First day down!

We started school this past week, and it went pretty well. I mean, we only had students on Thursday and had professional development the other days. My little bees are still definitely pushing the limits, and there are times when I get super stressed. For instance, on Thursday, our classes were 70 minutes. During summer school, they were 50 minutes. In two of my classes, I completely ran out of things to do. I read aloud from Oh, The Places You'll Go and ad libbed about procedures. TERRIFYING to be a new teacher and not have an activity. 24 sets of eyes looking at you to tell them what to do next. Plus, with some of my classes that struggle behaviorally, I feel like I have to keep moving at a pretty fast pace, or I may have some kids acting out. However, the biggest issue I am having is finding the time to plan. I mean, planning is taking FOREVER. By the time I make classwork and homework and find reading passages, it has been 3 hours! And, I need a new plan for each day. This definitely is not sustainable, and I have to get better.

That is why I am trying to do better and plan right now. Ideally, I would like to get my whole week planned out on Sunday and then slightly modify the lessons as needed. It sounds so simple, but I am struggling. There are so many other things to do. I mean, I need to buy a copy of the Red Pyramid, put my summer school data into a tracker, fix a seating chart, and re-arrange my room to provide reading space. And this needs to happen by Monday. Plus, I mean I have church, family coming to visit, etc.

I am a little overwhelmed. Check that, I am a lot OVERWHELMED. At this point last year, I was depressed because I didn't have my own classroom and I was bored. I craved the stress and litte things that went with having your own classroom. I am trying to remember that as I swim through what seems like a never-ending to-do list. School is happy, but harder than last year. I am going to try to keep my head above water for the next couple of weeks until I get into a routine. Say a prayer!