Practical Storage Options

Over the past few years I have been attempting to find storage options for my classroom that look neat and as well as being practical and simple to use. This year in particular, I have very little built-in storage options (shelves, presses, etc) and really needed to come up with creative ways to store things in an organised, tidy manner. Here are some organisational methods I am currently using in my classroom:

1. Long term storage:

I store decorations, resources, games, books, art supplies, etc. in these storage boxes. I have stacked them under the workbench style counter in my room. I use similar boxes to hold paint and paint brushes in our art press so that when we are painting, we can take out the box with all of the supplies we will need and put it back when we are finished. It also makes moving classroom every year much easier!

Homebase Storage Boxes

2. Whiteboard storage: 

I use these green Ikea boxes to hold my class whiteboards. When we are using the whiteboards in a lesson, the table leader collects their box and distributes the whiteboards to their classmates. The boxes work well in preventing the whiteboards from being damaged. Within each box, each group has a blue box for holding their whiteboard markers, Pritt sticks and scissors. 

Green Ikea Whiteboard Boxes
Blue Ikea Stationary Boxes

3. Flashcard/behavioural management storage options:

I have attached these wall pockets to my desk to hold various items I want to have easy access to. At the moment it contains lollipop sticks with the children's names on them, my yellow and red behaviour cards and various vocabulary flashcards.

Ikea Wall Pocket

4. Worksheet storage:

This expandable folder is divided into different subject areas, a compartment for school notes, another for staff meeting notes, another for 'Tomorrow's Work' and a 'Work Children Have Missed' section. This storage system works well as long term storage for worksheets as well as providing an easy way to file spare worksheets without having to deal with folders and plastic pockets. 

Eason Expanding Folder

5. Drawer storage:

Using drawer dividers helps me to keep my desk drawers organised while keeping everything visible and easily accessible in them. 

Ikea Drawer Dividers

6. Teacher book storage:

This year I'm storing my teacher books in these Ikea magazine holders. They are very durable, bright and help to keep my books organised. 

Ikea Magazine Holders

7. 'Busy Bee Work' storage:

This year, I have given all of the children a display book filled with worksheets and activities I have found on Teachers Pay Teachers. They keep this folder on their desk for when they have finished work early (this is really useful to have with a combined 4th and 5th class!). When they have completed all of the worksheets in their folder, they then get a new batch to put in and complete. 

Display Book, Mr. Price

8. Poster storage:

A rectangular bin can be used to store rolled up posters. Posters can also be stacked down the two sides of the bin (as is often not the case in a round bin) so that you can keep posters you use regularly nice and flat.

9. Task card/C.D. storage: 
I store C.D.s, D.V.D.'s, Maths cards, task cards, etc. in these baskets from Dealz. 

Dealz Baskets

10. Stationary Storage:
Whiteboard markers, spare pencils, pencil parers and rubbers that are used by me and the children (if they are missing their own), sit on my desk in these mesh stationary holders from Ikea. They are easy to grab when needed.

Ikea Stationary Storage Baskets

11. Ziploc Bags:
I keep a box of these at all times in my classroom. I use them for so many things: to store cables, flashcards, resources for each literacy station,  SESE resources, to divide out science equipment for each group in preparation for an experiment, etc.

I hope you found some inspiration on how to organise your classroom in this post. I am by no means an expert when it comes to keeping my classroom organised and tidy, but I have found these systems to work well for me over the past few years.
If you have found this post useful don't forget to check out some other posts in my Back to School Series for more ideas and inspiration.  

Thematic Unit: Myself (Senior Class)

The theme of 'Myself' is a popular unit of work at the start of any school year. Here are some activities I have used with 4th and 5th based on this theme.

1.a) Art: Van Gogh's Self Portraits

Study Van Gogh's self portraits and facts about his life. Have the children draw their self portrait on a sheet of card. Using the tips you can find here, have the children paint a thick textured layer of PVA on their page. They can then put paint on top of this and use a plastic fork to gently add texture (optional).

b) Art: Andy Warhol

Study the work, life and artistic style of Andy Warhol. Have the children create self portraits (with or without a mirror) on a sheet of A4 paper. Once they have completed the drawing, have them use carbon paper and a paper clip to copy the portrait 4 times onto a sheet of A3 paper. Once they have completed this, paint the portraits in various bright primary and secondary colours.

