First Day!

Today is the day!  I'm excited and not nervous which is a nice feeling.  I have plans and I have such cute students!  I'm looking forward to getting to know them.

The AC is mostly better.  It was cool in the morning yesterday and heated up as the afternoon wore on, but before it was hot in the morning and heated up as the afternoon wore on, so this is better.

I am staging a one woman campaign to get an ELMO projector thing (technical term, I know) for my classroom.  Every other classroom in the building has one.  I have been harassing both Matt and Riley.  Sometimes at the same time.  They finally told me  it is in the reliably unreliable electrician's hands.  I asked what I could do to nag him.  I said, "I'm really good at nagging." (I could have given our children's names as references.)

Matt wouldn't give me any help that way though because he has a whole line up of projects for said electrician and doesn't want me to jump the line.

Bureaucracy is alive and well.

Riley refused to believe I didn't have outlets on my fake walls.  I didn't think any of the fake walls had outlets.  He insisted they did.  He pulled everything away from my walls to check for outlets.  I said, "I promise I don't have outlets!"

Then he made me go with him to the 4th grade classrooms to see that they have outlets on their fake walls.  Sure enough.  My classroom is the only one that doesn't.  

I keep getting confirmation that I have the worst classroom in the building.

So that's fun.

Yesterday a skittish little girl and her mother came to my classroom.  The mother said, "They told us we can't interrupt you, but we couldn't make it last night.  Can she just look at the classroom?"

I assured them they could indeed interrupt me.  (What am I doing anyway besides arguing with Riley and labeling everything that is holding still long enough?)

I showed her where her desk is and where she lines up in the morning.  While I talked to her she timidly pranced from side to side.  Every time I'd ask a question, her little voice would falter because she was so nervous.  I told her that I'd taught her brother.  Her other brother was in my classroom a lot last year as a third grader too.  She said, "The boys said you have pennies and...a Skittle machine."

I do!  I told her that the kids at Back to School Night didn't get one, but I'd give her a penny.  I showed her how the machine worked and she was thrilled.  Maybe a little less scared.

Candy will do that.  

And I will keep buying more.

Janelle stopped by with gifts and it was so good to see her and I don't know how I'm supposed to do this without her.  

I miss her, but I love my little school and I love being a teacher and Back to School is my love language.