My First Day of School --

I am officially a teacher today!!  A bit nervous, but nothing over the top.  My classroom looked pretty darn good considering my challenges getting all my furniture.  All the time and energy I spent at the Teacher Resource centre in Windsor was well spent.  I am already using many of the materials I brought in my 275 lbs. worth of baggage.  My kids started to arrive with their parents who wanted to meet me.  I reassured them that I would take good care of their child and invited them into my classroom.  Children were allowed to sit where they wanted -- just until I determine who needs to be separated.  I assigned them each a cubby which is located just outside our classroom.  This is where they store their backpack.  We learned everyone's name including mine -- if they cannot pronounce MacEachern, they can call me Ms. Mac.

11 boys and 8 girls.  I was missing 6 students on the first day.  The mix of children is fantastic.  I have children from the following countries:  Canada, United States, Argentina, El Salvador, Pakistan, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Austraila and Palestine.  The boys always seem to be more work than girls -- they act-up a bit more and are less focused.  I have 2 children that need some help with ESL (English as a Second Language) -- all the other children speak excellent english.

It is really a good class -- we played the "ball toss name game" to get to know all the names and their pronunciations.  We played "Community Circle Sentence Completion" and "3 facts snowball toss".  The children really had fun and all of these activities were great ice-breakers.  They each made a name tag and had their picture taken for a bulletin board I will create in the hallway outside of my classroom which will have their picture in a large camera cut-out I brought from home accompanied by their handmade name tag.  

We discussed "Class Rules" and personal  responsibility of their things and their behaviour.  It was really a grand day and I feel we have already bonded as a class.  I encouraged students to make friends with each other and not to leave anyone out -- hurt feelings could result and noone likes that feeling.  

The following classes caused some confusion:  Islamic/Character Education and Arabic Social Studies and Arabic Language -- it will work itself out in time.  The condensed Ramadan schedule does cause havoc on the day's schedule.  After Ramadan, we will revert back to the regular schedule for the remainder of the year.

I was exhausted at the end of the day!!!  I came home and mounted some mirrors in my bedroom from IKEA and then put together a small 3 shelf IKEA cabinet all while doing laundry. I slept like a log and 6:00 a.m. came all too early!!

And so, the teaching career has begun!!!

Talk to everyone soon -- I think of you often!