2. Music: Almost There

Sing the song 'Almost There' from Disney's 'The Princess and the Frog'. You can find the backing track here. Discuss what the song is about, times when they faced difficulties in trying to reach a goal, etc.

3. History: Place Names

Have the children discuss the name of their town/locality (English/Irish) in pairs and attempt to guess what the name tells them about the history of the place. Discuss as a class. Give some examples and discuss the meanings behind various Irish place names (see this source for information). Have the children look at a map of their local town, with street names marked on it. With a partner, discuss and write down what these street names tell us about the history of the town (e.g. castle street, market street, etc). To conclude the topic, get the children to research the history of their town online (either in school or at home) and create a fact file/project on the history of their town.  

4. Geography: Mapping

Show the children the 'Understanding Map Keys and Symbols' activity featured on Ask About Ireland and answer the questions with your class. Discuss the map located here in a similar manner. Complete the 'Make a Map Key' activity on Ask About Ireland after this. Discuss and model how one would go about creating a map of their locality/their trip to school (start with the road, add in water features, add in symbols, etc). Add a key to the bottom of their map to decode their symbols.

5. Science: The Senses

Discuss this powerpoint as an introduction to the lesson. Split up the class into groups. Create a station for each sense: a set of tasting droppers (salty, sweet, bitter, sour), sound boxes to match similar sounds with each other, smell jars (label as vanilla, almond or vinegar), a sight station (where they have a close up picture of something and must say what the whole picture would be) and a touch station (where they must catagorise the feel of objects as smooth, rough, soft or hard and then guess the object). Have the groups rotate around the stations and complete the worksheet. Conclude the lesson with an interactive game on the senses.

6. SPHE: Myself

Any of the Walk Tall lessons would suit this theme.

7. English: Poetry and Creative Writing

Discuss and recite the poem 'All My Great Excuses'. Write their own poem about homework excuses. Creative writing could also be linked to the theme of 'Myself'.

8. Gaeilge: Mé Féin
Teach the language of a comhrá based on the theme of Mé Féin. Model the comversation and then have them practice it in pairs:

Dia Duit. Dia is Muire duit.
Conas atá tú? Tá mé go maith/dona.
Cad is ainm duit? ____ is ainm dom.
Cén aois thú? Tá mé _____.
Cá bhfuil tú i do chonaí? Tá mé i mo chonaí i _____
Cén rang/scoil ina bhfuil tú? Tá mé i __________.
Cén t-ábhar is fearr leat? Is fearr liom ________.
Cén bia is fearr leat? Is fearr liom __________.
Cén scannán is fearr leat? Is fearr liom ______.
Srl.

After practicing this comhrá for a few days, have the children write a piece about themselves in Irish on this worksheet and add a picture of themselves to the top. Give them a word bank for difficult words if you feel this is necessary.

If you are on the look out for more thematic unit ideas for senior classes, check out my 'Italy', 'Space' and 'The Aztec Empire' thematic unit posts.

First Day Jitters: Senior Classes

For the next post in my Back to School Series, I am focusing on tips for the first day back in a middle-senior class classroom. I have divided the post up into four sections: 'Housekeeping' which contains various tips on how to organise your day, 'Lesson Ideas' which will give you some ideas for what to teach on the first day, 'Teaching Routines' which will help you to set behavioural expectations for the year and 'Bonding Activities' which will provide you with a list of games suitable for breaking up the first day and helping the class bond with each other and you.

Housekeeping:

• Have labels for the children to write their names on, decorate and wear on their first day.
• Decide on your table arrangements and where the children will sit before you start the day. In my room, I like to change the children around myself every month, but I let them choose their own seat in September, December and June. 
• If you do not have your roll book ready for the first day, have a class list to use as the rolla. Keep this in your assessment folder or attach it to the wall, as these lists often have a habit of disappearing in the manic first few days of school! You can also use this list to record money children will give you in the first few weeks.  
• Allow for a section of the day (about an hour) to collect books. When collecting textbooks and workbooks, ensure they all have names on them (on the front). Make sure you have decided where each is going and have the shelf labelled. Have some spare labels in case some students have nowhere to write their name.
• Get the children to take out their copies and label these one at a time on the front cover. Write the subject name on the board to avoid misspellings! Emphasise neatness and inform them of whether you want them to write in cursive or print. Remind them of capital letter usage and give an example on the board of your expectations. The copies I start the year with are: one English, one Maths, one Maths journal, two homework (to alternate between each week), one Gaeilge, one Religion, one Dictionary copy (for new words they are learning each week in Gaeilge and English) and one SPHE copy. They also have a manuscript copy for tests, one for SESE and one for creative writing as well as one Science hardback.
• I get my class to buy A4 display books for worksheets rather than folders as they are much lighter and less bulky. On the first day, they cut up an A4 sheet of paper into small 'labels' for each subject and insert them into the first pocket of each section.
• Distribute labels, get them to write their names on them and stick them to their Pritt Sticks. This year I am getting them to cut a section off the label to stick to the lid with their initals on it as lids are constantly going missing!  

