Back To School Night!

Well, it's arrived. Back to school night. One of my favorite nights of the year. The kids are excited or nervous or couldn't care less. They are adorable and I have a non-stop smile for two hours plastered on my face.
I was just glad my classroom was ready. I started to panic around noon. I took on a few too many projects this summer, especially with the fact that I was gone for one month.
This year, I had different steps for the parents to follow. Even with that addition, many steps were skipped. Oh well. I guess I'm doing packets next year.

28 of my darling 30 students showed up. They were impressed I knew their names. I was impressed with how different they looked from their 4th grade picture.
I love my parents this year. I even had a mom that came in and said something like, "I have had the crappiest parents to work with before this year, but these are some amazing parents!"
Many of my former students made a guest appearance. Lots of hugs (and a guilty happy when a mom teared up and said last year was the best year for her child and she wishes her son could have me again).
I cannot wait until tomorrow. Those adorable children are my kids for nine months. I'll love, scold, cry for, pray for, struggle with, admire, worry about, and nurture those kids.

Here's to the best year yet.

What my classroom looked like two weeks ago:

What my classroom looked like at 3:30 today:

Suitcases for their back to school presents with a bag of pretzels and a foam airplane inside.

The vice-principal gave me this awesome map today.

You'll never know how messy it is behind the emerald curtain. (Okay. There are actually just power cords for the Chromebooks and large bins.)

I incorporated our school's theme this year (airplanes) into my hot air balloon theme. Hey, it fits pretty nicely. I love my new arrow sign outside my classroom.

One of the projects I took on was to make airport signs for the entire school. My favorite are the drinking fountain and bathroom signs. I love them. (Look closely.)