My Little Reindeer

Three days in bilingual kindergarten with a substitute assistant who is new to subbing the last days before Christmas break: DONE!

The kids were pretty good today and the time went by smoothly. My favorite part was making reindeer antlers with them. They cut out the antler shapes and then we stapled them onto a headband for them. Then, if the kids wanted, we painted their noses red! They particularly enjoyed when I demonstrated this. There is not much funnier to a kindergartener than watching their teacher paint her nose. Although I must say, they looked much cuter romping around in their antlers that I ever had hope of! Perhaps antlers and a red nose is just not a look suited to 25-year-olds. :)

Oh My Gosh, Really?!

The Saga continues....

This afternoon, while subbing in the same kindergarten class as yesterday, I was asked an all-too familiar question. I was sitting next to one of the squirrely boys trying to help him along with his work when he looked up, studied my face for a while, pointed to my mouth and said, "What happened?" I told him nothing, that's just how my lip was. He then asked, "Is mine like that?" and started feeling his bottom lip. I told him, "Nope, yours is just straight, but mine has a bump." He was satisfied and I was left shaking my head at the fact that this is the FOURTH time a kid has asked me about my lip in 2.5 years! Crazy.

That's about all that's blog worthy. I'm anxious for Friday, one more day with these kiddos and then a break! :)

Tiny Dancer

Today I went to a new classroom. I thought it was going to be a kindergarten-1st grade blend (because that's what the automated voice said when I got called for the job), but when I got there I learned it was actually just a kindergarten.

It's bilingual, so since the IA spoke Spanish, she was just going to run the day. However, she had virtually no voice so had to leave after the morning class. We got a new IA, but since I now knew more about the schedule and such I actually had to be in charge! The new IA told me had never subbed before today, so he was also unsure of what he could do at a few points. Once he asked me if it was ok to tie a kids shoe for them. However, I suppose it's better to be overly cautious then the opposite!

Funniest moment of the day: in the PM class, we were having inside recess. One of the more energetic boys was all over the room doing every activity he could possibly fit into the time. After he'd exhausted his options I'd noticed he started break-dancing on the tiled floor in the back of the room. Oh my gosh, he was spinning around on his back and flipping around, feet flailing in the air (actually, he was not half-bad at it). So after about 1 second of thought I decided to just let him do it! No one was near him, and he wasn't in danger of crashing into the wall or furniture, and frankly, I was happy to see him work off some of his energy. :)

Making Pins

Today I was back at the same class as yesterday. (And let me tell you, it was nice to know about my interesting student ahead of time!)

Anyways, the day was pretty much the same as yesterday: writing, reading, health, etc. During the times when the kids weren't in the room, I was working on a project for the other teacher - making glazed ceramic hearts into pins by hot-gluing the fasteners on the back. Then, the OPE student (girl from some college doing one of her classroom observations in the years before student teaching) and I put the pins onto thank you cards in the shape of Christmas trees. I'd dicut them earlier in the day and the OPE student wrote "Thank You" on all 50 of them!

And that is about all that's of interest for this blog!

A Little Info Is Nice

I got to go to one of my favorite schools today for a second grade class. The kids were mostly good, and the day was pretty simple. The class switches rooms with another second grade halfway through the day, so I actually had two classes.

The one slight blip in the day was a particular student who was pretty rude to me. Even after a lovely speech I gave on politeness and respect, the student was still acting rudely. I was pretty frustrated. Shortly after this though, while at recess, I learned a bit more about the student's background and the reasons for this behavior. And also, that this was something they were working on. Wow, would it have been helpful to know this from the start! It did make the latter part of the morning go a little bit better though.

Santa's Spy

I subbed for the afternoon today. When I arrived the teacher gave me the plans for the day. She also told me that she'd told the students to be good, or the sub would write her a note and she'd forward it to Santa. So don't be on the subs naughty list or you'll be on Santa's naughty list too! The kids wanted to inform me of this right away too (well, the good ones at least.) However, I didn't really learn any of their names (I only had them for about an hour and a half), so there wasn't a naughty list. They weren't all angels, but I supposed no behavior was coal-worthy.

At the end of the day I had to do bus duty in the gym, supervising loads of kids who were waiting for the bus. This is a loud job. Especially when about 10 or so kids have whipped out their recorders and are practicing "Hot Cross Buns" and "Jingle Bells" at varying times, tempos, and skill-levels. Yikes! Throw in a lone clarinet and violin and you've got a symphony to dull your senses. I was thankful when the last bus arrived!

Fire Drills

Interesting day today.

One of the first things the teachers at the building told me today was, "Keep your coat handy." Apparently the school has been having freak "fire drills" all week. The alarm just goes off unexpectedly and since it's not planned, the fire department has to come and walk through the building. Today it went off at 8:30 - right before I'd taken attendance! So I had to count kids and just hope I had them all.

Other interesting thing was at the end of the day. A kid's dad came to pick him up about 10 minutes before the bell rang and when I asked if he'd already checked him out he said no. I told him he had to check him out at the office if he was taking him early. He acted like he thought this was a strange request and informed me, "I'm his dad." I told him that I couldn't let a kid leave unless they'd been checked out. He reluctantly went. I just kept thinking how opposite his reaction would be if I HAD let his kid leave when someone he WASN'T supposed to go with!

Quack, Quack, Quack

Today, I helped kids make paper "gingerbread" people.

Oh, and I read a book with three boys and helped them do a worksheet.

And I listened to a girl read my about 5 books in a row. She was very eager.

I also used the pointer to point to words on a chart while we sang a song.

And....that's really about it.

I had a student teacher! She did everything. I'm just there to make it legal and get paid for nothing. It's an awesome thing. :)

Also, today was the Civil War football game between the Ducks and the Beavers. And if you can't decide if you're a Duck or a Beaver, you can just be a Platypus - so I'm told. :)

Much of the students and teachers were decked out in their green and yellow or black and orange today. Some were considerable brighter than others! The kindergarten teacher apparently is a big Duck fan, because on the way out of the school at the end of the day she had her whole line of little guys quacking away! Unfortunately, Beavers do not much such great sound effects.

