Whew, I just finished my first day of teaching kindergarten. It was really wonderful. The kids are so excited to be at school. We had a great day.

I arrived to school around 7:30. I was over an hour early. It was peaceful being in the room alone before the kids arrived. At 8:35 I went to the playground for duty. There were many parents already there waiting with their kids. I don’t know who was more nervous, me, them or the kids. I was glad to meet so many parents. I even found a Steelers fan among the group of parents.

We walked into the classroom at 9:00. The parents visited for awhile, and then the terrifying moment came when I was alone with 15 kindergarteners. The kids colored a picture while I took attendance and handed out name tags. It took me until 10:15 to learn the name of one little boy. He was so shy he wouldn’t even talk to me. We also had story time and did a dance. By the time we finished all that it was 10:00.

We then took a bathroom break. This was truly a new experience for me. I had to teach the kids how to walk in the hall, how to behave in the bathroom, how to line up after they were finished and remind them to wash their hands. We survived! It was a success.

We returned to the room for playtime. The kids did really well playing in the kitchen and with the toys. Even clean up went very well. I made them sing the clean up song until everything was put away properly. Plus, I didn’t hand out snack until everything was away.

After snack we played a name game. The kids had to roll a ball and say their name. They are still learning each others names. This will probably take 2 weeks to get everyone to learn everyone else’s name. Who knew?

We read Miss Bindergarten Goes to Kindergarten. The kids loved it. They really seem to like story time. Well, at least the girls do. The boys prefer playtime. It was now time to go home. Whew! I was very glad to see 11:30!

Tomorrow, I get to go do it all over again. The kids won’t remember much from today. But, they are only 5, what do you expect? If I can just get them to sit for story time and walk in a straight line in the hall this week, I’ll be happy.