Whoa baby!

For those of you that have been following my journey so far this school year, you'll notice that, for the most part, my kiddos have been an easy-going, respectful, mild group, and I haven't really left school stressed yet.  Well, let me tell you that today I experienced my first "whoa baby!" day.  (This is my made-up way of nicely saying that I had a rough day . . . )

Man, something was just "off" about today.  Maybe the rain, maybe the change in seasons, maybe just because it was Tuesday, but the kiddos were bouncing.  I swear, bouncing.  So much so that  I shifted my writing lesson in the afternoon to read the class Harry Allard and James Marshall's Miss Nelson is Missing.  In this story, Miss Nelson's class makes spit balls, throws paper airplanes, doesn't do assignments, and is rude to the teacher.  So, Miss Nelson goes "missing" and Miss Viola Swamp takes her place teaching class--Miss Swamp is strict and mean and makes them do a ton of work.  Then, when the kids finally "get" it, Miss Nelson comes back and the kids realize what they were missing.

When I was finished reading I asked the class why I might have chosen this book to read and one of my students replied, "we're being like that class and you're going to be mean if we keep it up.  And we don't want you to be mean.  So we should stop acting this way."  Hopefully I got through to them a little?

Don't get me wrong, there were good things that happened today, too.  Like teaching my kiddos how to read with someone as part of the Daily 5--they loved it!  And how a student that, up until now, has only counted continuously to 12 got to 13 today--another accomplishment!  But all in all, when our bell rang at 3:30 and all my kiddos were on their buses, walking home, or driving off with their parents, I packed up my things, got in my car, rolled the windows down, and drove home to go for a long run.  After dinner, I was able to get a little work done, but we all need some mental health evenings, right?  To put lesson plans aside, pick up a good book or turn on the television, and just "hang out"--no distractions.  Well, tonight marks one of these evening for me :)

Back to the grind tomorrow, fingers crossed that my well-mannered, respectful, responsible, cooperative first graders come back to school instead of their impostors that invaded my classroom today!

Here's to taking a deep breath every once in a while :)
Love from Room 106,
Allie