{Back to School Recap} A comparison of first and sixth grades.

Dear friends,

Boy! I've been busy...but you understand. There's no tired like teacher tired the first week of school. I read that quote on Facebook or Pinterest and it's T.R.U.E.

I've spent two whole weeks as a first grade teacher and I love it it! There are, however, a few things I miss about sixth grade:

• My former co-workers
• Long conference periods
• Fewer duties
• Lunch that I actually sit down to eat

In middle school my conference period was typically an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes depending on the day's schedule. Now I'm down to 45 minutes. When I taught sixth grade, I had bus duty after school for one week out of every nine week grading period. Now I have lunch or recess duty daily and car rider duty every.single.day. This is a huge adjustment for a middle school transplant. The first week of school I think I ate standing up in my room while preparing something without fail five days in a row. This NEVER happened in middle school. Oh, and I think I will miss novels. We read some really good novels in sixth grade. 

My favorite things about first grade so far are...did I mention I L-O-V-E it...

• Firsties love me...literally, I think,...the number of hug requests I get per day is phenominal.
• The kiddos are excited to learn and they really WANT to impress me.
• The books...books are incorporated into everything! Shared reading, guided reading, interactive read aloud, read-alouds, Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, etc.  
•  Brain breaks. Have you ever seen a six year old attempt to dance along with The Backyardigans while singing "I Gotta Feeling"? Too cute. Or waddle like penguins around their desk? Cute some more. 
• All the neat-o, sorta ridiculous things I get to say everyday. For my middle school buds, let me explain a couple of my faves.

"Peanut butter jelly time!" - When we come to the carpet, my kiddos are paired. One is peanut butter and the other is jelly. When it's time to turn and talk I say, "peanut butter jelly time!" 

"Class-Yes" - This is our attention getter. Students mimic my tone and the number of times I say "class" when they respond to me by saying "yes". I think it's particularly cute when they try to mimic my deep body builder voice and flex their biceps. 

I'll close with my two favorite quotes from the first week of school and I'll be back this weekend with pictures of a few lessons/activities from the first couple of weeks. I realize a post without pics is a bit of a bummer, but I'm worn out. 

(Looking at pics of me with my family)  

Firstie, "Mrs. Elvir, is that you?"

Me, "Yes, when I had longer, blonde hair."

Firstie, "And you were skinnier too."

(same student, different day)

Firstie, "Mrs. Elvir, Are you having a bad hair day?"

Me, "What are trying to tell me about my hair?"

Firstie, "Well, your hair is wiggly today."

I wore waves instead of straightening it. Ooops.