Easiest Day!

I've almost forgotten my blog for Friday! It was one of the simpler days of my subbing experience. I was teaching fifth grade for the afternoon. When I arrived the kids were in music, and after that went directly to PE. They then came back to class themselves after PE with their lunches. They ate lunch in the classroom and then went out to recess. When they came back in from recess their teacher had left a test for them to take. It was a 25 question multiple choice test based on the material from their "We the People" textbook - which about the American government. They had an hour to complete their tests and then we had a Harvest Party! A couple parents came to help and they, the kids and I served up some pumpkin pie, jerky, nuts, popcorn and cranberry juice. It was an odd assortment, but the kids were enjoying themselves.

One girl in the class was quite the talented writer. She showed me the beginning to a story she'd written and it was pretty impressive for such a young kid. I wish I'd written down her name so I could keep my eyes peeled for her in the book store in 10 or 15 years! :)

There was other girl who came up to me during the party and asked, "Have you read that book called Twilight?" I answered that yes, I had. And then she just said, "oh" and turned around and left! I was thinking, "Hey! Come back here! We aren't done with this conversation!" But then I remembered that I was supposed to be the adult, so I just had to bite my tongue.

Now, I will not be writing another blog for a least a week. Salem-Keizer returns to school on December 1 - and then we'll see from there!

Indians and Turkeys

Today was the day before the last day before Thanksgiving break in the Salem-Keizer school district. And yes, I realize that is a confusing sentence, but I like it. It's funny.

So yes, I have no entries for the last 5 days. That's because there's no school on Saturday and Sunday, so no subbing to write about, and the first three days of this week I went jobless. But today I had a job at one of the nicer schools in the district, with another first grade class.

The kids were good, typical first-graders. Meaning that if they had some random thought cross their brain at any point in the day they had an incredibly difficult time fighting the primal urge to BLURT it out right then and there! It can be frustrating, but it's also so hilarious sometimes I have a hard time not laughing. There was one instance where I was reading a Thanksgiving poem that said something in it about going to Grandma's house. I raised my hand in the air and asked the kids if any of them were going to their Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. Instead of those who were going to a Grandma's house raise their hands in imitation of what I was doing, they all - ALL - started yelling out simultaneously just exactly where they WERE going. And yes, they really were yelling, because otherwise how would I hear them over all the other kids?! haha So it took me a couple minutes to calm them all down. I made some lame statement like, "Now, did I say, 'everybody yell out to me where you're going for Thanksgiving'?" To which they replied emphatically, "Noooooooo!" Then we moved on for fear they would all think of something new to tell me.

Other than that it was uneventful. Oh, and we read stories about Indians and made paper turkeys and tissue paper turkeys - which has inspired this blog's title.

I'm subbing tomorrow afternoon, but might not blog about it until Sunday because I'm going to Vancouver for the weekend. And then that will be all for the blogs for a week due to Thanksgiving break!

Cut and Paste

It is so nice to know the night before where you'll be going the next morning. I'd had my job for today for a few days, which is even nicer. It was for a 1/2 blend in south Salem. I'd been requested to sub by the teacher, who I know.

The kids were pretty good, although they ability group all of the first and second grades for reading, and the teacher I was subbing for and the teacher next door switched classes for math (well, the 2nd graders went next door and all the first graders came to me) so that made it a little more difficult to remember which kids were mine and which I had just seen at some point in the day.

We did a lot of cutting and pasting today. For reading, my reading class and the reading class next door got together and made paper scarecrows, which involved cutting out pants, a shirt, 2 boots, 2 gloves, a head, hat, and scarf. Which is a lot of cutting for little guys. So it took a good hour to do this. We had 4 adults in the room helping, which was good. We when around picking up scraps of paper and taking them to the recycling, finding the specific tracer that a kid needed, counting all their pieces to make sure they had everything, etc. It was very busy, but they did a good job.

Later in the day with my math group we made paper crabs. They are leaning to count by tens and do math in groups of ten, and since crabs have 10 legs they are used a lot of visuals in the Bridges program. The kids made the crabs today and later they will arrange them into a chart. So again I was dealing with kids trying to cut out a bunch of little legs and bodies and get them glued together correctly. After this I was very glad to be done with cutting!

At the end of the day I had my class back and they were writing stories about bats and drawing pictures for their stories. I put in a CD of Disney music to play while they worked. They REALLY liked that. The only problem was that they wanted to get up and dance for every song! But I just told them that if the music was too distracting that they couldn't get their work done I'd turn it off. So they got back to work and enjoyed trying to be the first to figure out what song was playing and what movie it was from. They knew all of them even though some were from older movies like Mary Poppins and Aladdin.