We Need More Skinny Rhombuses!

I worked for the afternoon today at the same school as the last two days, but in a different classroom. I haven't subbed in this room yet, but I already knew some of the kids from the literacy rotations.

It was a pretty simple day. When I got there they were just going to recess. I picked them up a half-hour later and took them to get lunch. They had lunch in the room and I walked around talking to them. After I took them up to dump their trays we went right to music, and from there they went to PE. So I had an hour free to get ready for the next activity. When we came back to the room I showed them how to do an art project and set them loose. They were gluing "pattern block" pieces onto Christmas themed pictures. All the tables kept running out of the "skinny rhombus" shape, so I spent a lot of the time going around and fishing more out of the big bag of shapes and giving them to tables. They did pretty well, but were really noisy, and a few of the kiddos were not very nice to the kids next to them. Thankfully, by the time I was starting to get annoyed it was time to go home! :)

Vampire Bats and Birthdays

I was back in the same room today as I was in yesterday. The day went really well because the biggest trouble-maker of the class was absent today!

A few stories for today:

This morning I was treated to a conversation among the students about whether bats, vampire bats and/or vampires were real. Some were genuinely shocked when I told them that yes, vampire bats are real and that they like to drink blood mostly from animals. This then prompted one boy to begin a lengthy explanation that yes, I was right (thank you, child!) and that they liked to bite ears but vampires bite your neck even though they're not real, but if they were real that's where they bite you because that's where they bit people in the movies and turn them into vampires, but vampire bats can't turn into vampires 'cause that's not real either. :)

After this discussion, I took attendance. That was when we learned the naughty child was absent. This prompted many students' head to snap up to confirm what they heard was true. Then I heard a smattering of little voices exclaiming "Yes!" over the fact that this student was actually not there. Tells you something about him that even the kids are relieved to have a break!

And one more tiny tale for the blog before I sign off: when I was in one of the neighboring classrooms during the day I noticed the class' birthday chart (that lists every kid's birthday by what month it's in and what day). I noticed that one of the girls had the same birthday as me. I've subbed for this class, and knew the girl from then and she's one of the sweetest things ever! When I went to pick up my class from recess I saw her in her class' line, so I went over and told her I just found out my birthday was on the same day as hers! Her eyes got really big and she got this giant smile on her face and she just giggled like she thought it was the most amazing thing ever. I saw her a few other times that day and every time she grinned hugely at me like we shared some big special secret. :) Oh my gosh, she's so cute. I want a whole classroom full of her!

Miss Barnes, Is Santa Real?

Happily (for me) I got a job for the first day back after Thanksgiving - and I got it on Sunday night! It was a return trip to my to my frequented school of the year, in one of the classrooms I know well. The kids were pretty good. They were surprised not to see their teacher, but they always seem happy to see me.

When we were walking back from the cafeteria after dumping lunch trays I overhead a few kids discussing whether or not Santa was real. A few were just adamant that he WAS real and were telling everyone who would listen that is was so. A few others were just as convinced that he was NOT real, and we shaking their heads in a "we know so much more than you" manner. The believers then retorted with, "Well, if he's not real than where do all the presents come from?!" To which the non-believers replied, "DUH! Your mom and dad!!" Then, oh dang it then, they turned to me and asked "Miss Barnes, is Santa real?" To which I gave the very real and not at all a cop-out answer of "I don't know... maybe!" (but I said it all mysterious-like). Then we walked past the principal and they asked her. (She said, "Yes of course he is!") The believers were happy and the non-believers were still shaking their heads and arguing about it. I eventually said to them, "Hey, ya know, it doesn't hurt anybody if they believe in Santa and you don't. It's not a big deal. Just let them believe it and leave them alone." I wish parents who told their kids there is no Santa would also tell them to keep it to themselves!

Miss Girl

Today I subbed in a fifth grade class for the first time this year. It was a good day - the kids were pretty good and we had some fun.

It was not without adventures though!

First off, there was a new student in class. He was legally blind and the teacher hadn't yet received any special large texts or magnifying glasses for him yet. The LRC teacher photocopied (enlarged) a few things for me in the morning and we kind of just had to make due for the rest of the day. He was a nice kid though, and wasn't afraid to tell me when he needed help. Once I wrote something down that was on the overhead larger for him to copy. A few times I had to read the questions in a book or on a worksheet for him. It really didn't end up being that big of a deal.

Secondly, we had a surprise fire drill! I couldn't find the fire drill class list when the alarm went off, so I was just thinking I'd have to count the kids. However, once we got out there I saw no one else had theirs either and some adult was bringing the attendance folders around to all the classes. It was cold and windy but at least it wasn't raining! And I didn't lose anyone. That's always good.

I guess the funniest moment though was during the literacy block. They switch classes for this time so I had some kids in my room that I'd not met yet. I'd introduced myself when they came in, but later in the class one kid needed to ask me a question but couldn't remember my name. He started out saying, "Excuse me, Miss...." but then couldn't remember, so he just finished with "....girl." It sounded so funny to me that I just laughed and said, "Miss Girl?!" The rest of the class of course was very quick to inform him that my name was Miss Barnes, as students will invariably do when someone makes a mistake. We had a good laugh though...and I suppose it's better to be "Miss Girl" than "Miss Old Lady!" :)

Mini Teacher

Today was a mostly okay day. The kids nice (and had incredible memories! I'd subbed in kindergarten ONE time last year and a bunch of them from that class remembered me and my name!), but were terrible at interrupting me. I gave the "raise your hand", "don't yell at me, I don't yell at you", and "sometimes things are different and that's ok" speeches frequently today. They did get a little better, but for one day with a class it's basically a keep-your-head-above-water battle with behaviors.

One girl in particular I'm pretty sure had decided in her mind that she was going to be in charge. She was frequently coming up to me and telling me what we needed to do and when (despite the fact that I assured them I knew all of their schedule for the day.) She also felt the need to tell her classmates what to do. This did not go over well. "Stop telling people what to do!!" was a common response to her. I said it myself a few times. As well as the ever popular, "Don't worry about him/her. You worry about you, I'll worry about everybody else."

