REDO!!!!

OK, so day 1 of the 2009-2010 school year did not go quite as well as hoped.

Actually, the first half of the day was fine. It wasn't until after lunch that the metaphorical excrement began to hit the metaphorical air blower.

After the initial madness of trying to separate the parents from the kids, the day got off to a very nice start. For whatever reason, my two classes have widely ranging populations -- 17 in my homeroom, and 27 in my second class -- and of those groups, all but 3 kids were here today. Rather than have 26 kids in one class, my partner and I took 5 of her homeroom kids and put them in my first class today.

That group was well behaved, they listened, they did what they were asked. . . we had a splendid first day.

I think I didn't get off to a very good start with my second group. Our planning period this year is placed smack dab in the center of our day, which is GREAT from a scheduling standpoint. However, it means that we need to switch classes RIGHT before we take the kids to specials. So I didn't have much of a chance to meet and greet the kids in my second class as much as ask them to toss their backpack on a desk and line back up.

When we got back from lunch (which immediately follows specials), it didn't help that there were announcements coming over the loudspeaker roughly every 4 minutes. Also, we were still scrambling to find out which buses our kids were supposed to be riding home. Also, we didn't get enrollment packets that had to go home today until 2:20. Also, the kids in my second class apparently like to talk. A lot. And not so much on the listening and/or following directions.

One child in particular really got me flustered. This kid would look right at me as I was telling him to do the simplest things (ie, write your name at the top of the page), and then not do that simplest thing. He could talk to his neighbor just fine, but once or twice he actually told me that he had done what I asked, but when I looked, he definitely had not.

Then there was the boy who, at 2:57, wouldn't put his journal away because he had been playing with his nametag string (in his mouth!), and the string had gotten stuck on one of his braces. Lovely.

I did everything in my power NOT to sign any conduct folders today (though I certainly waved them around with that second class). I made it pretty darn clear though, that my red pen would be out and ready as soon as they walked into the room tomorrow.

Here's hoping a good night's sleep helps us all have a much better day tomorrow. Otherwise, it's going to be a REALLY long year...