Our Heavens :)

So the first week of school went great!  If every week is like this (which of course it won't be ;) ), I'll be one extremely happy teacher!

So far I've gotten great feedback from parents.  One of my parents said she overheard her daughter saying. "I just love school!" at breakfast, another student apparently has been getting dressed SUPER early in the morning so they can leave sooner, and another has been found to be pushing his dad outside the door so he can be the first one in the classroom :)  It's great to hear such great things!  I hope my students' enthusiasm stays this way throughout the year :)

This week I started religion by asking my students to draw what Heaven looks like to them.  It was SO sweet and something I'm definitely going to do every year!

This student's heaven included all of his dead cats :)

This student explained that her mom lost a baby in her belly.  Although her mom's still living, the only way she knew to draw her brother was "in her mommy's belly up in Heaven".  This was so sweet and definitely gave me some insight into their family dynamic!  

This student included an angel, Jesus, and some of her deceased family members :)

We also had our "me museum" on Friday!  I did this with my 3rd graders last year, and they loved it so much I decided to do it with my first graders!  Each child brings in 3 items that can fit on their desk.  These could be anything!  Pictures, toys, trophies, drawings, etc.  For each item they were given an index card and asked to write 1 sentence about that item. They also made a sign for their museum :)  My students were very creative in what they brought in!  It ranged from baby pictures, to trophies, to homemade clay dinosaurs.  I was very impressed!

As we were setting up for the museum we did have some 'tragedies' happen. One child was trying to show me his baseball trophy and tripped and broke it....needless to say that didn't end well.  The trophy was in multiple pieces, and I couldn't for the life of me get it back together!  I explained to him that maybe his daddy could help, and he looked at me (while trying to hold back tears) and said, "Well, maybe we'll win again this year, and I can get another trophy."  It broke my heart to see how much that meant to him, but I was so impressed with his positive outlook!!

I also had a boy who brought in a picture of him from Father Ryan's wrestling camp!  Because their school colors are purple, he was wearing a purple singlet.  He came up to me teary eyed and said, "Ms. Schletzer, someone said I played on a girls team because I was wearing purple!"  I assured him that wasn't true and that it's just FRHS's school colors!  I asked him (because he's a HUGE sports fan), does that mean I went to a boy school because UT wore orange? Nope! Not at all!  Eventually he cheered up and was proud to show off his picture :)

This upcoming week we're also going to start having quiet time!  There's an awkward 10 min span between P.E. and Science/S.S. so I'm taking advantage of this time!  I'm going to allow my students to lay their head on their desk (if they'd like) and listen to me read a story aloud.  I went to the library today (God bless that poor librarian because I was completely clueless!) and picked out 3 books for us to vote on!  We'll vote tomorrow to see which one I'll read during quiet time :)

My guess is they'll vote for Bad Kitty!

And with that, my first week is over!  Here's to starting again fresh tomorrow.  Can't wait to see what I learn from my kids, from my teaching, and to make some more funny memories! :)