The First Day of School

Welcome back! Today is the first day of school and it looks to be a very interesting school year. Due to budget cuts and a drop in enrollment, we lost five teacher aids and two teachers. Nonetheless, we still have a student body that is 98% eligible for the federal free lunch and free breakfast program.

It rained all last night and the weatherman informed me it was going to rain in the morning, but the clouds cleared and I walked to school without even encountering a sidewalk puddle. A whole lot of people were in a very good mood this morning—based on all of the hello’s I received. (Probably have children going to school!)

I did my final preparations—seating chart, paperwork, etc.—and went to the office for my supplies. I seldom ask for much, but I do like to start the first day of school with pens and pencils for all of my students, index cards, and at least ten sheets of paper per student. We did not have any writing paper so I had to take a ream of little people paper. (You know the kind—the paper with the big spaces.) There were no index cards, but a teacher gave me sentence strips and I cut them into index card sized pieces. I ended up using Post-Its at each table.

I’m psyched for this new year, almost excited. I even walked the four miles to work in just about an hour. I accomplished everything I needed to do in almost no time. It’s past 8:30 and no one has asked me to go outside on playground duty. I guess I should count that as one blessing.

Anyway—here goes. In fifteen minutes my class will be arriving—and I'm ready for them.