The First Day!

 Monday morning came. In walked 40 little feet. In came 20 little minds. In came 20 smiles in all different sizes. Monday morning, my heart grew 20 sizes.

Early in the day we discussed our fears. I gave each table a piece of manilla paper labeled with fears. Their instruction was to right down their worries for the new school year without talking. Twenty little faces looked at me, worried. I told them it was fine and they could even cover it up. 

And so they began. Some knew right away what they needed to write. Others were reserved, and waited until they felt it was safe. We sat in silence for several minutes.

After I saw that everyone was finished, I asked them to stand up, walk around their table, and read their neighbor's worries to themselves. Then, we walked around all the tables.

We are all worried about the same things.

What if no one likes me?

What if my teacher is mean?

What if someone laughs at me?

I  pointed this out to the little minds around the room, and the air got just a bit lighter. I told them we are not going to let this stop us from having a great year! These fears are not going to hold us back!

We then proceeded to tear up every fear to shreds. We threw every fear into the trash. We had fun.

Next, I passed out another piece of paper, but this one was labeled "Hopes"

As they wrote, I could see the worried lips turned to pleased smiles. They wrote the things that had already made them happy that morning. They wrote about all the things they were looking forward to. 

It was magic :)

We kept these papers. We immediately put them up on the wall. 

It's going to be a great year.