School Time!

         I cannot believe that in just four days from today school will be starting.  It seems like just yesterday that it was the end of May and we were excited to have the whole summer before us.  Every day it seems that I am telling Tyler, "We were going to do_______ before school started, and now we don't have time".  I think every summer must be like that for students and teachers alike.  There is just not enough time for it.
          I was thinking back to being in school myself and the mixed emotions that I had when school started.  I was a little sad that the enjoyment of summer was over, yet I was excited to be starting a new school year in a new grade that made me feel older.  I remember how big I felt when I started seventh grade.  Now I look back and think about how little I actually knew and how much I still needed to learn.  Ninth grade was another exciting year, because I was finally entering high school.  Although I remember being excited about that year, I do not remember much else, so there must not have been too much going on.  My senior year was definitely a very memorable one.  I remember starting the year thinking about the fact that we were the oldest students in the school.  I remembered being in 7th grade, looking up at the seniors so much, and thinking that they must be nearly perfect.  Now I was in that position, and I knew that I was far from nearly perfect, yet there were 7th graders, 8th graders, etc. looking up to me.  It made me want to be a good example for them.  The time finally came for college, and I was very nervous.  I knew things would be very different from high school.  With each new year of college I enjoyed more and more what I was learning, realizing that in a very short time I might be a teacher, since that was what I was preparing for.  When I finally graduated from college, I could not believe how quickly time had gone.  It seemed as if I was just entering 7th grade not too long before, but there I was at 22 years old, married, and a college graduate.
        I am so excited to be putting into use what I learned.  I have already gotten somewhat of a chance helping my mother-in-law in her classroom from February through May.  Now that same classroom will be my own.  I realize what a GREAT responsibility it is to have those young lives in my care.  I am looking forward to the first day of school.  Our classroom has been painted and decorated and has a fresh, new look that I hope the kids will be excited about.  PACEs are ready to go, along with star charts, goal cards, etc.  I wonder what this new year will bring.