Lesson ideas:

• English: Get the children to discuss their holidays in pairs first and then share their stories with the class. Once they have done this, they can brainstorm some things that they did in their creative writing copy. Get them to write a story using this brainstorm about 'My Summer Holidays'. You can extend the lesson the following day by getting them to edit the story themselves and with their partners (self-assessment). This is a good lesson idea as it doesn't require everyone to have a book (books may take a good fortnight to appear in some cases!).
• Maths: We follow the Brainsnack Problem Solving Scheme in our school. This is a great oral Maths lesson to get children working in pairs and get those brains working again after the holidays! I find Mental Maths or revision exercises in their textbooks a good way to gauge ability levels on the first day too. Have some extra pages photocopied if you intend on using textbooks/workbooks in the first few days.
• Gaeilge: Start the year with revising/teaching some basic 'Mé Féin' phrases in a comhrá beirte type activity. Teach (or reteach) and model the questions and answers, write them on the board and have a pair demonstrate before letting the class practice in their pairs. You could get the children to interview each other as a drama activity (using props/silly voices) and even record some of them for the school website/blog when they have had some practice. This Chatty Cat Ball could also be used on the first day for oral language games (especially with a very bright class). As an alternative, you could keep your first Irish lesson more basic by focusing on playing some vocabulary games (Cluiche Kim, Deir Ó Grádaigh, Cluiche Mím, Biongó, etc) using vocabulary from the unit/story they will be starting in the coming days. 
• SPHE: Get the children to brainstorm ideas for their class rules on slips of paper, on a large sheet of paper on the floor or get them up in groups to write their ideas on the board. Once they have all contributed their 'most important school rules', circle rules that are mentioned repeatedly. Create the class rules from these, discuss why each is important and the characteristics of each 'behaviour'. Have them act out each rule to show how the behaviour looks. Ask them to write out and decorate these rules so that they can look back on them during the year, assess themselves on their performance, tell you which rule they were not keeping at a certain time, 'star' it to show they will work on it in the future, etc.    
• Music: Learn the chant Lickety Split and perform, varying the tempo, volume and pitch. Get some of the children to lead once they have practiced the chant a few times. 
• PE/SPHE: Play some cooperative games and/or using a box of P.E. equipment, some cones and balls, get them to choose 5 items and create their own game in groups. Rotate the groups around each game until they have played them all. Have one member stay at each station to explain the rules and act as referee. Discuss the games after the lesson.  

Teaching Routines:

Rather than telling them all of the routines/behaviours you expect during the school day, teach them throughout the day/week. Discuss, model and then role play these routines. They may include:

• How to begin the day: Using the cloakroom, what to take out when they reach their desks, procedures for calling the rolla, checking homework, etc.
• Toilet procedures: Discuss with the children when they are allowed to take toilet breaks and how and whether they should ask permission to go. I insist that toilet breaks can be taken when I am not beginning a lesson or giving instructions. They may go during written work/independent work or groupwork activities. They put up their thumb to show they need to go and when they go, they sign themselves out.
• Rewards: Explain whatever reward system you are using and make sure to use it frequently in the first week. Model and practice with them, situations where they might be rewarded. I use raffle tickets to award children caught being good. At the end of the week, their ticket goes into a raffle for a homework pass. You can read more about some other classroom management strategies for senior classes in this post.   
• Breaktime: Discuss, model and practice behaviours expected of them while they eat, use the bin, leave their desks and line up. 
• PE: If you are undertaking a PE lesson on the first day, introduce what you expect from them when you blow the whistle, how they should line up, wait in the hall, make groups, etc.

