first day of school for the kiddos!

I feel like every day, I get ready to write the newest blogpost and I am just more and more amazed at what took place that day.  Today was overwhelming on so many levels, but I, as always, loved it.  It was the first day of school for the kids, which was  a blast and a half. I was excited to see kids and just actually feel like this school was legit.  Until now, I had talked about kids, learned about them, and heard all about them, but not once had I actually seen anyone below the age of 18.  Today, there were tons of them. Four hundred to be exact.
We spent the day observing classes in preparation for preferencing tomorrow.  I thought it would help to see the kids in their class and to see the teachers working in their element, but I think I'm just now more unsure.  I thought going into today that I wanted 4th or 5th grade, but after seeing the little babies in 1st grade, I'm not sure.  Here's my reasoning....
Fifth Grade- Fifth graders are considered middle school here, so they follow the middle school merits/demerits discipline, which is a lot more straight forward.  They're old enough to have a conversation, but not as sassy as middle school.  I think 5th grade would be more of a challenge and definitely bring me out of my comfort zone, which is what this year is for.
First Grade- THEY'RE SO CUTE!  Listening to them sit on the carpet and ask questions was so cute and they are so eager to learn and please.  They still admire you no matter what and if you punish them, most of the time, they are more....compliant for lack of a better word. I feel like I would be more comfortable and confident giving punishments and discipline when needed.  Plus, I feel like I would work well with the teacher who is organized and knows what she wants and what you should be doing.  I feel like I'm gravitating towards first grade because it's comfortable, which isn't always good or bad.

So tomorrow, I'm going to observe 1st and 5th grade, as well as 4th grade (which I didn't get to today) to finish my preference sheet.  By tomorrow after lunch, we'll have been placed in our different classrooms with our different grades.  I can't wait.  I think I'd be fine regardless of where I end up, but 1st or 5th would be my preference....I think.

Education fact of the week.... "High school dropouts are three times more likely to be unemployed than college grads and eight times more likely to be incarcerated than high school grads"