ready or not, monday they are coming

I just spent all day at work, still getting ready for the first day of school. It's about as ready as it's going to be. 

It's all nice and neat, but it is still missing something. 

A classroom really isn't a classroom until there are little bodies in there ~ learning, laughing, being a kid. Not until there is kid work all over the bulletin boards. 

Not until the mailboxes are full of graded work to be taken home.

So, until Monday, the room sits here, still,  with open arms. Waiting with wonder about who will be sitting at these desks.

Who will walk through that door ready to learn?

And children, when you leave the room, don't forget your pass.

I spent some time today adding names to these center magnets, name tags, folders, etc. As I added each name I thought of what I already know about these kids from what I've learned from their first grade teachers. I thought about how I will best be able to help them learn. 

Ready or not, here they come.