Survived day one

I survived the first day.

It was actually a really good day, but I am incredibly sore and really tired. My back and feet hurt so badly! I switched chairs at the end of the day, so we'll see if the chair I use tomorrow makes it easier on my back.

When I got there, my cooperating teacher gave me letters the students had written for me on Friday. I think everyone wrote one except two girls who were gone. They were so cute! :) It was quite obvious by the content, handwriting, and length what kind of student they were. Most of my first impressions were correct!

The students came in, but weren't in there long before they were off to library. We went to computer class with them and then went back to the classroom for the rest of the morning. A lot of what I did today was observation, though I did play a game with all the students (in groups of 3-4) throughout the day.

They weren't allowed to go outside because the wind chill was below 0. Inside recess was interesting... there were a handful of girls that sat around the table I am working at and just wanted to talk talk talk! Adorable--it felt good! :) They were excited over someone new, and I was glad to get to know them. Surprisingly, by the end of the day, I knew all 19 names. But we'll see how I do tomorrow after they all change clothes! haha :)

I got three colored Valentine's Day pictures throughout the day from a few of the girls. Very cute! "To: Miss Nelson" hehe

Lunch was cut a bit short today. Teachers are given 45 min for lunch... but because of the inside recess, the students came back into the classroom at 12:20. I didn't even get through my lunch and they were running back in. Since several girls wanted to sit and talk to me, I felt a bit awkward eating... so I just put it away. That won't always be that way--they will soon (hopefully) be able to go outside for recess soon.

The afternoon went quickly. I spent some of the time in the work room playing that math game with the students. Then we had handwriting and reading and whatever else!

Pretty soon it was time to go home! It was hard for me to creep out to my car and clean it off--it snowed so much while I was in school today!

I had to go to the administrative building to get a staff badge with a code to open the doors... so I got home around 4:45.

We have a few other things going on this week. Thursday is the meeting between my teacher, supervisor, and I. Wednesday after school all the teachers (K-12) have a teacher planning/development meeting... that will be held at the intermediate school--I haven't been there yet.

Tomorrow I will be working one on one with a student who struggles and takes quite awhile to process certain things. I'm not sure which subject we'll be working in, but I said that would be just fine! My teacher also asked if I'd take two boys into the workroom who are advanced in multiplication skills and start on two digit (for example, 12 x 8). Sounds good to me!

I don't have any lesson planning yet, so I have the night to relax. I'm going to watch some TV and then either read, work on Valentine's (will probably wait with those for awhile), or start a project. We'll see. :) I'm going to go get a few things done and eat supper! So far so good--we'll see how the rest of the week goes!