Bonding Games:

Building a relationship with your class is something that is very important in the first week of school. In order to do this, you might find it useful to try playing some of these 'bonding games' during the day in order to lighten the mood. They might also be useful to any of you subbing during the year.

1. Wink Detective: Find out the rules of this game here.
2. Chuaigh mé go dtí an siopa agus cheannaigh mé...: Play this memory game in which each member of the class adds a new item to the shopping list after repeating things already mentioned. You can find a variation of the game here.
3. Hangman
4. I went to the shop and I bought... (guessing game): Gather the children together into a circle. Explain how you will go around the circle asking them to tell you what they bought. Take three children out of the class and explain to them that when it comes to their turn to say what they bought in the shop, they must say 'emmm' before naming something e.g. 'I went to the shop and I bought... emmm...icecream' or ' I went to the shop and I bought... emmm... a house'. The teacher can then tell them that they did buy that thing. If the children in the circle don't say 'emm' then they can't buy the item they mention. Go through the class once or twice to see if anyone sees the trick, if not, then take out two more children to explain the trick to. Continue as long as you like, telling more and more children or until someone figures out the trick.
5. Oscailte/dúnta: This game is similar to the game above. The teacher has a pen with a lid which gets passed around the circle. Each child says either 'oscailte' or 'dúnta' while holding the pen. The trick in this game involves not the pen however, but their legs. If their feet/legs are crossed it is 'dúnta' and if their legs are open, then it is 'oscailte'. As with the game above, the teacher can keep telling more children as the game progresses until one of the others guesses the trick.
6. Deir Ó Grádaigh (Simon Says)
7. Keeper of the Keys: Learn how to play this game here.
8. 20 questions: Find out how to play this game here.
9. Tell the Story: Two children sit either side of one child. They both say a sentence into the middle child's ears and the middle child is asked to tell one of the other child's sentences without confusing the two stories.
10. Back to Back: They children sit back to back. One partner draws a simple picture on their page. They then give instructions for how draw the picture. They cannot name what they have drawn e.g. I have drawn a sun vs. I have drawn a circle and put lines around it. The other child tries to see if they can replicate the picture as best they can. 
11. Charades: Learn how to play this game here.
12. 7up: Find the rules for this game here.
13. There are lots more games to be found in this document from the PDST. 

Best of luck to any of you starting back to school soon. If you are teaching an infant class, be sure to check out my First Day Jitters in Infants post for tips on how to prepare for the first day in a senior infant room. 

Back to School Series: Back to School Shopping

Today, I'm starting a new series of posts entitled 'The Back to School Series'. Over the next few weeks, posts will cover a variety of topics from how to prepare your classroom to how to deal with the dreaded first day back, class bonding activities and much more. I hope this series will be useful for NQTs, teachers teaching in a different class level for the first time and some of you looking for some fresh ideas!

This week I embarked on a back to school stationary shopping trip and for that reason,  I am writing my first post of the series about some of the things I picked up and what I will be using them for. I visited a variety of places to find these things including Mr. Price (after seeing Múinteoir Valerie's post about the amazing value to be found there!), Tesco, Homebase and Ikea.

Here is what I found:

1. Folders:

I picked up a set of plastic pockets, a lever arch folder for my Fortnightlies, one for my Cuntas Míosúil and one for assessment records, an A4 plastic wallet for storing important sheets in the first week or two, a small ring binder for my yearly plans and a set of dividers. 

2. Copies:

I bought an A4 project book which I will be using for observational records on the children and an A5 notebook which I use to plan and organise my lessons every day.

3. Stationary:

I picked up permanent markers, whiteboard markers, pencils, a pen, tippex, blu tack, thumbtacks, post-its and sticky flags.

4. Organisational Solutions:

I bought magazine files to store and organise my books for each subject on my 'teacher' shelves. I also bought an expanding accordion file for storing worksheets for each subject throughout the year. You can read more about my worksheet storage system in detail here.

5. Rewards:

I use raffle tickets with senior classes to reward good behaviour so I picked some up in Mr. Price. Click here to find out more information about this reward strategy. Along with these, I bought some stamps for using on children's copies after being inspired by this article in The Guardian about time saving marking tips.

