The First Day of School

Remember the feeling of the first day of school? When you're super nervous but you walk into your classroom and are amazed at what you see? ...and your teacher is smiling and showing you where to put your things?

Well, what you may not have realized is that the first day of school, all teachers are exhausted...and most likely using caffeine in the form of coffee, soda, or tea to survive. We also rarely eat...or pee (oh yes, I'm being brutally honest and open here).

Let me walk you through what my first day of school this year (and essentially what the first days of school the past two years have looked like as well):
5:15 a.m. Wake up exhausted but excited--all the prep from the previous weeks is going to be put into play today! Try to make myself look nice even though I showered last night so I could sleep in a little today.
5:40 a.m. Leave for school, making sure I detour to Coffee Bean
6:15 a.m. Arrive at school with several cans of diet coke in a tote bag and an Ice Blended in hand. Prep my classroom, take deep breaths, and review my lesson plans once again. Check to make sure everything really is in place and ready to go. Review my lesson plans. Review my lesson plans. Oh, and review my lesson plans to make sure I'm ready.
7:00 a.m. Team Pow Wow--Getting ready for all our lovely kinders, the class of 2028, to arrive.
7:20 a.m. Slight panic attack accompanied by HYPER EXCITEMENT. My amazing students and their families will be here before I know it, and now I just can't wait to see their smiling facse and give them high fives and hugs!
7:25 a.m. Students will be starting to arrive...I'm even MORE excited!!!!!! Send them to me!!!
7:35 a.m. Students are let in for breakfast! WOOHOO!!!!!
7:50 a.m. Summer School Begins!!!! At this point I am talking, moving, and sweating (no joke. My face is probably super red, and I am unaware of how much my body hurts, because I just keep moving.). I am smiling until my cheeks hurt and making everything super exciting, because it is! I am forgetting all my stress and just having fun with my students, teaching them our routines and procedures, singing songs, and enjoying learning!
1:45 p.m. Students are dismissed. I am still smiling. Greeting parents. Answering questions. Saying "I'll see you tomorrow!" to my wonderful students.
2:15 p.m. Exhaustion hits. I may lie down on the carpet in my classroom and not move for several minutes.
2:30 p.m. All staff meeting
3:00 p.m. Set up and get ready to do all this again tomorrow...

I likely will not eat or pee the first day until 3 p.m. when I realize I've forgotten to do both. I'm not even kidding about this. I hope at least one teacher reads this and can comment that this is in fact true. Seeing as I've been eating horribly the past couple weeks as I've been preparing, it seems only fitting that I not eat for the first couple days of school. I will inevitably eat something terribly bad for me that first night when my hunger finally kicks in. In San Jose, there was this wonderful Chinese restaurant just down the road, and I would order some yummy greasy chicken fried rice. Most likely, I will gorge on a burrito this year since I've already been introduced to an amazing restaurant within walking distance from my school. One perk of being in LA is walking to places. In San Jose, there was phenomenal Mexican food...but I always had to drive a little.

So there you have it, life as a teacher the first day of school. It's wonderful. I love it. I wouldn't trade my job for the world...but I also am so glad I only have to have one first day a year. :)

It's nearly 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, which means it's my bedtime. We had our Back to School picnic today, and I met so many of my amazing students. I also had a home visit that lasted two hours, and I am stoked about my students and their families. My body is achy though from all the set-up and prep, and I need to make sure I'm sleeping enough to be the best teacher I can be, so it's time for some zzzz's for me.

Goodnight lovelies,
♥a