Day 2 - complete!

Day 2 with the children is complete!  It was an interesting day, because my other teacher was in today, so it was her first day with the children.  It's sort of like the children have 2 first days of school, because each teacher is so different.  Jenny is definitely the more structured, strict teacher, but also a little more energetic.  The children were definitely testing boundaries today.  We had to use our behavior chart more than once, and a few students had to speak with the head about their behavior.  It is only the second day of school, so hopefully they'll settle into a routine and won't be too much trouble.  A few little girls will be trouble all year I'm sure though.  Two little girls are like the Mean Girls of Year 1!  Poor little Clea was getting picked on by them every time I turned around!

It's also hard for me to tell what they do in terms of special education.  They don't have a special education teacher or even any paraprofessionals.  There is a little boy in my class who I'm almost positive is on the autism spectrum.  We'll see how that develops throughout the year but he doesn't get much extra help.

Kids in other countries are still kids and say really funny thinks.  During register (attendance), the children have to say "Good morning, Mrs. Butterfield" whenever she calls their name.  Today, little Isobel said "Good morning, Mrs. Butterfield.  You look like a princess."  How adorable!  Then all the other little girls felt like they should tell Mrs. Butterfield that she looks like a princess also.  Later, during circle time, Mrs. Butterfield asked if they had any questions about what they should be doing.  Romilly raised her hand and said "Mrs. Butterfield, how does a brain work?"  Not exactly the type of question that can be quickly explained to a 5-year-old so we told her to ask google =)

This afternoon I sat down with Jenny and the head, Anne, to talk about our plan for the term and what exactly I'll be teaching and things like that.  It was really helpful.  It's a bit trickier to work out my teaching schedule because my actual cooperating teacher is only there 2 days a week, and by the end I'll need to be doing almost all of the teaching.  I'm not sure how receptive Denise will be to me taking over the class when she's there, but hopefully it will work out!