Would You Just Shut...

Oh, how I had to hold the end of that phrase in today! The class I was subbing for was REALLY chatty. The would not stop talking for anything. They also were terrible listeners! I would explain something, and then 2 minutes later some kids would be asking how to do it. It was very frustrating. It just drives me crazy when kids ignore you when you're talking to them!

So it wasn't the most terrible day ever, but it wasn't very enjoyable. I'm kind of hoping I don't get called for that class again.

Sweet Pea?

Another easy day today!

I had 17 second graders and I pretty much taught nothing. First thing in the morning they had an assembly. After that they did their spelling test. I guess I did read that out loud and wrote the correct sentences on the overhead. After that they had library and then silent reading. I listened to a few kids read. Last for me, they had lunch. While they were still eating their teacher arrived.

On my way out the door lots of kids were saying goodbye to me. As I walked past one student I said, "Bye!". He then looked up and said, "See ya sweet pea!" Yeah, I told him that wasn't really appropriate and got out of there! He was an interesting kid. Seemed like he's been watching too much America's Next Top Model and was emulating Miss Jay all day long. Kinda freaky.

Staple, Cut, Repeat

Most of my day today was actually spent cutting and stapling as opposed to teaching. I was in a kindergarten class, and the aide did all of the teaching in the morning. I spent the time stapling turkey puppets together, cutting out hand shapes, sorting through papers and putting books back together.

In the afternoon I guided the class through the process of making their turkey puppets. (I also, for some unknown reason kept calling it a penguin when I was giving instructions! The kids thought this was very funny and would point it out to me every time!) I also read a story. Pretty much that was it! It was a pretty easy day and the kids were cute. The aide seemed to think they were a little loud, but I guess I'm just used to it.

No Costumes!

I was hoping that I'd get to wear my Halloween costume at school today, but alas, the school I was at was not doing Halloween parties or a "book character day" - which is more common.

The day was pretty good. A lot more chaotic at the end of the day, but it wasn't too bad considering they had a cookie party a half hour before going home and it was the day before Halloween. I didn't have the greatest plans to go off since the teacher I was in for was not expecting to be gone and unable to write plans up, but I made due. The other teachers were very helpful as well. The kids were happy because I let them draw for a bit, and I let them sit wherever they wanted for silent reading, and for free write. And we also played Mad Libs which pretty much guaranteed they will think of me fondly for the rest of time. :)

Familiar Room, New Class

Today I worked a half day for a teacher I subbed for a lot last year. It was weird being in the room again with a totally different set of kids whose names I didn't know yet! Thankfully, they were a nice class, and my morning was pretty easy.

I also saw quite a few of the kids of last year's class in the hallways and they all smiled and waved at me, some even gasping in excitement, "Hi Miss Barnes!!" So that was fun. Hopefully, I'll be going back there some more in the future.

I Convinced Them

Got a job last night before I went to bed at one of the schools I haven't been to yet!

It was a fourth grade and I really liked them! They were really quick to listen, hard workers, and just plain funny.

I think they were unsure of me when they first got there - I overheard one girl whispering to her friend something like she was apprehensive about the new sub. Then I heard the other girl reply, "She looks nice though."

By the end of the day I had them all convinced. I made jokes, let them draw or such when they finished their work, and played Mad Libs with them at the end of the day because we had extra time (like I said, they were hard workers). On their way out the door they were "aw"ing with disappointment that I wouldn't be there tomorrow. :)

Revolving Door

I really don't have any great stories for today. The day was pretty uneventful. Except it seemed like the kids needed to go to the bathroom every 30 seconds! Even after a whole-class bathroom break, I had kids coming up to me and asking to go again and insisting it was an emergency!

What can you do? I just sent them one at a time. It was annoying, but I decided it would be more annoying if someone wet their pants.

On the plus side, I discovered another good book to read aloud to a class today. It's one I've had for a long time, but I've just never read it to a class before. It's called "The Runaway Pancake" and it's a lot like The Gingerbread Man story. Today I finally read it, and they really liked it. It has a lot of repeating phrases, so the kids enjoyed reading those parts with me.

Storytime

It's Sunday afternoon now, but I'm going to date this as Friday. I DID work on Friday - I've just forgotten to write about it!

After my day with the pouting master, I was hoping for a slightly less-demanding group for the last day of the week. Little did I know that I would not only have that, but also a student teacher who did pretty much everything! Here is a summary of lovely day:

The kids came in and did puzzles in the morning. (Apparently Friday is "puzzle day".) I helped a variety of student with their puzzles.

After puzzles the class did calendar activities. The student teacher led this activity.

Then it was time for the class to read together from their poetry books. The student teacher led, I sat next to kids and read poems.

Next came reading groups. The ST dismissed kids to groups and led the groups. I went around the room and sat down with various students and had them read to me.

They had lunch. The ST walked them to lunch. I pushed play on the VCR - Friday was also video day. You can see how much I've been exerting myself today.

In the afternoon I read a story! Then, after the story there was an activity in the lesson plans that didn't say "the student teacher with do this" next to it, so I thought I would actually have to work today. But when I'd finished my story the ST came up to me with the stack of papers and acted like she wanted to take over. So I asked her if she wanted to do it, and she said, "Yeah!" So I sat in the back and listened.

After this we had a birthday party for a student. Again, the ST took charge of this.

I did however, make myself useful near the end of the day. When the class was in PE an adult brought in a small stack of papers that needed to go home with the kids whose names were on them. I passed out the papers but found one that wasn't from our class. I took it back to the office, found out where it was supposed to go and then took it to that classroom.

And yes, that is all I did. Deliver a note, read a book, and listen to kids read. Pretty nice way to end the week!

Pouting Master

I met her today. And the performance was quite spectacular!

