BTS 2017

Well, we've survived our first full week of school!  As always seems to be the case, at this point, there is exhaustion and mixed emotions about our grueling new routine.   

 We were all happy and excited on the first day of school!  

 Delia got an amazing teacher again this year!  Mrs. M. is actually the mom of one of Delia's best friends!  She's back to teaching after a long break of being home with her kids.  So far we've been blown away by her communication, attention to detail, fun-loving spirit, and prioritizing spiritual development for her students this year!  Of the three of us, Delia was the most reluctant to start school again.  She had SUCH a great year in 4th grade, she expected 5th to be a let-down in every way.  And so far, it has exceeded her expectations every day!

Ella is my girl who looooves school!  This pic is her on kick-off night, where she is given her schedule and locker and has her yearbook picture taken.  Ella is already finding 7th grade has more challenges, with its many teachers and class switches, than she's run into in the past.  She is a girl who is motivated and sets goals.  She has been to discouraged to learn that keeping her teachers' expectations straight is going to be hard and her goal of getting all A's just might not be possible.  Combine that disappointment with braces discomfort, extra fatigue, and general pre-teen moodiness and she has not been loving school thus far.

And as for me, I am finding the start of this year to be extremely difficult as well.  I compare the first month of teaching preschool to going into labor.  You kinda forget how awful and hard it's going to be!  My students seem especially young and they sure are tiring me out!  And though the new teacher I am training is a natural, she's just not a good friend yet.  Hard days and difficult students I can handle, but it does all seem more stressful this year as I navigate each day without the beloved partner I've had for the past 4 years.  The good news is that God has given me a wonderful gift in this: a built in reminder EVERY DAY that my little students will get there!  After I dismiss my preschool class at 11:15, a Stay and Play class made of 20 Pre-K kids, (18 of whom I had last year) bursts into my classroom, full of enthusiasm and hugs.  They know how to behave, they know how to clean up, they know how to sit attentively through a Circle Time lesson.  I LOVE them!  Right now they are my favorite part of each day!  (The above pic is drawn by one of those Stay and Play sweeties-- "It's me, Teacher Jen, Teacher Briana, and Teacher Liz inside our classroom last year.")

I KNOW it will all get better.  It always does. :)