1st Grade

Making the change from a Kindergarten teacher to a 1st Grade teacher was difficult. Still is difficult sometimes, but definitely worth it. I have 20 of the cutest kids in the world that I get to be with ALL DAY, instead of just for a few hours. Believe me, on those days when they are so naughty they are driving me crazy, sometimes I wish I could go back to only having them for 3 hours. But, with having them for 7 hours every day, I really feel like I can make more of a difference with them and that I can help them learn and grow so much more than I could before.  Those extra hours make a BIG difference. It has been so much fun to get to know them and be their teacher. I just LOVE it! Plus, I also have the world's greatest team to work with, so that makes it worthwhile too. Plus, the paycheck for a full time teacher is WAY better than a part time one. I'm getting used to this full-time thing, and it's great.

Dave was so sweet to come and help me set up my classroom at the beginning of the school year. Setting up a classroom is way more work than I ever anticipated, and I never could have done it without him. It took me about 5 days, and he could only help with one, but we did a lot of the big stuff when he was there to help. My mom and my little sister also came to help out one of the days, and they helped me with a ton of things as well. I didn't have to set up my classroom last year because I shared a classroom with the other part time Kindergarten teacher who taught in the morning. She already had the room set up, which was good and bad. Good because I didn't have to set it up, bad because there were some things I didn't necessarily love, but couldn't do much to change it. It is very nice to have my own classroom this year and to make it all my own, but it sure took a lot of work. Here are the before and after photos.

Before

I should have taken more "before" photos, but I was kind of overwhelmed and stressed about the huge job ahead of me that I wasn't much in the picture taking mood.

After

I LOVE BEING A TEACHER!!!