Being up before the sun was one of my favorite things to do, watching the sunrise and the day begin was beautiful. especially when it was my first day at my dream job. I had been up for a while, sipping my tea while sitting outside in my balcony to hopefully calm my nerves down, I hadn't been nervous at all for this day but last night it all kicked in. Four years of hard work had finally paid off and I was more than ready but of course, there was a worry I had. What if I wasn't as good as I thought I would be? Shaking my head at my silly thoughts, I got up from the chair and opened the sliding door to enter my room, and set the cup of now cold tea down on my vanity table. I looked over at the hanger that held my outfit for the day.
The light grey dress was being saved for this very day, no matter how many times I was tempted to wear it. I slipped on the dress and then my tan heels before checking myself out and taking a 1st day of school selfie. I looked at the clock and saw that It was nearing 6 in the morning so I decided to go to the school early to make sure everything was set and ready for the students to arrive. I grabbed my teacher bag which was light but I'm sure as time passed the bag would get heavier. i grabbed my keys and my teacher ID and hung it around my neck and walked out the door.
The ride to the school was a short 10 minutes and soon I found myself walking through the door of my classroom admiring the decorations i had put up a few weeks ago. I wanted this place to be a safe and comfortable environment for my students so the decor and setup were homey but not to distracting to the point were it could be a learning distraction. I set my things down by my desk and walked over to my oil diffuser before going back to my desk and opening up my computer and checked my emails and made sure to reply to parents that had emailed me that morning.
I smiled at the screen while reading the wonderful messages. "Grayson is so excited for his first day, he was up bright and early and keeps saying that he cant wait to see his teacher!" attached to the email way a picture of a blonde boy holding up a thumbs up while his face was noticeably sticky with syrup, clearly enjoying his delicious breakfast. Checking the time, there was about 30 minutes before students started arriving so I picked up a stack of blank white paper and put one on each desk. The door opened and i turned around to see the principle walk in with a big grin on her face.
"Miss Downey, How exciting to see you, I hope you're having a great first day!" she told me as she looked around observing the room. "I love the decor, I know the children will love you"
"Mrs. Williamson, Hi" I greeted her. "Its very good to see you as well, I'm so excited for the day, i cant wait to finally match names to faces."
"Have you met your team? Mr. Holland?" she asked me as she took a seat on one of my students desks. I followed her actions and sat across from her. I made a small frown as I shook my head no before answering her.
"Sadly I have not, he sent me a quick email last night to officially welcome me to the team but i haven't met him in person."
"Well I think its a good idea for you to get acquainted with him sometime today. He's a great teacher, loves the children and they love him. It's his second year so he's still new to this but I'm sure that he'll be a great guide for you in the first few weeks. I'm sure you'll be the dream team of the school. Our preschoolers are so lucky to have you both." She smiled at me as she got up and made her way to the door. I thanked her before she walked out and I continued doing my morning tasks such as writing the date on the whiteboard and writing my name on the whiteboard. By the time I was finished it was 7:30 and I could see parents starting to make their way to classrooms. Some of the kids looked scared and other had tears, my heart broke at the sight of the scared faces. the firsts three students walked past my classroom and went into Mr. Hollands room.
After a while, two students came in with their parents and I walked over too meet them. "Hi, I'm Miss Downey, I'm so happy to meet you, whats your name?" I asked the first little girl, she smiled shyly at me before telling me her name.
"I'm Darla." She whispered and i stretched out me hand, she took it and I gave it a light shake "Well Darla, I'm so glad you;re in my class, were going to have such a fun year." I assured her. I them moved on to the girl next to her and asked her what her name was. She seemed a little more scared and she quickly hid behind her mom.
"Oh sweetie it's okay, I know it can be scary but i promise that you're going to have such a good day, do you want to go pick your desk and put your stuff down." She nodded her head slowly before talking my pinky and guided us to the closest desk. "would you like to tell me your name now? I would love to hear it." she gave me a sweet smile and told me her name.
"Isabella? such a beautiful name, i love it." she smiled at me and walked over to her parents and I followed her.
I talked to both Darla and Isabella's parents before they said their goodbyes and left the room. I got a few tears from Isabella but I assured her that mommy and daddy were going to pick her up at the end of the day. Some more kids came in during the next 15 minutes and i asked them their name and talked to their parents for a while. I was so glad that none of them had a hard drop-off. That was until Grayson walked in. I smiled at him.
