Preschool Vs. 2nd grade

So, my preschool placement for student teaching ended last Thursday...so this last Tuesday thru Friday I have been teaching 2nd grade. I was a little nervous for 2nd grade because I have had so much experience in preschool and kindergarten and even YOUNGER than preschool...how was I supposed to know what to do with kids who can actually talk to me or are almost as TALL as me! :) (haha)

But it hasn't been all that bad and in fact...there are definite pros and cons to both ages.

Differences between preschool and 2nd grade:

CONTENT
Preschoolers are only learning shapes, letters, numbers, colors---stuff I automatically know already! :)
2nd graders are learning about clouds, weather, 5 animal groups, etc. Stuff I have to do more prep for! :)

PAPERWORK
Preschool (special education in my case) has SO SO SO much paperwork outside of class.
2nd grade--I don't even have to collect all their work and grade it. I can "grade" through other ways during class. Not as much paperwork for sure! (Partly because it isn't Special Education too!)

CLASSTIME
Preschool you have to be on top of them constantly. They are not very independent. A lot of one-on-one time.
2nd graders can do SO much independently! Especially my classroom I'm in. My teacher has done an excellent job of setting up the standards and expectations in the classroom that these kids are EXCELLENT! So well-behaved! :)

CLASS SIZE
Preschool--we had 3 classes of 10-12 kids in each class. Not all that big...but seemed larger because we needed to work one on one with a bunch of them.
2nd grade--we have a surprisingly small class of 24. Not too bad and like I said, my teacher has done a GREAT job with their behaviors at the beginning of the year, that now the kids are perfect! (or close to!)

Overall....I miss preschool and that age. So fun! So entertaining!

BUT 2nd grade is TONS easier! And even though they are older, they are still easy going enough to just let you know when you make mistakes but then be easily forgiving still!
I don't know...suddenly I'm seeing the side that Special Ed. preschool isn't the only way to go! :) We'll see what happens when I teach. (hopefully not necessarily any time soon, however!) :)