The First Day

What a whirlwind!

Things that surprised me:

• How long it takes 29 5th graders to accomplish things :)
• That my "comfy" flats were no longer enjoyable after 8 hours on my feet.
• Despite being "rulers of the school" (as one student put it), they are still adorable.
• That I made it until lunch time before needing to use the bathroom (yay for developing a teacher bladder!)
• The quiet, wonderful calm that happened during Read Aloud. I loved it.
• I never knew that a 40 minute lunch break could feel like 5.

Things I want to remember: 

• Make sure bags of supplies are labeled at parent night! Believe it or not, most 5th grade boys don't remember which school supplies are theirs and at some point it became a free-for-all. In my own classroom, I might sort through these before the first day of school because my OCD tendencies prefer things to be labeled perfectly. 
• I love my CT's idea to have the students create the monthly calendar numbers. It's just a little thing that allows them to personalize the classroom more. She hands out half a blank index card to each student...students with birthdays that month get to decorate their day, and any holidays are specially decorated as well. I need to take a picture of this!
• Students LOVE to choose their own names for the table groups. My CT switches groups monthly. Each month, every table picks their own name under the same theme. It helps for team building and management (calling groups to line up).