"Grayson, Hi how are you? I'm Miss Downey
. Im so happy to see you at school!" i welcomed him into our classroom but he refused to look at me and begged mom to pick him up.
"you're so silly, Grayson," his mom told him. You were so excited to come to school and meet your teacher." Grayson sniffled into her neck.
'Mommy sent me a picture of you this morning, your pancakes looked delicious. Where they as good as they looked?" I asked him trying to engage him in a conversation. I got a nod from him but he squeezed his mom tighter. "Would you like to meet your new friends? they're sitting in the library picking out some books they would like to read during circle time, would you like to join them?"
His eyes lit up as soon as i mentioned books and he pushed himself off of his mom and went to the other children sitting on the carper.
"well he's a reader." I chucked. His mom agreed with me and we had a conversation about his son and she told me his interests and to Email her if there were any problems. I assured her that he was in good plans and that I would send her updates.
By 7:50, all the students were there and the last bit of parents walked out, mostly crying moms. All the kids were seated on the circle time carpet and i began to talk to them.
"Good morning friends, I'm Miss Downey, and I'm so happy that i get to be your first teacher." My response from them was silence and i giggled at they expression, they were all so different.
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Time went by quickly and it was now their lunch time, I walked them to the cafeteria and handed them over to another teacher who would be watching them during their lunch and recess. I told them that i would miss them and that I would see them in a while.
i grabbed my planner and a notebook and was about to head over to Mr. Hollands classroom but he beat me to it when i looked up he was already entering my classroom. I had never met him before or seen him but i assumed it was him because we were the only two classrooms on this side of the school. "Oh Hello, you must be Mr. Holland." I said as i walked over to him and shook his hand, "I was about to head over to your room."
"Please call me Tom, Miss Downey." he smiled down at me. He had soft features. His chocolate colored eyes were bright and friendly and his smile could brighten up any room, I was sure of it. I returned his smile.
"Rosalie." I corrected him, "So nice to meet you." How many times have I said that today?
"How many times can a teacher say that on the first day of school?" he said and we both laughed.
"Should be a game." I added, "So i would love to use our time together to go over your schedule and activities and learn a bit from you, maybe you can help me with my lesson plans?" I asked him as we both took a seat on some students desks
"How about i help you with that, If you help me decorate my classroom sometime." He said, admiring my room, It made me proud of my hard work.
"sounds like a deal." I giggled as we both took out our notebooks. He explained to me his routine with his kiddos and i did the same and exchanged ideas. Then he told me things that worked in his classroom the previous year as well as things that did not work and he mentioned things that he would not be repeating things this year. I listened carefully to everything he said and asked questions along the way and he also encouraged me to try things even if they didn't work for me.
"So i have a few students that are having a rough day, they keep asking for their parents and crying every now and then, Any advise on how to get them to love being in class?" I asked him.
"Its very hard getting a child to get comfortable to a complete stranger especially when they have been with only their parents their whole life. The way to get them to love being here is to get them to love you. Im sure you're great with them, I'm not saying you're not, but make them feel like you are someone safe, someone that's here for you and they'll start warming up to you and they'll have the best time here." he told me as he spoke with his hands as well, i found that very attractive.
"Thank you, that helped a lot. I was also thinking if maybe once a month we could combine classes for an hour or two so both classes can get to know each other?"
"excellent idea, Rosalie. I think it would be good for them, especially went they move to kinder, they'll have a few familiar faces."
I smiled when he agreed. "Seems like its time for us to go pick up the kids, shall we get going?" i asked him as i looked up from my watch. He agreed and we got up, making a quick stop to his room. i complimented his room, it was well organized.
"So you like spider-man?" i asked him as we walked to the playground. He looked up at me surprised.
"I do, How'd you know?" he asked while smiling at me.
"I saw the figurine, sitting on your desk." I giggled. His face turned a light shade of red before looking in front of us.
"Well how could you not like spider-man? He's awesome."
"I wouldn't know, I've never been into superheros." i told him and he looked down at me shocked.
"Miss Downey, we will have to watch a spider-man movie one day then."
"only if we watch a princess movie after." i requested as we neared our classes lined up.
"Sounds like a plan, Rosalie."
How was the first chapter? i would love some feed back:) Also, am i the only one that thinks Tom would be the cutest sweetest teacher ever? Comment your opinions.
**CHANGED ROSALIES LAST NAME