Yesterday, while hunting around for new school boots, I ran into a student from last year’s class and his family.  Children have 2 reactions when they see me outside of school: run up to me with a huge hug, or become extremely shy and hide behind their mom or dad.  The little guy I ran into this weekend became extremely shy. In the classroom, all last school year, he was a blast. He had a million questions and ideas and always had a comment about everything.  It was hilarious that, once he saw me outside of my normal element (our school,) it threw him off. 

Seeing my former student made me even more excited for my new class of first graders to start tomorrow. I was so energized and thrilled to see him and his family after almost 3 months apart.  My summer may be about to end, but the feeling of something ending is trumped by the approaching thrill of something amazing starting tomorrow.

I know that as I was hunting for new, black boots, my soon-to-be students this year were probably hunting for new shoes or backpacks as well.  Tomorrow we’ll begin getting to know each other and share our ‘back to school’ shopping adventures. Although I didn’t find new boots yesterday, I regained my yearly ‘teacher excitement’ and can hardly wait for school tomorrow.