6. Posters:

Mr. Price has a range of posters available to buy - even ones as Gaeilge! These posters are mostly suitable for younger classes, however I did manage to find a lovely set of 'Na Míonna as Gaeilge' posters. I also picked up some fluorescent flashcards for labeling charts, etc.

7. Storage:

This year I will have a severe shortage of presses and storage options in my classroom. I spent a lot of time trying to decide what would be the best solution for this problem. Originally, I set out to buy some sort of drawer unit that I could put under the computer bench to keep resources organised and hidden away. Unfortunately anything that would have been remotely suitable size-wise was quite expensive and didn't provide very usable storage space. I eventually decided that buying good quality storage boxes might be the best way to go as they could be moved from classroom to classroom and would allow far more storage space at a cheaper price. Ikea's boxes were by far the cheapest, but when I went to check them out, they only had translucent options available, despite the website showing black and green versions. I didn't want to get translucent boxes as they can look untidy and the quality of them also seemed quite poor. I decided to go with some Homebase 48L storage boxes to stack in pairs under my computer bench (which takes up one wall of my classroom). They come with lids, are opaque, colourful, quite durable and a good size for storage. Storage boxes are on sale at the moment in Homebase which was a great plus too. While I was there, I picked up a 35L storage box for my paints and paintbrushes in the art press, along with 2 12L storage boxes to store miscellaneous art supplies in.




Hopefully you found some inspiration in this post for your preparations for the year ahead and don't forget to follow me on Facebook or Twitter to make sure you don't miss any of my 'Back to School Series' posts!

Throwback Thursday: First Day Jitters in Infants!

For this first Throwback Thursday post, I'm reposting from 2013, a post I wrote to help all those who were planning for their first day of teaching infants. It is full of ideas which would be very useful to NQTs or anyone who is coming back to infants after a while in the senior classes. Best of luck in your return to school everyone!
__________________________________________________
Often teachers, especially NQT's and teachers who have not taught in a particular class level before, can be slightly apprehensive about the first day back at school after the summer holidays. Here are a few practical ideas for planning out your first day back in Senior Infants (some ideas can be used with Junior Infants too!):

1. Toys: 
The first thing that any infant teacher should plan for their first day is to have adequate toys/jig saws/lego available for the children to play with as soon as they come in. Having toys ready means the children are occupied if any parents want to have a word with you and it also gives you the opportunity to make observations of the children and how they interact while also giving you a chance to interact with them one on one before formal class begins. It is up to the teacher whether they want to leave toys on the tables before the children come in, or whether they prefer to leave them on a set of shelves and get children to choose their own from the shelf to bring back to their seat.
(The later may be easier to introduce later in the week (especially with Junior Infants) as you can take the opportunity to train them as to the correct procedures for doing this: pushing in your chair, going back to your seat straight away, bringing back your work when it is finished, etc.) Personally, I like using a play rota system once the first week has passed, where I name each group and put a picture of a toy beside their group on a chart, changing it daily, ensuring every child gets a chance at every play station. (I will post an entry on structured play rotas soon!)

2. Getting To Know You is VITAL!
Teaching infants is slightly different to other class levels in that they can be anxious on their first day with a new teacher, so the first day is a careful balance between setting rules, establishing discipline and then putting them at ease with a new environment and teacher. This is where getting to know you games come into play. You can find so many games online to suit the class level you are teaching. There are some great ideas on http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/ice-breaker-games for younger children.

http://goo.gl/wqWx8L

Often however, keeping it simple can often be just as effective. When I was teaching as a Substitute I used one game frequently as a less time consuming, simpler option which led to very few discipline problems with older and younger children alike. It involved giving the children 30 seconds to tell a partner their name, a favourite film, band and food (you can make this simpler for Infants!) and then asking random children to see if they remember what their partner told them. I may ask four children to tell me what they found out and after I have asked them, I would ask random children to see if they could remember a specific child's favourite thing. Repeat the game as often as concentration lasts. This gives a good opportunity to build up some group points at the start of the day (Another reward system I like for building team work!) and get the children's brains working. It keeps the children's attention and children love the competitive element. It also gives the teacher the opportunity to 'see can I remember all the names', which can be a good crowd pleaser (especially if you stall/mix up names!)
If anyone would like some examples of some other subbing ideas/games leave a comment below and I will post some!

