The Honeymoon is Over

I hate to say that it's over when it's only been one week.

But...

It's over.

Today was the first day that I left school with a headache caused by the noise of my students and not because of being inept and losing my water bottle.  I know partly it was my students rambunctious natures, they're only 8 and 9, after all. However, I know the larger reason was me. I came to school feeling tired and while the morning was fantastic--they read for 12 minutes and then 8 minutes with it completely quiet, everyone participated the whole time during keyboarding, and everyone was engaged when we learned about sentences.  However, after lunch (which I wasn't too excited about today; it was a last minute lunch consisting of a tomato sandwich, cashews, a peach, and some pumpkin seeds that I didn't even eat), I started the beginning of my crazy, chaotic afternoon.

How?

Easy. I didn't state all of my expectations clearly and explicitly.  Specifically: I forgot to tell them what to do when they finished their math quiz, making their brown frosting, and read-aloud.  Ugh. I won't ever need this reminder again, though I probably will still make the same mistake. When I do, then I'll think, "Why didn't I just tell them what I wanted?! I thought I learned this the first week of school!?" And I have.