But let's back up a bit to the beginning of my day. I was sitting around being lazy this morning because I couldn't quite get the energy to actually get ready when I didn't know if I was going anywhere. Unfortunately, this usually backfires on me. You'd think I'd learn, but no, I don't. So I got a call at around 8:15. The job started at 8:15. It's in Keizer and I'm in my pajamas. So I got dressed faster than a superhero and ran out the door. Made it to the school around 8:50. The kids are already there and the principal is leading a reading group while the other kids are reading by themselves or with another group led by an assistant/parent volunteer. The principal was very nice to give me a few minutes to get settled and look over the plans for the day. After that I took over the group.

Shortly into the day I learned that this was a very immature group of 1st and 2nd graders. There was a lots of tattling, whining, pouting, name-calling, and just general belly-aching among them. I found myself often lecturing them on not "acting like babies". It was about 30 minutes into my time with them that the Queen Pouter made her appearance. And that is our story for tonight:

This little girl came up to me with a book during their silent reading time and asked me if she could read it. I said sure. (I mean, it's a book, what do I care?) But another girl in the room who decided she needed to police everyone turned around, outraged, and exclaimed to me that the first girl could NOT read that book because it was a yellow dot, and that girl can only read the red dot books because the yellow dot is too hard and she can't read them, she needs the easy books. The first girl protested, and the second girl argued back with her. I basically had to yell at them to get their attention again. I clarified that I knew what their problem was and then told the second girl I didn't really care about the dots today and that the first girl could read it if she wanted. (This was an unpopular judgement for girl 2 who was pretty sure I'd just destroyed the world by not following the system.) However, the first girl was so mad at the butting-in girl that she was pouting. I mean, full arms-crossed, bottom lip-out pouting. I tried to give her the book, but she just scowled. So I said, "Ok, nevermind then" and threw the book on my desk. This activated the "turbo pout" and my little pouter ran over to the corner of the room, knelt down, then bent over herself, started rocking and sobbing and huffing about. It was ridiculous. I just left her there. Then, upon noticing my lack of attention, she got up and walked over the the door near the desk where I was sitting. She crossed her arms again, (bottom lip out) and faced the door. I still ignored her. She started softly banging her head on the door. I ignored her. She kept banging her head and started huffing/growling again. At this point I told her, "If you'd like to come talk to me like a big kid and not a baby about your problem, I'll be happy to listen to you anytime." She begrudgingly came over and told me that she COULD read that book, and that the red books were too easy for her. So I pulled it off the desk and told her I was going to give it to her earlier but she was too busy pouting. I then opened and asked her to read a page to me. And yes, she COULD read it! In fact, she read it very well. There were some hard words in it and she sounded them out perfectly. I told her she needed to talk to her teacher about the red books being too easy. I gave her the book and told her that if anyone tried to tell her she couldn't be reading that book to tell them to ask me, and not to argue with them herself. She went off to read and that was the last of the pouting for the day! Yay!

Not to say that the tattling, whining, name-calling or belly-ached stopped, but hey - one problem at a time! We still had lots of that, but they got better as the day went on. It was busy, and tiring, but not as terrible as I feared after that first hour or so.

Lacking in Details

Today was equal parts nice and frustrating.

Nice: The kids were pretty well behaved. They were sweet, and fun to chat with, and generally did a good job. We had fun.

Frustrating: The teacher's lesson plan was very sketchy. There were no details whatsoever for all but one activity of the day. The entire literacy block (1.5 hours) was planned in Spanish with no alternative for a non-Spanish speaking sub. The activities that were planned were slotted to take twice as much time as they actually did. So I had a lot of time to fill. The materials I needed for the planned activities were not set out, nor were there instructions on where to find them.

The day went smoothly enough, but I felt very flustered trying to constantly fill time and figure out where stuff was. It annoyed me that the teacher hadn't bothered to put a little more effort into his/her sub plans.

Cough Be Gone!

Back to work today!

Yesterday I took the day off so I could get over my annoying cold that stole my weekend. Yes stole. I did nothing but sit around watching TV and coughing and sniffling for two days. Even missed church I felt so yucky. Monday I was a little better, but I decided to just be safe and wait one more day. Today I went back on the list.

Nice for me, I got called to a class I've done once already this year, for a teacher I know well. The day went pretty well, the morning was pretty busy and I managed to make it through without having a coughing fit. After lunch was easy! After lunch I read them a book, then they wrote in journals and then they packed up! I took them to PE and I was done! After they had PE, they walked next door to music, and the music teacher dismissed them at the end of the day.

I'm feeling much better tonight, although I'm still hoping for easy days the rest of the week!

Feverish Day

So today I got called at about 5:30 am. Yesterday, I had started to feel a little sick, but the job was for the same class as yesterday, and since they were pretty good, I decided I could make it.

That might have been a mistake.

So I got to school, and instead of feeling better after taking some cold medicine, I just kept feeling worse. My nose was runny, I kept sneezing and coughing, and I started feeling really hot. The kids were kinda hyper today, and it was all I could do to stay alert enough to teach. Thankfully, I didn't have to do anything the last hour of the day. They had music, then when they came back they had their "Friday Fun" time which was basically game time. Normally I would go around and play with the kids, but I just sat down at the desk and watched. It was such a relief to walk them to the front door and be done!

Thankfully, I now have the weekend to feel better. Unfortunately, that means I can't do anything fun this weekend! I'm tired of these colds!

I Just Need to Make a Call

Was starting to think I was going to have the day off today when I got called at around 8. The start time was 8:30 and it takes me about 30 minutes to get to the school! So I got ready fast. Thankfully, I got lucky with the lights and made it there early!

The class was 2nd grade, and they were SOOOO much better than yesterday. Very busy, but sweet.

About a hour into the day one girl comes up to me and asks if she can make a call. I ask her why and she says she need to call her dad. I ask her why again and she says something about needing to tell him when she goes to recess. Again, I ask, why? She explains that if he calls when they're at recess then she won't be here and he might be worried. I told her that if her dad needed to talk to her, the office would take a message. She said he might be worried because he wouldn't know where she was. I assured her that the office would tell him, and he'd know she was at school, so she was fine. This did not satisfy her, I could tell, but she also realized that I was not going to change my mind, so she let it go.