By the end of the day I had a headache and I'm not sure why. They weren't that loud, and I didn't feel like I had to raise my voice that much. Tis a puzzle. Perhaps I did not have enough caffeine. I came home, took some Excedrin (caffeine) and had a Pepsi (caffeine) and I'm feeling much better! :) Now I'm heading off to Corban to see their play: Twelfth Night. Should be fun. I love Shakespeare and this is one of my favorites!

30th Post!

Let me just take a moment to congratulate myself on actually keeping up with this blog thing! I must admit, when I started it I wasn't sure how long it would last. I had the best intentions, but sometimes I run out of time for things like this what with all my other projects. (Such as the second Kailey book - which is now DONE!) And I also must thank my loyal readers who keep reading no matter how boring or trivial my posts get, and for always commenting! I love reading the comments and it's nice to see who's actually reading this thing!

Anyways, on to today. I turned down a job this morning for a first grade bilingual class. I subbed in this teacher's class last year and I remembered how some of his plans were in Spanish, and that I was expected to teach reading and science in Spanish. I muddled through solely because I do know some Spanish, but I just did not want to deal with that stress/annoyance today. So I turned it down, and for a while I was thinking I might end up with no job, but then I got a call for an afternoon in a third grade in Keizer (all in English as well!)

It was a fairly easy day. I taught a reading group of 10 students (all the third grade ability grouped so lots of my class left and a few additional ones came in), then supervised a science activity with the original class and then they went home. There was this one kid in the reading group that was exhasting! He was a good kid, he always followed directions and he did his work but he could just NOT sit still!! I was constantly telling him to sit down, put the toy away, follow along, etc. He always did it, but just lost his focus about 1 minute later. So I couldn't really be mad at him - he was trying - it was just tiring. It's what I imagine my friend Donna would have been like as a child.

For the science project, the kids had to pick an item in the room and describe it (color, smell, weight, size, shape, etc.) and then write a riddle so others could try to figure out what item they chose. They all got pretty into it, and lots of them shared their riddles - and I couldn't figure out any of them! One in particular was interesting - I don't believe he completely listened to the instructions. His riddle went something like this: "It's kinda smelly, it's green, and it's all over the room." Figured out your answer yet? A fart. Yeah. Third grade people. That's what goes through their heads. I said, "It's green?!". He laughed and said yes. Then I made some lame statement about how they were supposed to choose an object in the room not a bodily function and moved on really quickly. Still shaking my head over that one.

Speedy Pizza

Short but interesting day today. Lots of stories to tell. I will have to work hard to keep this coherent and to keep my stories from intruding upon one another. Wish me luck, readers!

First, a little background information: beloved south Salem school, afternoon only, 4th/5th grade. Okay, now we are good to go!

I arrived at 11:30 and the teacher showed me all the stuff we were gonna do. Which was nice, but sort of unnecessary. I'd read through the plans in the 3 minutes she was out of the room and felt I had a handle on them. But I couldn't just blow her off, so I listened while she explained it again, which resulted in me having a 10 minutes lunch. Yes, I can eat in 10 minutes, but this lunch time is the one with lots of staff in the lunch room, and I know bunches of them and like to visit with them, so I could barely scarf down my pepperoni hot pocket in that amount of time! The rest of the time I was distracted talking about the messy desk from last week, and my time with the kindergarteners last week, and my love of Pushing Daisies and the disappointment that it's being preempted AGAIN this week! (I found a kindred spirit sitting right next to me who also said it was her favorite show.) But I digress.

After inhaling lunch and trying to carry my Pepsi inconspicuously down the hall, I went to pick up my class from recess. Upon seeing me a bunch of the kids at the front of the line exclaimed, "Miss Barnes!" and "She's the best substitute ever!" (That's right, and don't you forget it!) If only I could get these kids to write me letters telling how awesome I am and then I could submit a giant packet to all interviewers and maybe somebody would hire me!

Later in the day I was talking with a boy from the class and he expressed his disbelief that I did not remember his name! After all, I had been in his classroom "like a ton of times!" last year. So then I said, "Ok, let me explain this. Let's say I go to 5 different schools in week, 5 different classrooms, and let's say each class had 20 kids in it (even though they always have more), that makes 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 kids a week! And then lets say I sub every day for a month. That's about 4 weeks, so thats 100, 200, 300, 400 kids in one month! 400 names!! So how can you expect me to remember them all?!" I laughed. He smiled, but then said, "Yeah, but you came to my class a WHOLE BUNCH!!" Sigh. You cannot win. So I said I was sorry I couldn't remember his name and that was the end of that.

