What an AMAZING day!

I have to admit, I was terrified by the thought of another "first day meeting" experience. I didnt have the best praciticum experience, and I was scared, nervous, and unsure of what this "next time" would bring. Well, it was amazing. It was beyond amazing! It has completely rekindled my teaching fire! I had such an awesome first day.
I actually got to the school earlier than my teacher, so I waited in the office until the receptionist said that she was there. Then she called my teacher to tell her that I was on my way down. As I walked through the hallways I began to feel a terrible knotted-nausea feeling in the pit of my stomach. Again, with the nerves. But as I approach what I was pretty sure was her room, I was greeted my a giant poster on the door that said "Welcome Ms. Calvert!" with all of the childrens names signed. The teacher was truly excited to meet me, and began showing me the set up that they had for me. I had a small table to myself to serve as a desk, and on it was a minilla envelope adressed to me. As I looked at it, Ms. McCormick said, "All of the students wrote you a letter." They students had been practicing their letter-writing skills, and so Ms. McCormick had them all write a letter to me! They were adorable! They all asked me questions, and told me that they wanted me to have a good day, and that they were a nice/good class and they wanted me to have fun here. I was also asked if I had pets, where I lived, if I had children, etc...
I didnt know that this day could get any better! But it did. As the students began coming into the classroom, when they saw me they would get a huge grin on their face and start whispering to each other the announcement that I was finally there. The first thing that was said to me by a student was by a little boy whom we will call, Joey. Joey raised his hand, and I walked over to him. He said "Ms. Calvert, I didn't know that you were going to be this beautiful." and... my day was made. The rest of the day was filled with morning activites, a fire drill, and three different visits from the prinicipal himself to see that I was comfortable and doing alright. the principal also had a different desk brought in for me, one that was larger, with a shelf. :)
Also, Ms. McCormick has some amazing things going on in her classroom, but I think that stuff may be saved for another post. However, she has already began giving me copies of all kinds of stuff!
Lunch time was interesting. I ate with my grade level teachers in Ms. McCormick's room. There I was subject to listen to the standard "teacher gossip". Which was not so much fun. At one point Ms. McCormick even said, "You might want to plug your ears" laughing.
The end of the day began rather early. Specials were cancelled that day, and so all of the first grade classes were watching Charlotte's Web together. They had read through the chapter book with their teachers, and seen the play at this point. So, I spent the remainder of the day in the darkened classroom with my kids watching charlotte's web and eating popcorn. :)