Say hello to me, the sleep deprieved teacher!

I recently took over a 3 year old class and have been working hard at getting my class under control, well not exactly under control, let's say manageable. At the same time our center is getting ready to be evaluated and my classroom needs alot of work, alot! So needless to say its been a long, hard, difficult week. Making matters worse, my classroom partner was out sick for most of the week and I had way too many different Assistant teachers in my room. I also had several new students transition into my class as well. My director has been very understanding and whole heartedly sympathetic, spending as much time as possible helping the class transition. I have a great partner to work with and a bunch of extremely energized three year olds who have for the past two months pretty much gotten their way. Rules are difficult for adults to follow but even harder for little ones. It is a lot of fun but preparation of actviites is key since any lack of an organized activity creates classroom chaos! I have decided that sometime between 4:00 and 4:30 pm their witching hour begins. Of course, that is also the time that their parents start arriving to pick them up. Their scheduled playground isn't helping matters. They have the playground very early in the morning and late in the evening which pretty much leaves them and I stuck in the classroom.

The pros:

I am really enjoying the whole idea of really "teaching". It is going to take some time to figure it out but at least I am enjoying the whole process.

The cons:

It has left me sleep deprived as I go in early, leave late, and go to sleep with a thousand one to-do's n my head and on my to-do list for the next day.

Hopefully, I will see more progress this week since I have had more time to prepare for the week.