I was afraid she was going to be mad at me the rest of the day and be a little stinker, but she wasn't. In fact, at the end of the day she asked me if I'd be here tomorrow and when I told her no, she said, "Awww....I wish you were! I wanted to spend some more time with you!" Kids are funny. :)

The Streak Is Over!

The last few weeks of substituting have been very pleasant. I've had lots of sweet, quiet, cooperative classes. Just yesterday I remarked that I was pushing my luck, and that the first bad day was just looming over my head.

If I'd known I was a prophet I would have kept my mouth shut!

Today was not a good day. I've had worse, but it certainly was not nice, easy or enjoyable. The kids were loud. They did not follow directions unless threatened (basically, "do this now, or go to the office" or, "do this now or owe recess"). They did not stop talking for pretty much anything. They did not sit still. They did not do their work correctly (because they also did not listen to directions!)

It was frustrating!

At one point in the day a boy came up to me because he'd actually finished his project. He asked what to do next and I told him to read a book (what all that were finished were already (supposed to be) doing). This is the rest of our conversation:

"I don't waaaaant to!"

"I didn't ask you if you wanted to. Please find a book."

"Teacher, I really don't want to. It's boring!"

"I understand."

"I don't like reading!"

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"I'm not going to!"

"The direction was to find a book. You may choose to follow the direction, or you may choose to go to the office and explain to the principal why you did not want to follow directions."

"Urgh! Are you gonna be here tomorrow?"

"No, I'm not"

"Good. That's gonna be a lot better!"

"Yes, I'm sure it is. Have you decided if you are going to follow directions?"

"(grumbling) Fine, I'll read!"

And pretty much that's a snapshot of my day. This was not the only time I had this conversation. I was very happy to say goodbye to the little stinkers! Here's hoping for a better day next time!

Singing All Day Long

The class I subbed for today had a lot of songs! They had a good morning song, a give-me-your-attention song, a clean up song, a star student song, a days of the week song, a flag salute song, a be kind song, a counting song, a line up song, a sharing song, and even then I'm sure I've forgotten some.

Out of all this songs I think I knew 2 - the clean up song and the.....no, actually maybe that was it. Even the days of the week song was one I didn't know - and I know bunches of them!

Unfortunately, while the kids sort of knew the songs, they didn't have the memorized yet, and since I didn't have the words, we sang through quite a few in a very tone-deaf manner! Ha ha. I really hope no one was listening! Some we started to sing, but then all the kids just faded away because they couldn't remember the rest. It was amusing at least. I learned not to be surprised when they would randomly start singing a song whenever we switched to a new activity.

Other than that, the day was pretty typical. It went smoothly, and was usually pretty calm because I only had 15 students! Now that's a nice way to earn some money!

Calle Ocho

Today was one of those nice bilingual days.

I subbed for a bilingual first grade today in one of the few schools I haven't been to yet. The kids were really sweet, and most spoke English really well, which was big help to me. Also, I knew enough Spanish that I could read directions to them and help them with a few projects they did in Spanish. All in all it worked out pretty well. No big communication problems, and the kids were fun. We had a good time reading book, singing silly songs, and doing math centers.

Humorous moment of them day: upon returning from the bathroom I overheard one little boy singing to himself one phrase from a song called "Calle Ocho" - "you know you want me, you know you want me". It was just funny. :)

I'd Like To See You Try It

Well, I have to say Friday was one of the more interesting days I've had in a long time. Unfortunately, it was not interesting in the fun way, but rather the I-want-to-tear-my-hair-out way.

All week I've know that the school was having their jogathon on Friday. Basically, all the kids collect pledges and then at a point during the day their class goes out to the track and runs/jogs/walks laps to raise money. The money goes to buy new equipment or supplies for the school. The teacher I was subbing for wrote me a brief note about this, which I did not read carefully enough to realize that it actually didn't say what it seemed like it was saying. You see, I thought my class was supposed to go during their PE time at 2:30. I had planned for this all week, even mentioned it to other teachers and they nor I never realize that I was in fact mistaken - my class was scheduled to go at 1:30. So I'm going obliviously along with my day, when at around 1:33 the office calls and says they are waiting for us for the jogathon. So I had to pass out their lap recording card/bracelets as fast as humanly possible, and get them up to the track - which is the farthest away thing from our room and still on school grounds. So we race up there and arrive around 1:38 or something. One of the parent volunteers I met that morning was really sweet and actually apologized to me for not coming down to make sure we knew the time. I told her I felt bad we were late, and she and the PE teacher (who was running the show) both told me it was not a big deal, that they only missed maybe 5 minutes.

When the kids' time is up, they get to go over to the covered area and get a water bottle and ice cream bar. I'm walking along with them, collecting bracelets and showing them where to go. At this point a woman comes up to me and introduces herself to me as the mother of one of the children in my class. She then says, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm very disappointed in you. And I hope you do a better job in the future." She's even smiling at me like she's giving me some great helpful piece of advise. I almost laughed because I thought she was teasing me. Then I realized that no, she was completely serious and completely MAD at me. I was so shocked I think I said "What?" or something and then she reiterated the same statements adding things like, "This was really important to the students and because of you they've missed out. You were incredibly late and I just really hope you work harder to do a better job next time." I couldn't believe it! And again, she saying this in such a condescending tone like she's the Pope and I'm the spider crawling on her robes. And the whole time she's looking at me like she expects me to get on my knees and grovel. I tell you, it took every shred of self-control that I have to respond to her politely.

I told her that I was sorry that she was upset, and that I apologized for being late, that it was a miscommunication and I didn't realize I had the wrong time. I then stated that there was nothing I can do about it now, and that the PEOPLE IN CHARGE said that it wasn't going to make that much of a difference.

This was not an acceptable answers to her.

She then said that yes, in fact it was a big deal, and that I just need to do a better job in the future. (She liked that phrase). I told apologized again and reminded her that I was the substitute, I'd only been here for a week, today was my last day, sometimes things like this just happen, and I'm doing the best that I can and then I pretty much walked away.

