A Much better First Day

Yesterday was the first day of classes! My Middle School Principal also dubs it "the day of screaming children" because everyone is so excited to see each other again after the super long summer apart. Some MK's, who were on Home Assignment in the states or Canada or Korea, were even gone for over a year, so the tears flow readily. It's a very happy reunion.
The big highlight is the Opening Ceremonies for the entire school (high, middle, and elementary), faculty, staff, dorms, parents, and friends. We all marched in to happy music, and then they switch it dramatically for the Class of 2011 who parades in carrying the flags of all the countries represented by this year's student body. This year it's 52 countries!
Normally, the first part of the ceremony is a speech by the Director of the school. Since Tim Shuman resigned last year, our new interim director, Phil Peters, was on the schedule. But I didn't see him anywhere in the front row. Weird. Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and a spotlight shown on this big black box in the rafters where Phil was emerging and within 10 seconds was rappelling down to the stage. Highly cool. The kids absolutely flipped out with laughter and applause.
From there, things went on pretty normally. The Middle schoolers split off from the big group for our own assembly, ID photos, and textbook collecting, and then I took the 6th graders - my Homeroom Class!!! (so adorable) - to our classroom. Following some housekeeping items that took nearly an hour and a half, we then entered a mock schedule where the kids visited all their classes and met their teacher for 8 minutes. It was super busy day, but all in all, I'm so glad school's starting, and I no longer have to be in the planning stage.

Here I am in the Middle school office with my friend, Rachel (the Science and math teacher).I hope soon to introduce you to my students a bit.