It’s My First Day

Today marked an important day at church for our family – transition day, when the kids move up to their next classroom!  My son, who is also our youngest, moved from the Toddler Room to the 2-year-old room.  He seemed to really like the new toys: the wide array of trucks, the bubble window, and the slide.  His next sister moved from the 3-year-old room to the 4-year-old room, and she really liked her new digs also.  Our 6-year-old moved buildings all together, and she is now with the big kids on the north campus for a more school-like vs. a nursery / playroom setting.  She really seemed to enjoy herself in the new building.
Today also marked a first for my husband and I – it was our first day trying our new positions at church.  I am the first grade teacher during our 2nd service, and my husband is the large group storyteller.  For me, things went quite well.  I had 5 little girls and 4 little boys in my group today, and unlike when I substitute taught over the summer, there was no clinging to the parents’ legs or fights to referee in this age group – at least not yet.  My daughter was in my class, and she was one of the best behaved kids, for which I was thankful because when I substitute- taught her 5-6 year old class over the summer (before she transferred to the first grade class), she was one of my trouble makers as she had trouble listening to mom.  But today things went smoothly, and one of the activities went so well that we actually ran out of time to do it again!  The activity was for each kid to take a word from Luke 6:31 (Do to others as you want them to do to you) and say it on their turn so that the verse is completed.  I altered the game a little bit, giving each kid a slip of paper with the word on it as a reminder and also walking around the room and touching their heads when it was their turn.  This way, there was less freezing on the kids’ part, and more control on my part since anyone who has worked with kids will tell you that any sort of down time will lead to chaos in a matter of seconds.
Shortly after the kids arrived, we made our way to the Wherehouse, a fun gathering room for the kids.  This is where we got to hear the storyteller (my husband, who did a great job even if he had to adlib when the “boss” forgot the charades cards) and where we got to “get our wiggles out” by dancing to some fun Christian music.
My favorite part of the class was the snack prayer – I kept it short and sweet because the kids were really hyper, and I didn’t want them to be disrespectful during the prayer.  After we prayed, a little boy said, “Are you an angel?”  I chuckled and asked him what he meant.  “The prayer was really short,” he said, smiling.  I guess he was hungry 🙂
All in all, it was a great first day, and I’m looking forward to not only the rest of this year, but also to moving from grade to grade with these wonderful children and watching them grow!

And by the way, saying “it’s my first day” reminds me of an hilarious scene from a Simpsons episode.  I tried to find the clip so that I could embed it on my blog, but I could not find it without having to post the entire episode, so you can read the transcript and visualize it if you’re a fan – I guarantee at least a chuckle!  If you want to try to find the clip yourself, it’s from the episode called “Simpson Tide”, which is the 19th episode of the 9th season.
Mr. Burns: You did this? How could you be so irresponsible?
Homer: Eh… it’s my first day!
Mr. Burns: Since I’ve never seen you before, maybe it is your first day. Very well, carry on!
[Mr. Burns begins to walk off, when Smithers catches up with him.]
Smithers: Sir, that’s Homer Simpson. He’s been working here for ten years!
Mr. Burns: Ohh, really? Why did you think you could lie to me?
Homer: It’s my first day!
Mr. Burns: Well, why didn’t you say that be…[realizes] Yawoo! You’re fired!