A good teacher, like a good entertainer first must hold his audience's attention, then he can teach his lesson.

Today was game day. The first day of my teaching career beyond being a daily substitute teacher (which is no easy task either!)

Suited and booted for day 1!

It is a whole other ball field when it is your classroom. I prepped as much as I could for this day because I had a million questions and ideas floating around in my head, attempting to picture how exactly this day was going to go down. I am the type of person that likes to have things mapped out. I like to know what I am doing at certain times and base off my day from that- I am a planner! I was scouring all over google for what the expectations are for what the first day and first week in kindergarten looks like. However substitute teaching taught me many lessons, the main one being that you just have to go with the flow. A lot of times you have to make last minute changes and really think on your feet. You have to build off of what the students give you and go from there. And that is exactly how it all went down today. Don't get me wrong I am very thankful I over prepared because it definitely helped me make smooth transitions all day and activities to fill in gaps throughout the day.

Starfall is my favorite right now ♡

Let's just start from the beginning shall we! I set up the tables with different manipulatives and toys for the students to play with. This way it kept them occupied while I chatted with the parents as they brought their kids down to my classroom, made conversation with me, told me if their child was taking the car or bus home, and snapped some photos of their kids in my classroom before giving them one last hug and kiss. My first student was a sweet little boy who happily sat down at one of the tables and his mom gave him a hug and he waved goodbye as she left. She did the smart thing and was in and out quickly, it really is best if parents don't linger in the classroom. And he seemed fine. I walked over to grab my papers that had bulleted ideas for what I might attempt to do for the day and also my student roster for me to check in students as they arrived while marking down whether they were taking the bus or mom and dad were picking them up. And that was when I turned around and saw that he had gotten up from the table and that adorable bottom lip was quivering and the tears were forming. This little peanut remained glued to my side for well over the next half hour as the rest of my students arrived. Out of the 20 in my class I had 16 today. My mini shadow and I greeted the rest of the students. He absolutely refused to go play with any of the other kids or try any of the toys- I tried coaxing him with the Play Doh, the blocks, the cars- he wanted none of it. He was a fan of holding onto my hand and leaning on me. Which I was ok with, but I was panicking a bit wondering how long throughout the day he was going to be like this.

A snapshot of my room setup

I love my Activboard. I still have a lot to learn about it but Starfall and music videos playing nursery rhymes were a huge hit in my room today!

While I've got my shadow next to me and I am trying to remember to take pictures of the kids so I have them to use in my classroom (I may just do it all over again and have them pose in the same spot tomorrow so they all have the same background because I am OCD like that) I notice another boy who is standing close to the door and his mom had not left yet. What ended up happening is he was sitting out in the hallway and did not want to come in. I was torn on what to do and fortunately my awesome TA was able to get the crier to stop by going for a walk with him outside and he was absolutely fine after that. I tried carrying the little guy from out in the hallway but that did not go over well. I was also nervous about doing that because I didn't want to give him a negative outlook of school from day one by dragging him into the classroom! However my awesome TA ended up just carrying him into the classroom and sitting him into one of the bean bag chairs and eventually he joined us when we were on the rug as a whole group! I ended up bonding with both boys where we discussed our love of superheroes like the Hulk, Iron Man, Spiderman, and more. My TA's name is Iolinda (pronounced like Yo-Linda) she is from Mozambique and she was fantastic. She just went with the flow following my lead and I think we will be a great team working together.

After talking to the Early Childhood Coordinator yesterday, that really helped me with planning how I was going to keep things moving yesterday. And movement is definitely the key word when it comes to kindergarten. I felt more like an entertainer working to keep their short attention spans occupied (hence the blog title!). I just constantly fed off of the students' energy and went from that. I could tell when they were getting antsy and needed to dance to some music and move around, and was always switching from whole group to small group activities. While I had them on the rug in whole group activities I worked on setting procedures in such as raising your hand instead of calling out (they're working on it), only one person speaking at a time, and being a good listener (for when not only a teacher is speaking but also one of your friends as well).