3. News: 

jhan-camp.blogspot.com 

A good first day back oral language activity is talking about and writing about their news. It may seem obvious, but sometimes it's good to stick with tried and trusted activities when it is the children's first day back and you want to make the day go as smoothly as possible! It can also be the case that many of the children may not have all of their books yet so is important to think of activities that you can do with them if this scenario arises. (Colouring/drawing are other simple activities for this purpose!) When writing the children's news with them, write up the generic: 'Today is Monday. It is raining' and then add a sentence from one of the children's news. Get them to draw a picture to match the news also. I like to encourage them to try writing a sentence of their own at the end of their news and while at the beginning of Senior Infants, children may not be competent enough to do this very successfully, it is important that they make an attempt, even if it is just a word/few letters.

4. Writing time:

tx.english-ch.com 

I love to use a door hanger sign on my door when the children are engaged in writing activities. The sign I use has a picture of a child writing and says 'Sh, quiet time'. When we are about to start writing or any other individual work, I go over to the door, pick up the sign and slowly bring it to the handle, while counting down from 5, getting quieter each time until 1 is only a whisper. We have agreed that once it is on the door, no one, not even me can speak above a whisper. It really works wonders!


5. Big Books:
Read them a big book! Question them, get them to make predictions and any other activities you can think of! Maybe discuss what happened at the start, middle and end of the story. Get them to draw three pictures of the start, middle and end events in the story.

6. Maths:
Begin the lesson with a Counting Chorus, where you get the children to count as far as ten/twenty, getting different groups to call out different numbers in the sequence when you point to them. For example: the blue group call out one, the red group call out two, etc.
You can easily organise some kind of counting activity where they have to put the correct number of cubes or counters in the correct template/container (1-10). I have some good counting activities in my Maths Centers' post which you could use for this purpose! This is a good opportunity to see what children remember from last year and observe the children who struggle with counting.

7. Songs:

Have some easy to learn action songs ready for the children to sing on the first day. I personally am a big fan of:
Dr. Knicker Bocker:

Open and Shut Them:

And of course Nursery Rhymes, Jolly Phonics revision, etc.

8. Sight Word Games:
Using a word wall of words from their Junior Infant readers (or Dolch words or even Senior Infant words if you want!), you can use a teacher pointer to play some word games. Tic Tac Toe is a game where you keep pointing to different words while chanting with the class:
'Tic, tac, toe, here we go, where we land, no one knows.'
The card that you land on is the card you want them to read for you. You can start out by getting the class to read out the word you land on and then you can pick confident children to read words by themselves. You can vary the game by speeding up/slowing down the rhyme and starting in different places each time.

9. Have a Reward System in Place:
I like to have all the children's names on a separate board/laminated chart and at the end of each day, I give them a smiley face for good behaviour. I explain to them why they may not be getting one if I decide not to give them one and tell them what they need to do to get one the following day. If they get twenty faces they get to take a prize out of the 'Lucky Dip' bosca draoíochta. If a child is behaving in a way that is particularly impressive, I will give them a smiley face during the day or if they do something that is particularly unacceptable, I will take one away.

10. Rules of the Classroom: 
This is something which can be done later on in the day as an SPHE lesson before the children go home. Get them to suggest some rules for the classroom and talk about why each is important. I usually guide them to suggest these four rules:

I also tell them that I will be giving a sticker to four children at the end of the week who are the best at keeping each rule, reminding them constantly during the week of the rules and praising the behaviours when I see them. This carries on every Friday until each child gets rewarded.

www.lcsedu.net/

11. Rules in the Line:
I like using the High 5 method of preparing the children to leave the classroom. When they are all in the line and paying attention, I call out High 5 while putting up my hand. We chant while pointing to the relevant body parts: 'Looking eyes, listening ears, hands to yourself, walking feet and finger on your lip.' These are the behaviours I am looking for in the line and if I see a child who is carrying out these behaviours, I praise them in a whisper (It is always important to keep the noise level down as they will mimic your noise level!).

I hope you find some of these tips and lesson ideas useful! Above all else, remember: don't think too big for the first day back! Keep activities easy and short and try to make it as fun as possible! Don't forget how much children love nature walks/Art/P.E. and simple games like Simon Says (or Deir Ó Grádaigh) and I Spy, so don't forget to include some of these things in your first day back!

Best of luck!