Oh, I was so mad. I had a fake smile plastered on my face the whole rest of the time out there to avoid scowling.

I still can't believe that people think it's okay to talk to other people like that. I almost wish she would read this blog and realize that my job is a heck of a lot harder than a lot of people's. Every day I walk into the unknown. A new school, and new group of kids, new assistants, new administrators, you name it. Some days you find that the plans left for you are insufficient or non-existent. Often, you deal with children that receive no love, or discipline, or structure, or guidance, or accountability at home. It is my constant challenge to gain respect, cooperation, and understanding from children, and to teach them how to give and receive the same from their peers. I have to be ready to teach anything at a moment's notice. I have to accept that often I will be asked to teach the more "boring" subjects all day. I have to learn the floor plans of 40+ elementary schools so I know where to take them to PE and where to pick them up from recess. I have to be willing to change my plans to fit other's schedules. I have to be ready for the unexpected. I have to adapt to a completely new scenario EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

So if you have kids and ever feel like their teacher has somehow "wronged" your child. Please, take a minute and put yourself in that teachers shoes. Chances are, if you're honest, you might find we all just need to be a little more understanding.

Kids Want Snack Time

And when you threaten to take away snack time, they'll pretty much do whatever you tell them to.

Yesterday the class was not very good at listening and following directions. I had to give the same directions multiple times and they took forever coming to sit at the carpet, or at their desks or lining up. So today I told them we weren't having snack until they could show me they could do it the right way, and if we ran out of time for snack, then they just wouldn't have snack today.

Would you believe that they lined up and sat down silently and quickly the first time? Pretty much what I expected to happen, but it's still sort of funny and yet frustrating at the same time. So I lectured them a bit about how they need to do that every time now that I know they CAN do it the right way. Then they had snack.

The rest of the day was better than yesterday. I only had to move a few kids at group time, and they listened during directions and such that they did not do well yesterday.

In other news of the day, I sat in on a team meeting before school with the other 1/2 grade teachers. They were going over reading and writing standards and writing up a team plan for the year to be submitted to the principal and district or something. That is one thing that I am not sad to be missing out on as a substitute. And while pretty much boring, I was glad to listen in to get an idea of the behind-the-scenes stuff going on. Plus I'm making my face really familiar with the other teachers in the team. I'm hoping to hit all of their rooms sometime this year (not that I want the teacher to get sick, but they're gonna want to use their personal days sometime!)

Tomorrow is (as far as I know at this point) my last day with this class. We have the jog-athon in the afternoon and pretty much the same stuff in the morning as all week - reading groups and math workplaces and such. It is nice to leave the building knowing where I'll be going, what I'll be doing, and the names of kids I'll be seeing ahead of time. I will miss that tomorrow!

A Little Off Today

The kids were kind of naughty today. Here's a synopsis of what I said frequently today:

"Look at me"

"Sit criss-cross applesauce"

"Stop talking"

"Listen"

"Sit still"

"Sit up"

"Go to your seat"

And it goes on and on. Lots of the day felt like corralling a large group of wild animals. Getting them all to sit the right way and listen for 5 minutes was like pulling teeth. I am tired, and hoping tomorrow will be less bizarre. On the plus side (I think) was that all the other teachers said their classes were wound up today as well.

Running Out of Things to Say

Today was much the same as yesterday. Same class, same kids, virtually the same schedule. It went smoother and kids were slightly better behaved.

I'm going back tomorrow. I will try to have better stories for you. Or at least remember something.

This just goes to show that I can't wait til 10pm to write the blog. All I can remember right now is that kids love Dogzilla and Kat Kong (both by Dav Pilkey). Seriously, those books are the key to getting kids to shut up and listen. :)

Oops!

This entry is about my job on the 28th of September, even though I'm actually writing it on the 29th. I completely forgot about writing something all evening yesterday.

I got called Sunday evening to work for a teacher I know at a school close by. I was glad to be going somewhere close, and to a class that's actually in English - nevermind the pleasure of knowing ahead of time.

The day was a bit chaotic. It was the first day the kids were doing literacy rotations. The four first and second grade teachers mix their classes up for reading so all the kids will be with a group at the same level as them. So I had to hand out name tags that indicated what room they were going to, and take attendance, and introduce myself, and sign reading logs and pass out folders with the kids' names on them all in about 10 minutes. I didn't get all of that done. The folders remained in a pile at the back of the room. And some reading logs went unsigned. But the it wasn't the end of the world. (A phrase the students laugh at whenever I use it, by the way!)

I can't remember much else of what happened. It was busy. On my way out of the office at the end of the day I was asked to continue subbing for the class for the rest of the week. So I'm very excited to know where I'm going and what I'm getting into all week!

Too Many Kids

I got a call this morning! First morning call of the year. Unfortunately it was at 5:45am. Not my favorite way to wake up.

But I went back to sleep for 30 minutes or so before I had to get ready.

I arrived at the school and signed in, and then made my way to the kindergarten classroom. The room I was in was bilingual. The morning class was all in English and the afternoon class was all in Spanish. The assistants arrived (I got 2!) and I was glad to have the help. Then I realized why I got 2 assistants - because there are 36 kids on the roster for the am class and 34 for the pm. The morning class' attendance list was so long it didn't even fit on one page!!

So it was a wild day. But we made it work. The assistants were amazing help - it was like have extra teachers in the room. We did station time, which was fun. The kids cracked up when I made a giant tower of unifix cubes and then it fell on me. One boy in the morning class liked me so much that on his way out the door he happily exclaimed, "See you tomorrow teacher!" When I told him I probably wouldn't be here tomorrow because his teacher would be back, he made a sad little face and said, "I wish you would stay and be our teacher! You are cool and nice and funny!" (Something like that at least). I told him maybe I'd see him again sometime and he said he hoped so. Its nice to have the kids like you.

It Really Shouldn't Take That Long

Today was not a bad day. However, it was also not a good lesson plan.

Biggest problem? All the activities for today's group of bilingual 1st graders were pretty simple, quick projects. However, the time allotted for them was excessively long! For example, we had 30 minutes to listen to a CD of songs, 50 minutes to practice counting, and 25 minutes to clean up and line up to go home. I kid you not.

