Back-to-School

My first full week of work with kids (without kids almost doesn't count) is over, at 3:15 anyway. Hooray! 

A week has never lasted longer, I'm sure of it. It was pretty crummy to have kids start school on a Monday - usually we start on a Wednesday so we can all ease into it. But we started full-throttle, like so many of Desert Springs' other "activities"... we just don't do things by halves.

I think I'm going to have a nice class. So far I've got 23 kids, and pretty close to even boy:girl ratio - which is nice. There are a couple of handfuls, but thankfully it only seems like a couple, for now anyway - you can't always tell at first :) It was quite a shock on the first day of school realizing teh adjustment I was going to have to make from big 4th graders to little 2nd graders - who need to be told when to wipe their nose, need their shoes tied for them, can't follow written directions, and - oh yeh - can't read yet (at least, not very well).  But by now, I'm mostly adjusted, and I looooove how sweet they are - they all want to give hugs (even the boys) and tell me how pretty, nice, fun, etc. I am. It's quite the ego boost. But if I'm a little harsh on them, they cry. So there's the trade off.

Exciting things look like they're going to happen at our school this year - we've known about it since summer, but certain higher-ups can't make up their minds, so we wait and wait. I hope I get to tell you the good news soon!

Not quite ready for school to start, judging by the state of my desk.

This is what I'm hoping for!