the tattooed teacher: is it nap time yet?

I warn you that this post is wordy. I am very tired and sitting at the boys’ martial arts practice….read if you dare!

Day one back with the kiddos!? That’s right. We had a short summer this year since the district moved our last day to the Friday before Memorial Day. {We normally got out the 2bd week of June}. So…I am utterly exhausted!

Last night we had meet and greet. It was ok. I met 14 out of 22 families. I am familiar with many of the faces since my middle Lamb is in 2nd grade this year, too! In fact, I already know all my kiddos names. I am good with this. Not sure how I can learn student names on Day 1 and cannot remember what I had for breakfast or if I’ve been to the bathroom today!

Here’s how our day went down {minus pictures because my phone is dead!}
Students came in to Playdough {or a generic from the Dollar Spot!} That was a great idea whoever posted it on Pinterest!
Then we took care of supplies. I have them put everything on their desk and we open and put things in pencil pouches one item at a time. They bring anything extra to the supply box for that item {again, wouldn’t pictures be nice!}

Next up, story time. Or completely random facts about me time. Someone always notices a tattoo, so I start there. I know they are wondering if they are real and what they mean and if it hurt. I always say it’s hurts real bad. This is my favorite part of the first few days. I start with telling them all about me: height, age, year I was born, what school I attended, anything. Trust me, they want to know! Every now and again, I stop and ask “What year was I born?” or “How old is Jackson?” Then I show them some family pictures and ask what they notice. I always get the old “you sure look different!” comments. But they are bound to notice that Mr. Lamb is a lot taller than me. Then I go into family facts stopping to quiz along the way. This allows them to feel comfortable with me and know that I am just like their own mom in many ways. SO they can tell you Drew is my silly kid with the sock monkey, Jackson is 13 and a weird teenager, and Jake is moody in the mornings even though he’s quiet at school! This is really worth them time it takes.

I also am sure to go through all our rules. They loved the gestures with Whole Brain Teaching and learned them so quickly. We do scenarios and what if’s. This year I put them in groups and each illustrated one rule. I used Amy’s My School Rules posters for this. Here I can see who works well with others very quickly!

Insert potty break in here as well as how to line up {lines, lines, lines!} and number order.

The biggest hit of the day was Class, yes. They thought it was a hoot. I can already tell I’ve got a few talkers who were allowed to say whatever they pleased, whenever they pleased, so I used Class, Yes A LOT today!

In all my craziness, I only read one book. Chrysanthemum…love, love. I wrote each child’s name in bubble letters and they illustrated them any way they chose. I will hang these up for the year above our work display. I love them.

all in all, it was a great day. They left tired and happy! Oh yea. I did lose a kid today! But all is good. He got on the bus and wasn’t supposed to. SO I frantically called and called, then waited for the bus driver to return to see if she brought him back! She did! Sigh

Up next for tomorrow; our first spelling test, Lilly and her purple plastic purse, and maybe some craftivities from Amy’s pack! They better learn how to use glue in my room sooner than later!

Here’s a little template I use for posting student numbers. They get the hang of it pretty quick. Hope you can just plug in your names and use! here’s also a little peek at what I send home the first day for parents.

here’s the editable version of the number list. These are just the kids’ numbers I can remember!

here are some other tidbits of info! The visual schedule I saw on Sara Cooley’s blog last year and the other two I saw on First Grade Parade. Not editable, but feel free to use the ideas!