Day One - Is it Over Yet???

My body hurts. Hurts in a good way. But I have not been bending, squatting, reaching, or sitting on floor mats much at this point in my life...until today! Until almost 6 hours worth of classroom time with a total of 23 (minus 1 or 2 that I may have misplaced today) hyperactive, Mexican kids that know little or next to none English. CARAMBA!

The thing I learned most quickly is that I need more activities planned to keep them busy. But I also saw that some of them were scared/uncomfortable and they didn't want to be there. They wanted their mommies. But I was very satisfied that one of the 5 year olds (my first class of the day) started crying right after her dad left my classroom, but I was somehow able to console her, remember her name all morning (names is a whole other post), and help her get through Day One.

My second class was with the 3 year olds. And even though there were only 3 of them, this was the toughest class. The little boy could not stop crying - although he was happy for the first 2 hours with his Spanish teacher! And then the 2 little girls kept "escaping" to the playground area! I was so happy to see their Spanish teacher come back to help me out. In fact, everyone was helping me with these 3 rascals. I think the language barrier is most difficult for these little ones.

My third class is with the 4 year olds - about 10 of them. Now these characters have a mind of their own and they know just enough English to be dangerous. It was difficult for me to get ALL of them going on the same activity. So I let them do activities in 2 groups. Hey, as long as there was no crying I was happy.

The day quickly came to an end and then I had an hour on campus to rework my Lesson Plans for tomorrow! I'll work from home after I eat Mike's delicious tuna and egg salad and try to get a good night's rest for Day Two.