Tears, Singing, and Cupcakes :)

I was for warned by the third grade teacher of some particular "chatty" students. I was also told to be aware of an uncontrollable boy with undiagnosed needs....

I came to school very early Tuesday morning to finish preparing for the first day of school. I was excited to meet my students and teach! I had my armour on. Prepared for the worst with a plan a, b, and c. I picked up my smiling fourth graders and walked to our classroom. They were VERY excited for school to start and to have the "new, young" teacher. I began the day by giving them their prayer journals. After we had prayer I then proceeded to explain the rules and procedures of the class. One student asked if I was going to be strict about the "card system." I said, "oh yes," this is your warning, if I ask you to pull your card it is too late. His smile turned upside down. My students listened and I began to teach...... I noticed one student imp articular, I will call him James, he desperately wanted attention. I let it go for a while but then I knew I had to put a stop to this behavior. "James, pull your card!" At that moment the class became completely silent and every one's eyes were downcast. James got up and pulled his card. I could feel the terror in the room, I felt bad at this moment, what had I done? James then went to the back desk and filled out a refocus sheet (thanks Katelyn!). I went over to talk to him and noticed tears streaming down his face. "oh, no" I thought, "I can't make a kid cry on the first day of school!" But I explained to him the reasons and told him how sin affects our lives....

My class has done well with the routines. We go unnoticed in the hall ways and line up the quickest after recess. The student who was suppose to be "challenging" has been succeeding. I know it's only the first week of school but I feel the Lord working in my classroom. During Bible time we have been learning the hymn of the month, In Christ Alone. We read the lyrics and then listened to it for the first time yesterday. They loved it! Today I played it again and they all starting singing and playing imaginary instruments. James, who is the attention getter, asked me to play it again Mrs. Brown, play it again. The whole class cheered and we sang it again! In the afternoon time we were finishing up our art project and the sad, insecure girl with a horrible home life looked up at me and asked if I would play "the song" again. So during art time the whole class was worshipping the Lord while painting. I just stood back and watched as the boys played the drums and air guitars and the girls sang. This is going to be a good year.....