Baby Steps

Happy All Saints Day again! Hope you said a prayer in thanksgiving to your favorite saint today! Anyway, today we had All School Mass for All Saints Day and for the first time, the preschoolers and kindergartners joined us.  During the homily, Father Pierre asked all the students, "How do you get to heaven?" Some of the older students replied with answers about being good on Earth and following the 10 Commandments.  As the younger students started answering, we heard more answers along the lines of, "Respect your friends and your mom and dad." The elementary students were all about respect today.  Father went over to the kindergartners, though, and let them answer.  We were all waiting in anticipation to see what these little ones would say.  This little boy walks up and Father asks him, "How do you get to heaven?" He replies so innocently, "You die." Short, sweet, and completely the truth! Everyone couldn't help but laugh and a few more of them came up and said cute responses but you just can't beat that.

Mass ended up last from 8:00-9:45! I don't know how those preschoolers lasted but they did great! After Mass, my class had French right away! Most of them hadn't even unpacked yet so that was a little crazy.  Once we were finally able to calm down and relax, it was almost lunch time! I was able to fit in my math lesson using their brand new clocks with hands now and they all came out unharmed! Woo hoo! They are catching on quickly and really enjoying their clocks I think.  Lunch time was here and the students were having meatloaf that doesn't really look like meatloaf.  Several of them called it chicken.  Needless to say, I packed my lunch today.  It reminds me of those "mystery meats" that you always heard about and I had never experienced until now.  The afternoon went by quickly as well because they had music today instead of Friday and then Mrs. Lopez still had to teach.  I was able to pull students to fix a few of their tests or homework.  Before I knew it, it was time to go!

I mentioned in my post from the weekend that I spent my weekend relaxing and planning.  I spent a good amount of time on my lessons and was pretty proud of myself for coming up with some creative lessons.  These days have been so short and quick though that I haven't been able to really utilize what I have planned.  It makes me sad but I know that I cannot always control the time we have in the classroom.  Things come up.  After this weekend, I finally felt like I had a handle on what and how I want to teach.  I know that eventually it will all come together but for now, I have to remember one step at a time and one day at a time.  A friend told me that she didn't really feel like she was in her routine until January on her first year of teaching so I should not feel bad.  I just need to keep that in mind when I am in the room and wishing I was able to teach on my own time.  I guess that's the selfish part of me.  It's times when I have all my lessons ready to go and am proud of them that I had my own classroom so I could control my own schedule and teach on my own time.  One day...

Until then, baby steps.  Not just for me but for all of us.  Things in life don't normally change overnight.  It's a test of patience and we should be grateful for that.  It makes us stronger and wiser.

Have a peaceful day!