So I was feeling pretty smug after my first day with my new class. Things had gone pretty smoothly and a little guy that had trouble with crying during the Summer Readiness program, had made it through the day with only about 30 seconds of sadness when he said good bye to his mom.
I should had known better than that, but I got carried away I guess.
Today was another story.
We started out really well, and about 9:00 he asked if today was going to be another short day like yesterday. Of course, I was honest, and said "No, today will be a normal day and we will be here longer today. But you'll be surprised how fast it will go because we'll be very busy!"
It didn't work. He immediately teared up and asked about every 3 minutes "Is it time to go home yet?" I also heard "I just want to go home now" and "How many more recesses until we go home?" To help him, and the rest of the class, I wrote out a list on the board of all the things we would be doing today. And every time we completed one of the things listed, we made a check mark by it. Around lunch time I showed my little weeper how far we had come and drew a line above our current activity. Miraculously, when we came back to the room after lunch time recess (out last activity before dismissal yesterday) he was fine. No more tears, no more constant questions about when it would be time to go home, no sign of the insecure, sad little person he had been all morning. Wow! Lunch really is a MAGIC time.
I sure hope tomorrow will be better for him. Its going to be Teddy Bear day and all the children get to bring their favorite bear (or stuffed animal). I've got mine in my bag and ready to go. I don't want to be the only one without a bear....I would probably cry!!