After the kids went home I returned to the room and wrote my note to the teacher and cleaned up a little. Then I spent a little time writing in my sub journal which I'm still keeping this year. This blog is the place for my humorous, or interesting, or painful stories of the day. In the journal I write about specific management styles, classroom set-up, rewards, schedules, etc. that I either love or hate from the day. I kept one last year, and it's really nice to be able to look back and remember some of the things I learned. While I was doing this, another substitute came into the room. She had been a regular classroom teacher last year but had decided to quit and substitute this year. She wanted to ask me about how I dealt with difficult (or loud) classes, ornery students and the like while substituting. I tried to answer her as honestly as possible even when some of my answers included "I ignore it". Because honestly, some things you just have to let go when you're only with the kids for one day. It was interesting that she sought me out to ask me these things when she's had her own class before. It just goes to show that subbing IS different from having your own class in that it's often HARDER! Yes, we don't have to deal with the meetings and conferences and lesson planning. But we do have to be ready to jump up and change course at the drop of a hat, to take charge of a new group of kids, and to work with countless more assistants and teachers and staff everyday. I feel like a lot of times even people who work in the schools don't REALLY understand how demanding my job is, so it's nice when you see that others understand. And also nice to be seen as someone to ask advice from!

A Nice Calm End to the Week

Only November and I've already made a repeat visit to one of the classes I went to earlier in the year! The one from this blog.

The day went smoothly, and the kids were cute. A few of them even remembered my name! There was really nothing that out of the ordinary to write about. Ummm... there was a new student today. The office told her family that there would be a substitute today, but apparently they didn't care and the girl really wanted to come today. She seemed totally comfortable and chatty and just jumped right in a played with everybody. So that was good.

I really can't think of anything else to say about my day! So sorry to my loyal readers: this one's just boring!

Hurricane Second Grade

Whew! I am very glad to be home this evening. I subbed today in a school I had not been to before, in a second grade class.

First thing I saw upon entering the room was that it was a bit of a mess. Well....mess is an understatement. There were great piles of teacher edition textbooks, papers, notes, books, etc. on the teacher's desk, one of which was topped by a giant box filled with yet more books. I happened to brush against it once and sent the whole thing tumbling down! There were also papers littered all over the floor in the teacher's corner. Just a carpet of papers. Not kidding. Also, there was a nice closet over in this area that had a bunch of shelves in it, but none of the shelves had anything on them. All the stuff was on the floor, and a big file cabinet was smack dab in the middle of the doorway with yet more boxes and papers piled on it. Now, I'm not a complete neat-freak, but I do have lots of obsessive-compulsive tendencies and I'm usually organized with most things - and when I am organized I'm pretty picky about it. So this just about sent my brain into orbit so early in the morning! I had to fight all my instincts to clean up and straighten and organize the room just so I could read the lesson plans! Ah!! It still send shivers down my spine! Must! Clean! Mess! haha

Well then the kids got there and they weren't too happy to see me. Apparently they've had a lot of substitutes lately, and they were pretty weary of it. The did a pretty good job in the morning. There was an assitant who came and took about 2/5ths of the class for reading which was nice. They also had recess and then a Spanish lesson which was taught by another teacher - I just had to come and watch. However, after lunch things went downhill. (I blame it on the cupcakes one of the girls brought for her birthday!) There were about 5 boys who just could NOT sit still! They were out of their seats getting pencils, going to the bathroom, getting drinks, or just plan goofing around. The teacher lets the students take the bathroom or drink pass and go without asking as long as it's not during instruction time. I've been to a few classes like this, and sometimes it's just fine, but today it really annoyed me. The kids were abusing the privilege and it was just a CONSTANT stream of them coming and going. I eventually took away the drink pass and told them no more drinks. But back to my little challenging boys. Whenever I tried to have the class sit at the carpet for more than 5 minutes to give instructions, these boys were lying down, rolling around, sitting under tables, playing with stuff on the shelves, talking, bugging other kids, picking at each other, etc. It was driving me CRAZY! I had to stop so many times to tell them to sit up, stop talking and pay attention I felt like a broken record. Needless to say I was very tired by the end of the day. And I vowed to myself never to let my future students dismiss themselves to go to the bathroom - if only to save a substitute some grief.

