to School appointments.  It was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.  Before we started, one of the PTA moms said, "Every teacher is just grinning." 

There was a bit of a Christmas morning vibe.

My students are adorable.  Some of them were terrified.  A little girl was clutching a stuffed puppy like her very life depended on it.  I didn't know if I was going to get one boy to talk.  He finally did, but not above a whisper.  I had super confident students who looked me in the eye.  I can tell some of them are going to be live wires.  One boy told me he is "super fast" at math.  He demonstrated how he writes lightning fast.  One boy told me I look kind of like that teacher in the blue shirt.  (He was pointing to our family picture on the wall, where I'm wearing a blue shirt.)  I had another boy tell me that he thought Mrs. Davis was someone else and he is glad it was me instead because that other teacher is mean.  "Mean?!?" I asked.

"Well, she lectures."

I had parents who didn't speak English.  I had extended families and toddlers and babies and whole fleets of older and younger siblings.  I have Duplo Legos which are a saving grace at such times.  Also, Skittles.  Everyone who wanted them got Skittles.  The preschooler who dropped his and almost cried got another penny to try again.  I had a mom ask my advice about going back to work.  And I told her my idea about writing numbers on the tags of shirts and pants so kids can figure out what matches and she thought that was genius.  It works.  I had a student tell me that one of my students from last year told her how they'd drained my Skittle machine when I had Covid.

I told her if it happened again, I'd just take it home.  (Tell the others!)

I had students reveal things that made their parents eyes bulge in surprise.  If they only knew.  I hear things.

It wore me out being the hostess all day, but I'm so excited!  They are darling.  They are mine for 180 days.  Longer really.  I saw former students in the hallways.  They're still mine.