The Never Ending Week

What a rough and exhausting week! It was a short week, which gave me the misconception that it would be an easy and quick week. Unfortunately, it caused kindergarteners to get out of their normal five-day week routine. It took them awhile to realize how we act, listen, and work at school. At one point, there were six adults in the classroom, and you could tell it got a bit overwhelming for everyone. I realized there will be days like this. Things can get really busy, chaotic, out-of-order, and cause me to get overwhelmed or seem like things did not go as planned. I need to remember that imperfections are going to happen and that is okay. There are going to be overwhelming times when I need to evaluate where my students and I are at and take a breather, do a Go Noodle, read a book and center ourselves again. If I am able to see where my students are at, their social and emotional learning will be much better.

Kindergarteners had a rough week getting back into their routines. After a three-day weekend, students were tired and seemed to have forgot their expectations at school. It took some time for them to understand their reading workshop jobs. Something I especially noticed this week was how much my kindergarteners struggled after lunch time, which is when we have math. They are really antsy and struggle with listening to directions. This week especially, students did not have outside recess because it rained all day, every day. It made it very hard for learners to ever get a time to get their wiggles out. Inside recess is typically sitting at their desk coloring and they are required to sit at their desk most of the day. All in all, it makes the day long for students, and very long for teachers since they never get a break. By Friday though, I was impressed how my kindergarteners were turning it around and all got their work done. They are catching on to the concept of time management and to do quality work, but also getting their work done.

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Self-reflecting on the week, I wrote down my resilience. I had a tough week personally that challenged me to quickly “get over myself” as soon as I walked into the school. As teachers, we have personal lives, but when we walk into school, we are responsible for 20 other learners counting on us. Every day, I reminded myself that I needed to put them first when I was at school and deal with my personal stuff after school. I had to check my patience more frequently and my emotions to make sure I was focused on my students. There was what felt like constant chaos going through my head and at times, chaos in my classroom. It was up to me to realize that and to take care of the chaos. Sometimes that meant standing in front of the classroom and waiting for my students to stop talking and then address them. Other times it meant doing a Go Noodle to get my kindergarteners’ wiggles and giggles out. At the end of the day, as long as I saw that there was chaos and addressed it, I felt that I was doing the right thing for my students. Lastly, I showed my students books about our feelings and how colors can represent our feelings. We went around the room saying what color we were feeling. Some said blue because they were sad it was raining. Other students said I am yellow because I get to see my mom after school today. It felt good to check in on my students’ feelings and for them to listen to how their friends were feeling as well. Students saw that they were not the only one who felt sad, happy, or frustrated.

All in all, the third week of kindergarten was draining, and it felt long and discouraging. It was real and exhausting in a new way, but it taught me things are not always perfect. I am looking forward to a brand-new week in which I will be full-time teaching. It will be fun to see how it goes.

See you soon, Raccoon!

Ms. Barr