One down, thousands to go

I just finished my first full day of teaching - our hours with one 15-minute break. Wow! It went pretty well. Let's see, the kids loved the prefix song I taught them, they listened to the Volcano story, and even sang the songs we had heard earlier last week. They were a little rambunctious after lunch, but it a good way. They were so excited about helping me edit a letter that they were calling out and half of the class was yelling "ooo, ooo, misss, missss." Still, in hindsight I know I should have been more firm because it felt like things were out of control at one point. We ended the day with math and by that time most of the kids were wiggling all over the place. I guess things went pretty well, but I can see a lot of things to improve on. That's why I'm here. I'm learning so much about what it takes to be a good teacher and what I need to do to get there.
Fortunately, this means that I will only have to prepare one more lesson for the week and work with my small group in the morning. I can't believe Institute and summer school are almost over! I wish we had more time to work with these kids, but I'm also looking forward to moving on and moving into my apartment in New York.