The Metaphorical Red Carpet

Today I returned to my favorite school to sub in a kindergarten class. I'd subbed in this teacher's room last year, so I was familiar with the routine as well as the assistant (who is one of the best assistants out there - she just has the sense to know when to jump in and when to just let me deal with things. She's super helpful, and easy to talk to, and really good with the kids. So it's nice to sub when you know you'll have good help.) Anyways, the day was pretty easy: song, calendar, story, "jobs" or "groups" as I called them in error, recess, movie and snack and then home! Then: repeat! We watched a movie today because it was the kids' last day in that classroom. Their regular classroom had a leaky pipe which caused a whole bunch of mold, and they had to move out for a couple weeks while the problem was fixed. Today they finished the repairs so they can return to their regular classroom tomorrow. The movie was a sort of celebration (plus movies are easy for subs to manage which I'm sure influenced the teacher's decision to plan one!)

Once again I felt like a celebrity at this school. EVERY time I went outside or walked down the hall and passed other classes, I saw little faces light up with recognition and start waving frantically or yelling out my name! Once, as I was coming back inside with my class, I passed a class going out to recess. LOTS of the kids were waving at me as we passed each other. Then, the little boy at the end of this line saw me and started yelling "Hi! Hi!" out to me. A few moments later he remembered my name and started yelling that behind me and waving. I waved back. Then, as I'm turning the corner I hear him out on the playground yelling, "HEY!! Hey you guys!! I found Miss Barnes!! I found Miss Barnes!!!" It was all I could do to keep from cracking up. Kids are so funny. Kinda cool to still be remembered after the long summer!

Oh, and this message is to Jan: I hear you are lurking! I'm glad you're reading - you should comment sometime! (You don't even have to sign up to do it!) :)

Election Lessons and Wet Rears

Today I subbed in a new school (for me) in south Salem (the last school in south Salem that I haven't been to yet!) I was in a 2nd grade class in the morning and a 5th grade class in the afternoon while the teachers were going to meetings. There were 5 other subs in the building that were doing similar schedules. I met both teachers I was covering for in the morning. The first showed me her plans, the second told me where I would find hers when I came over - she also told me she had a rowdy bunch. Funny- I year or so ago this knowledge would have filled me with dread for the afternoon. Now, I don't really react to it at all! I have been to *heck* and back while substituting! No rowdy class can defeat me now!! ha HA!

Anyways, the 2nd grade class had a student teacher, so I didn't have to do much. I cut some paper rectangles for the teacher and I read with a group of students. Other than that I just kinda buzzed around and helped when I could. The kids had a chance in the morning to share about what they did for Halloween. One kid told me at least 3 times that he went to the haunted house at the "death school" (he meant deaf school) and apparently, people chased you around with "real chainsaws" and the "only way to get them to stop was to wave at them or high-five them." Sounds creepy to me, but whatever. Another boy got up and told the class with big arm motions that he went trick-or-treating and got "TONS OF LOOT!" The rest told me how they got 3, 7, 15, 24, etc. bags of candy. I find this hard to believe.

The 5th graders were a little more work for me. There were 26 of them, and they were a loud group. We also had a couple of very active projects for them to do later in the afternoon, so this only added to the noise level. But I managed (somehow - I'm starting to get good at it I think), to make them realize that I'm in charge, but also, cool enough so that they don't mind that I'm in charge. If that makes sense. So after I'd been with them about 15 minutes they were working and not giving me attitude anymore. The rest of the day was loud because of group projects they were working on...but we managed to keep it just under the "chaos level." haha The kids were pretty funny too. Right off the bat they wanted to know who I was voting for (election day was one of the topics of the day, as you can imagine). I told them that I wasn't going to tell them then because they were supposed to be working, but I might tell them at the end of the day. They were of varied opinions in the class. One girl was talking about how McCain was awesome, and that her mom and dad and grandma, etc, etc. had voted for him. Another boy walked about the room chanting "O-bama! O-bama!" The end of the day comes and they all leave. I've forgotten. They've forgotten. But about 30 seconds after they leave, 2 girls come tearing back into the room and are just frantic that I didn't tell them who I'd voted for. So I told them. :) One was pleased, one was not. Oh, I must mention why I've titled this blog "wet rears" in part - we went out for a short recess near the end of the day and everything was wet, but a few students chose to go down the slide anyway...so they got very "wet rears". I started to say something about their "wet rears" and found it is a difficult phrase to say! Seriously, try it. So my voice is a little sore tonight, but even so it was an enjoyable day!