First off, the kids could barely listen to the songs for 3 minutes. So we did some "dancing" to the songs. They were supposed to sing them I guess, but they didn't know the words, and I didn't either. The assistant and I made up some movements and marched around the room and this seemed to entertain them while also wearing them out a little. Ulterior motive? Yes.

Secondly, who counts by 2s 5s and 10s for 50 minutes?! I'm bored just thinking of it! I can't even fathom how I could stretch that activity for that long and keep the kids' attention. I don't think it's possible. So yeah, we didn't do that. Instead, I read a book, we counted for like maybe 10 minutes and then we did some math worksheets. All of that took 50 minutes. You see how the original plan posed a problem.

Lastly, 25 minutes to clean up is substitute suicide. I know this because I have made the mistake of attempting a lengthy clean up/jobs time before only to wish that I hadn't. You see, students are not dumb. And when they realize that we are cleaning up because this is the END OF THE DAY, they think, this is my last chance to try something that I know my teacher wouldn't let me do! And then my friends, we have chaos. So instead we colored and looked at books and spent about 7 minutes cleaning up. Even that was a bit long.

But despite the sparse schedule, some long waiting in the hallway for the PE teacher to arrive, and my lack of Spanish proficiency, it was a pretty decent day.

Waiting

There is a lot of waiting in Kindergarten.

First off, some kids are waiting for things that aren't likely to happen. One of the sadder moments of the day: during the morning class' recess, one little boy came up to me crying. I assumed he had somehow hurt himself on the playground. I asked him what was wrong and he told me how his daddy left for California and he didn't want to come back. It just about broke my heart. I went and spoke to the IA to let her know what he'd told me (in case they weren't aware of the situation yet). She told me she'd seen him crying and he wouldn't tell her what was wrong. I still can't figure why this little boy felt like telling me this story and not the teachers he actually knows more.

Later in the day, we did some more waiting. At the beginning of the PM class one student was supposed to select a classmate to take the attendance to the office with him (well, and me because they don't know where the office is yet!). Seriously, the kid stood there for like 3 minutes just staring at the group while the IA was telling him to just point to somebody. Finally she pretty much picked for him. It felt like I was just a character in this kindergarten tv show and someone had paused the DVR!

The afternoon class also had recess (it was much hotter outside for this one!). When we got back to the room and lined up for drinks I stood by the line supervising while the IA was with the rest of the class. As I'm standing there I'm realize that the line has not moved for a long time. One little boy was standing at the fountain just gulping water! I stood there and waiting, thinking that surely he was almost done....ok, maybe almost done now......or maybe now.....or not! He just kept drinking and drinking and drinking and I'm wondering, "Where is he putting all that water?! He isn't that big!" Finally I had to countdown for him because otherwise I was afraid he was going to drown himself!

Despite the waiting, it was an enjoyable day. The kids were pretty good, lots spoke English pretty well, and all were super cute. One thing I didn't have to wait for though was a good review! After being in the room for about 2 minutes for breakfast, a little boy asked me to open his cereal bar for him, and while I was doing so he exclaimed, "You're a really good teacher!"

I guess kindergarten is not that hard to impress either. :)

Back by Popular Demand..

...it's me!

Yes, that's right it's the start of another year subbing and I'm gonna keep this blog thing a-goin! I actually found I enjoyed it a lot last year.

So, this marks the beginning of year 4 subbing, year 3 in Salem-Keizer, and *exciting* - my first job of the year was a request! Last week I sent out emails to bunches of teachers who I subbed for a lot last year and asked them to keep me in mind when they needed a sub. I also wrote to the office manager of one of the schools I really like and told her I was still subbing. I got responses from about half of them, so that was encouraging. Also, I've been called a lot by the calling system, and - get this - my roommate has yet to be called once! It's very weird.

Unfortunately, all the jobs that the machine has been calling out for are bilingual jobs. Normally, I'd do a bilingual (obviously, I've done them before), but sometimes the teacher will put in special instructions in the job request, and all of these jobs have requested bilingual substitutes. So I feel like I shouldn't take them if they ask for bilingual and I'm not. Especially when they are popping up a few days or weeks before the actual job date. It's at least good to be getting called.

Anyways, today I subbed for the afternoon for a 1/2 blend. The kids were fine. Pretty chatty and obviously still trying to get used to being back in school and learning the routine. But some of them remembered me from last year and all seemed really excited to see me back. I got lots of "Miss Barnes!!!" and "I missed you!" accompanied by as many hugs. It was fun.

I was also able to talk to some other teachers in the building and they acted like they'd heard good things about me and they might want to request me later in the year. I hoping that happens, because I would just love, love, LOVE to be doing primarily requests! Then I'd get to know ahead of time and actually have a better chance to know the schools and staff and administration. We will see how it goes. I'm optimistic.

Substitute Inservice

It's that time of year again! The time for the yearly substitute inservice. The time where all the returning substitutes for the district gather at West Salem High School to listen to the lecture on child abuse, risk management and how to use the job assignment system. Last year, it took place in the auditorium and we were all very excited for the online system to go up! We also enjoyed a performance by a woman we still refer to as "cranky lady" who was cranky about everything and didn't possess the skill of speaking under her breath. It was quite entertaining!

This year was mostly the same but slightly different. There were still cranky ladies (as well as some cranky men). In fact, I almost was one of the cranky ladies! We watched the SAME slide shows about child abuse and risk management. Yes, the same. Same slides, same pictures, same script - a few more years of this and I could give the presentation! We weren't in the auditorium this year - instead being demoted to the cafeteria. However, the biggest difference this time was that instead of being excited for the new system, we all seemed to be waiting for the opportunity to complain about it!

I've mentioned here before that I'm not a big fan of the system. In theory, it's wonderful - and being able to get jobs online is a nice feature. However, a lot of jobs are still assigned in the morning by phone calls made by the system. And the system is not fair. My roommate and I have the exact same coding, however she gets called twice as much as I do. If it wasn't for the fact that I could get jobs online and that I got requested fairly frequently, I wouldn't have worked very many days.

