The First Day of School!

So, today was the big day! I can honestly say I was so very anxious to begin this school year. I have thought about my "first day of school" for so long now it was such a crazy feeling for it to actually happen. I could hardly contain my excitement as I prepared the night before. I felt like I was going to begin high school again! I remember that feeling; that rush of emotion and excitement. That is EXACTLY what I felt last night.

Today when those 30 kiddos started to file in those doors is was as though they had never left. It was so wonderful to see how they had all grown and matured. It was wonderful to hear their exciting summer stories and experiences. It was wonderful to see how excited they were to be there! ( I do love that about elementary school ;) )

Today we went through and did classroom introductions, as well as the usual "getting to know our room" routine. My teacher and I changed ALOT this year so we still have a ton to learn. It's so exciting to see the plans you worked so hard to create in action. It makes my teacher heart warm to hear, "Oooo! Can we do that today?" 

Anyway, I have so much to learn about our new classroom community! All of those new faces come with a unique personality and charestistics. Today, I decided to teach them about myself.

I looked around for a long time for a unique teacher introduction model for the first day of school. In my other field placements, I have created a book, a mystery box, and a Power Point to introduce myself. This year I really wanted to do something interactive. Mt teacher did a awesome Power Point and followed it up with a pop quiz! She really had some of them stumped with her questions. 

For my own introduction, I decided to make a timeline!

I began the timeline activity by posting my birth year. Be prepared for them to show off their math skills by immediately calculating your age. I posted "Now" at the other end of the timeline to represent the present. I created a few pages of pictures of myself at pivotal moments in my life. The students really got a chuckle out of some of my pictures. I hesitated posting some of them because of my own embarrassment, but the students really connected with them. Hey, we all had an awkward stage right? I wrote a little description beneath each picture describing what made that event important or what was going on in that picture. 

For example: a picture of my high school commencement ceremony might say, " I graduated from (insert your high school here )". 

One of my FAVORITE pages that I posted on the timeline was a journal entry that I did in second grade. In my own primary handwriting, I eloquently described how I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up!  Apparently I had my little heart set on that goal very early in my life.

I decided NOT to put dates on any of the pages! What better way to let them get to know you then to let them piece together your life?

I stood at the board and called out the years on the timeline. If a student thought they had an event that corresponded to that particular year, they stood up and walked it up to the board. I took that time to describe that event in a little more detail.

This activity was a big hit! It can be hard to think of creative ways to introduce yourself, but I really enjoyed this one. 

Hope that your first day was just as wonderful! 

Here's to a wonderful year full of learning and inspiring  <3