The First Day of School

On the first day of school I walked into my classroom, anxious and excited. My classroom was ready for the 8 hopefully smiling faces that would shortly enter it. There are names on the door and a morning meeting with new names and a new schedule. A new school year has started and I was starting another year of teaching at Celebrate the Children. 

Every year I go in not knowing what to expect from the year to come. I don’t know who starts day one more anxious, myself or my students. (or maybe the parents sending their children for the first time.)

But then the moment comes when the students start to trickle in. And my anxiety goes away as the students come in with smiles, and hugs and the excitement of a new school year. Those smiles get me excited for the school year as well. I start to plan lessons where we work as a group and get to know each other. I get ingredients for crazy science experiments that i know will make my students giggle. I start to organize class projects and Community Based Instruction trips. I probably kill a few trees with the worksheets and crafts I print.

We start to build relationships as a class and I love to watch friendships grow and blossom. My classroom becomes a family and we argue sometimes, and we get on each others nerves, but we become friends and we get close, and at times we might cry a little but then we also share “big news” and amazing ideas. We grow together and on day one the faces coming in are very different then those leaving on day 188.

Tiffany Martino, Teacher