1. My grade level partner is wonderful. She's a wonderful teacher and a wonderful colleague. She's been sending me her lesson plans, shows me where to find materials for the coming week, and even made me the occasional copies. Her SMART goal will be to collaborate with me on a weekly basis (which obviously helps me more than her). I owe her so much!
2. First graders need to be told, "We do not store Jitter Juice in our desks." {Little darling: I'm saving it for later. Me: Um...where are you storing it?}
3. My first two weeks had its ups and downs. But guess what? Last year I'd taught the same grade level for 9 years and I had good days and not so good days. So when I'm having a tough time, I take a deep breath and give myself permission to have a bad day. It's normal. It's part of life and it's part of any job. "As long as the kids are safe and leave with a smile on their face. That's all that matters today," was my mantra for the beginning. And when my colleagues asked me at the end of day 1 how it went I half joked, "I can't say there weren't tears. But they weren't MY tears."
The fact that I've had good days already have given me hope that I CAN do this. I think, "It's going to get easier." I think, "If this bad thing that is happening right now is the worst thing that happens this year, it'll still be a pretty good year!" Of course things change and evolve. Expectations will increase, work will get harder for the kids, tests will be analyzed, report card time will steal my prep time. But I'll be more savvy than I was on the first day.
4. First grade teachers tiptoe in their lines. {Little darling: Mrs. Thomas, why do you walk so fast?}
5. I think I am going to like the grading to preparation ratio change. I'm not sure, but I think that compared to fourth grade, I spend less time grading. Conversely, I spend more time preparing materials. Now, part of this change might be because I'm new to the grade level, but I don't think so. Even if I do all the same activities next year and have materials already cut, laminated, and assembled, there is still the task of setting things up for each day. Things that I took for granted that fourth graders could count, distribute among their group mates, or staple on their own. So time will tell. But if I'm right, I am enjoying the materials more than the paperwork. I'm getting into a groove with being active after school.6. Going to bed earlier has been the smartest thing I've done this month. I get to school earlier because there are new routines I have to get used to. Eventually I'll write a morning message, (in slower, neater writing than I dashed off for fourth graders) get the main ideas on the board, draw in the times on my clocks, copy the lunch menu from the calendar and make my copies the day before. But I'm not quite there yet. At least I'm efficient in the morning because I have my To Do list typed and posted for myself.
7. First graders need their desks bleached. Every. Day.
8. First graders know more routines than I expected. Of course there are lots of routines I took for granted in fourth grade that take longer and need more reminders, modeling, and "never mind, I'll do it for now" in first grade. But they can find their hook and put away their bags with no problem. They put their folders in their mailboxes. They can clear away their crayons as fast as a fourth grader. They even worked nearly silently on a pretest for ten whole minutes!! Most routines they learned in kindergarten, they can still do. I even had one first grader who could help me look at names and put the right paper into the right mailbox (as long as I was there helping).
9. First graders can sit with a book. This was all new territory for me. When I saw my library of books sorted by genre, and then a second library of leveled books, and the third library of leveled books that correspond to the Journeys texts, I was confused. "They can't read those books by genre; are they all for read alouds?" I asked my grade level partner. She told me that they look at the pictures and "tell themselves a story about them." "Do they write the story?" I asked dubiously. She looked at me with that amused, aren't you lost sort of look. I didn't think so.
I looked at the Daily 5 briefly and saw that there are 3 ways to enjoy a book: sound out the words, use the pictures to tell a story, and retell a story that you've heard. I modeled each strategy. I started the kids at 2 minutes and increased by 1 minute per day to build stamina to 5 minutes (that seemed to be their limit for now). I modeled sitting with my book for those 4 days, and on the fifth I took pictures of kids demonstrating good reading behaviors. And it actually worked. They are doing it. Some day soon I'll be taking reading groups and actually start teaching these little ones how to read stories. Wow.
10. Fake it till you make it is still a viable strategy. The first day I smiled even though I felt like a substitute teacher. I was in a foreign place, with kids I didn't know. REALLY didn't know. Didn't understand. So uncomfortable. I was sweating (not just because it was 90 degrees) as we transitioned from the safety of the desks to the carpet not knowing if they would just start wondering. I patted one of my little darlings on the back as he screamed and cried for the first 3 hours of class and told him he was safe here and I was going to help him. I was shaky as we head to the hallway, feeling exposed. What if they weren't quiet? What if they didn't stay in line and my colleagues saw I was not in control? My stomach was tight as we went to dismissal. What if they ran for their parents instead of safe where I could see them? What if their parents asked me point blank, "Couldn't you handle fourth grade? Why are you teaching first now?"
The kids didn't know I was worried about control. As far as they know, I'm the grown up; of COURSE I have control. My colleagues in the hall complimented us on our lines. The music teacher told me, "You look like you've been doing this forever." The reading teacher told me, "The kids were really tuned in to you when you were giving directions!" The kindergarten teacher told me, "Parents told me what a great first day their kid had. They're really happy in your class."
I can do this. I teach first.
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