Another thing I learned was how much effort and practice is required for simple things like using the bathroom, forming and keeping a line, and how to behave in the hallway. It is not easy having them first form a line, adjusting students' positions, constantly reminding them to keep their hands at their sides and not to touch their friends, and to use quiet voices/stay quiet while we are walking quietly in the halls. There are so many routines that you have to establish that you don't even think about! Some of these kids it is their first experience in school and you are starting from scratch. Others have a little experience under their belt and know how to write their own name whereas others don't. For me it was all about feeding off what the kids were giving me and finding that balance.

I found music videos to be incredibly helpful. They found the cheesy ones to be so silly and their eyes were glued to the Activboard while they ate their snack or lunch. Starfall is also a fantastic resource. At times I guess I was just putting myself in the kids' shoes. I could not believe that they played outside for recess- it was so unbelievably hot. Then you have to realize ok the kids are going to be parched so then I would have a little water break and play a video or 2 on Starfall to give them a chance to cool down. I was just constantly alternating between whole group instruction on the rug and doing some ice breaker activities. It surprised me how long it took to have them do a simple good morning greeting where they greeted each other by name, making sure they made eye contact, and shook hands afterwards. I had to sit next to each pair of students and direct them through it. There are lots of routines to practice in kindergarten that's for sure!

I am exhausted physically from being on my feet for the majority of the day and all the running around, but at the same time my mind is buzzing with ideas. I am already trying to come up with ideas for what to do during certain times of the day or changes that I can make in my room to make snack and lunch time transition better. Plus parts of the day are still fresh in my mind to think about what I would like to change and how I can do it. Part of me wants to take a nap but the other part is fighting it knowing that it will screw up my sleep for tonight.

I just love how unbelievably sweet they are at that age. We were doing an ice breaker activity where I was having them do things like touch your shoulders if you have a brother, touch your head if you have a pet, and that of course led to a whole discussion about what kind of pet different kids had. "Miss Kellie I love cats too! I also have a pet bunny!" "I love your blue eyes Miss Kellie!" They are just so happy and positive and it makes me smile.

Our read aloud for today. Basically the premise is that the adults have a harder time saying goodbye than the kids! It's a cute story.

I think my nerves will calm down a little now that I have gotten through the first day. Those first day jitters can be rough and for me they definitely affected my sleep last night! I can't believe my first day has come and gone and I am already rehashing it and reflecting on it. Overall I think it flew by, but as it was happening there were times where I was like oh my goodness what on Earth am I going to be doing with these kids for this next hour block?! Currently I am finding it best to compartmentalize each day. I cannot look too far ahead or I will overwhelm myself. After all, all we can do is take life one day at a time right? And sometimes we even break it down into smaller bits to help ourselves out. Keep your head up and just keep chugging along. As Dory says, just keep swimming, just keep swimming!

A motto to live by =) 

Sometimes during the day it just felt unreal that it was my classroom. These are my kids for the school year, not like subbing where I'll be in another room the next day. Nope I am here to stay to get to know these kids and do everything I can to find ways to keep them engaged and help them succeed. And I am a leader! There were moments where I almost wanted to turn to someone else like another teacher or my cooperating teacher like in student teaching and be like "well what do you think about doing this right now?" but instead you realize that you are in charge and have to be the one to make the decisions. Yes this career will be exhausting and time consuming but it is so unbelievably worth it. But I choose it for many reasons and really cannot see myself doing anything else. I like having a job where I am on the go, helping others, and making a difference in their lives. That sounds kind of cheesy but it is true. I love the feeling I get when I help other people. I just find it very rewarding. And what is better than working with kids in kindergarten who are so eager and passionate about school that love to see you every day? I am always up for a challenge.

EDIT: Unfortunately I had to remove and will not be able to post any pictures of my students. One of my coworkers informed me that it is illegal in Qatar to post pictures of other people's children- especially on Facebook and Instagram. So to avoid any trouble I will not be posting anymore photos of my kids in action!