Well, I survived the first day of school!!!!

Not only did I survive the first day of school, but I LOVE my class!  So far, I only have 25 kids (not like last year's 32!!!!!) and they are polite and attentive!  Phew!  They are all so ADORABLE!  They politely sat through a couple of my horse stories and listened while I showed them a poster of my horses and explained all their names.  They laughed when I told them a story about how Scout ran into me and knocked me down!  One boy's mom came up to me in the morning and explained that I'd had his older brother and sister YEARS ago and that the daughter is now in high school and the son is in college!  So, I have the little brother!  And, I have a sibling of another boy I had years ago and this kid is as smart as a whip!  I actually had both of his older brothers and they are SMART!  Additionally, I have 2 of my second graders from last year, when I had the 2/3 combo class.  The girl is a top student and very quiet and the boy is a good reader, but needs to learn his times tables! We only have 2 days of school this week, then a full week next week, then a 4 day week (because of Labor Day).  I gave them a math sheet and they said, "This is TOO EASY!"...(although they forgot that any number x 0 = 0)...so I reviewed that.We start 30 minutes earlier this year and get out 30 minutes earlier in the afternoon, so that's a big difference, too.  I was always EXHAUSTED by 3:00 last year, but this year we get out at 2:35.  Oh, I found these photos online from the first day of kindergarten in our district, so I thought I'd share them with you.  I had about 6 parents stay for about 30 minutes yesterday morning, but then they left.  NOBODY cried!  These kids WANT to do science and art, so I'm overjoyed!  Here are the kindergarten pics which were published in our local paper.  Aren't they all adorable?