Yesterday (Tuesday), I met my entire new class for the 2010-2011 school year! They are all 3 and 4, which is nice to have again instead of all 5 year olds that remember everything I've already taught :) However, there's one catch to this new class: after getting a few new children and there are 24 of them! Holy cow! And because they are all on my roster and the director/asst director didn't want to take them out of their class the first day, they sent me another assistant to help out!
Now, this would have worked had my classroom been normal size. However, my classroom is a good bit smaller than the other older-kids' classrooms, so when naptime comes, it's pretty hard to fit any more than 21 cots on the floor. Spaced 12 inches or more apart....
Thankfully 3 of them went home by the start of naptime, leaving me alone with 21 while the other 2 teachers took their breaks. Not quite according to regulations, but because so many of the kids were almost asleep, we didn't really want to choose one to wake up and send to another room for 15 mins or so.
The day in itself went really well! The kids are all still new to us, minus the few 3-year-olds that have been moved up to my room every day this summer :) I am really praying that we make a good impression on them. They are sponges right now: watching, listening, following directions (for the most part...). I don't want to harm any part of their learning this year just because I didn't take time to slow down and listen to a question or a voice. It's hard to be patient, so one of my self goals is to increase my fuse time: work on being more patient with the kids and not getting frustrated when they don't follow. I think it'll help having my old co-teacher in with me this year - she has such a sweet spirit with the kiddos, it's hard not to emulate that :)
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