Today was our first official contract day of the school year. It was extra special because I got to meet my students and their parents tonight as they visited the room for a buoilding wide "Meet & Greet".
I usually invite the students and a parent to come visit on the afternoon before our first day of class, but this year our principal decided it would be a good experience for all of the elementary, PreK through 5th grades. Opening up the event to more classes made for more confusion in the building, and the time frame was shorter than I'm used to, so the time really flew by. I decided to plan ahead and provided sheets for the children and their chaperones to get to all of the areas in the room and complete all of the most important tasks of the evening. It seems like I barely had time to talk with each student and their parent. Having 25 students in my room is going to take some getting used to, after having classes of 20 and less. I connected some of the names to faces, but as I looked through the photos I took of the children, I notice there are still some I can't put names with ...yet.
It was a fairly easy night, as ther weren't any painfully shy or crying children in the room. Our first day on Wednesday could probably be another story.
I love to take each child's photo on this first visit to my room. As the year progresses I find out just how accurate those first glimps shots really turn out to be. Trying to get a smile that isn't forced or eyes that aren't blinking can be a challange sometimes. For the most part, the pictures turned out fairly well. One little girl struck a fashion model pose, while another little fellow has that 'deer in the headlights' look, Smiles ranged from big and missing some teeth to something close to a grimace. I wonder how many will still be smiling Wednesday morning after they say good bye to their parents and we are finally all alone together in the room. I know I'll be smiling!
