Survived the first day!

At 2:30 today, I let go a big sigh of relief.

I did it, I survived my first day with students.

I tried to explain my anxiety to others, but was met with "you've done this before".  Yes, I have.  This started year five.  But the kids are different and it doesn't mean it's any less scary.

Last night was riddled with nightmares of every possible worst-case scenario...all of course, occurring on the first day.

I started my day around six am by prepping their "you're just write for this class" pencils:

 Normally Target's dollar spot pencils are decent but this batch didn't hold up to my fifth grader's sturdy hands.  About half broke within the first twenty minutes...good thing they brought their own!

Next, I finished my word wall with scrabble letters:

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The words will be color coded by content area.

I also finalized my pencil vase with a button:

I think it looks super cute :)

When my students entered, there was a slip of paper for them to write their feelings on.  Luckily it was early enough in the morning that they didn't question me.

While they were at art, I turned their feelings into this wordle:

Overall, they were excited for fifth grade and I hope that feeling continues!

This group of students might be the most talkative yet so I know I'll have to reinforce the norms of taking turns and using whisper voices.

We went through a lot of procedures, class room tours, etc.  

They had a lot of fun with our "No Way Jose" and "That's a Fact, Jack!" sort:

I love my job, but my oh my am I exhausted! I haven't talked that much in a while and my feet hurt from wearing shoes all day.

Bring on day 2!