I have to sneeze!

Whew, today was crazy. Teaching is crazy. 1st graders are crazy! I love teaching, I really do, but man do they exhaust me! When they come into first grade they are babies, confused to why they cannot go home after lunch like in kindergarten. Some struggle with holding a pencil and for the first few days the poor little guys got lost coming back to the classroom for recess. With first graders you have to be on the ball the whole time. If you look as though you are wearing down they too will wear down. I am using my perky teacher voice all day every minute. They can smell if you are unsure of something. With teaching you must make a lot of quick decisions and once in a while I get out of teacher mode and go right into Niki mode and forget that I have to make quick decisions. You can lose them fast!
Yesterday I had all my students sitting in perfect little rows quietly looking at me for directions when one little girl raises her hand. I can on her and she says "I need to sneeze." I say in my perky teacher voice, "Honey, you don't have to tell me you need to sneeze you can just sneeze!" She just continues to look at me. So I say, "Do you need a tissue?" She said, "No, I have some in my backpack." Finally, while still looking at me with big, innocent eyes, she coughs twice. It was so funny. Her first language is not English so I know that she was so confused! It was really cute!
Oh, the joys of teaching! If only they learn how to sit in a chair! ~N