Starting over...

It's always weird to walk back into the classroom after 3 months of being away. The last time I saw my room, it was filled with 34 over-charged, super-excited, can't-wait-to-start-vacation first graders. Yesterday it was different. No noisy kiddos. No schoolbags to trip over. The desks were stacked up, the walls were bare, the shelves were empty.

I was a bit overwhelmed -- standing in the middle of my classroom and not knowing where to start. My normal back to school routine is to start pulling things out of my closet. It's kinda like Christmas. I packed everything up in June (and in a hurry), and I don't remember what's in all the boxes and bins and crates and baskets. So that's exactly what I did -- pulled EVERYTHING out to the middle of my classroom floor and started ripping into things.

I spent most of my day starting a project (like setting up my reading corner), getting distracted, starting a new project (hanging posters on the calendar wall), getting distracted... you get the picture. Productive, huh? Needless to say, not much got done. But I'll be there the rest of this week, sorting through the mess... making it an inviting, comfortable space for both me and the kiddies. Wish me luck.