Anyways, we eventually came to the point of the day where those leading the inservice asked if anyone was having any problems with the system. I eagerly raised my hand and told them of my plight. They responded that lots of jobs were assigned online and that's why there weren't as many calls. I then had to say that that wasn't what I was talking about - I was talking about JUST the jobs that got called out in the morning and that I got half as many of those as my roommate. They then brushed me off with the "its probably a coding problem" answer and immediately went to the next question. I was frustrated that they didn't seem to be listening, but was gratified that lots of other people were nodding their heads while I was talking as if they had the same problem, and that other people after me stated that they had similar experiences. Obviously, no one knows why this is happening, so I don't see it getting fixed anytime soon, but at least they were made aware of it. Can't say nobody told them!

Other than that the day was pretty boring. Some of the sessions we had to sit through were super long and filled with information that didn't apply to substitutes at all. I'd wished that they had edited down their speeches to the parts that were relevant. Also, the question and answer sessions all went awkwardly. We got lots of cyclical reasoning and non-answers. It was frustrating.

That being said, it was only 3 hours, and now it's over for another year!

Summer!

Well, I have no sub stories, but I figured I needed to wrap this baby up for the year. I didn't work the last week of school, which isn't really surprising. Most teachers don't want to be gone during the last week, and they're not allowed to take personal days anyway. So there are sometimes a few jobs for people who get really sick, but not many. Roommate did get a job on Monday (which figures, since if there's a job available she'll always get it before me). But apparently the kids were horrible, so I wasn't too jealous.

But yes, school is officially out in Salem-Keizer as of last Friday. I'm spending the summer relaxing, catching up on reading, tinkering with cake decorating and trying to see if I can stir up any business, and the dreaded applying-for-jobs-for-new-year! I may try to update this blog occasionally, but I'm still going to try to keep it mostly teaching-related.

If you have facebook, you can keep up with what I'm doing there: http://www.facebook.com/nessajean

Have a great summer everybody!

-Vanessa

Drippy, Sticky, Melty Messes

Kindergarteners are busy.

Today was a bit of a lesson in chaos.

I get a semi-late call (it was just barely an hour before the start time, but the school's not close, so it only gave me about 30 minutes to get ready).  I got to the school though with plenty of time though.  However, I soon discovered that there were no plans, no lesson book, no schedule, no sub folder.  Thankfully, I knew and aid was coming soon, and hopefully she'd have an idea of what we were supposed to do.

She arrived soon, and realized we had no plan, so she ended up calling the teacher to check what she wanted us to do.  Once we had a plan, the aid had to leave for some meeting.

The day was interesting.  Some of the time it felt like trying to give directions to a brick wall - they just weren't listening!  Sometimes, even when somebody was calling a kid's name, the kid just didn't respond - it actually reminded me a lot of subbing in head start.  Hopefully this was just the end of the year, substitute behavior, and not an all time thing, or I'd feel bad for the teacher!

A few things that were weird/frustrating/distracting:

There was a volunteer mom there with her younger child, who I'd guess was about 2.  The little one was pretty fussy and kept trying to escape - I was distracted by this a lot.  Fussy crying and seeing doors opening out of the corner of you eye grab your attention pretty quickly.  

The aid told the kids to get a book if they wanted before we started the Magic School Bus video.  I guess they look at books when watching a movie.  I didn't understand this, and I think I've decided that will never do this in my class.  Most of the kids didn't pay attention to the movie at all, and they were so talkative over the books that they made it hard for the other kids to pay attention.

A giant moth got into the room at once point and it was pretty interesting I'm sure to watch me and the aid try to get it out.  (We succeeded.)

It was one girl's birthday so we had birthday popsicles.  I never want to have popsicles at school again.  I'm sticking to dixie cups, cupcakes or cookies. That's it.  Popsicles are drippy, sticky, melty messes.

And with that, I'm signing off - grateful for Friday.  Only one week of school left!  We will see what the week holds for Captain Substitute!

Dang Yearbooks

Today I got a call to sub at 5:30 in the morning! I was happy about the job, not so happy about the time of the call!

The day was fine. I had two classes because the teacher I was subbing for team-teaches with another teacher, so they switch classes halfway through the day. Both classes were really small, so that's nice. One had 14 kids and the other had 15. And I'd been to these classes before, so it was nice to kind of know my way around.

The morning went really smoothly, but the afternoon was a bit annoying. First, I was told some kids needed to finish a project, but it turned out that nearly ALL of them needed to finish it. And it was a project they needed a computer for and there weren't enough computers for all of them to do it. So I was trying to sort that out when we had a fire drill! (Thankfully, I was warned that this was coming.) Also, in the late afternoon the yearbooks got delivered! So the kids were stoked about this (even though only 4 kids ordered them). When I went to pass them out, I discovered we didn't have enough! So it took a while to sort that out. Then, they had some yearbook signing party in the cafeteria for kids who ordered them, so that was crazy. And then I couldn't really do anything with the remaining kids because a third of them would miss it. So it was just kind of a mess. And to top it off - it was also popcorn day! So I had popcorn to pass out as well.

Thankful for Air Conditioning

Today was a nice day.

It was stinking hot in the school, but my room was one of the few that had air conditioning in it, so it wasn't so bad.

The kids were sweet.  I didn't have to do a lot.  For the morning hour I only had half of the class at a time because the other half went to the computer lab.  While they were in the room the kids were working on a bunch of projects that kept them pretty busy.  In the afternoon we worked with geoboards, which was like my favorite thing when I was in school, so I was sure to give the class some time to just play with them.  Then, I could tell we were all tired of doing structured stuff by the end of the day so I let the kids do math centers.  It was a nice way to end the day, and I was pleased to see how well the kids got along with each other! :)

And that's a really boring entry, but I tired and have nothing else to say! 

I Smell Good

I think that was the first thing one of the girls told me this afternoon.  The class was coming in from recess and she walked right up to me, said hi, and then announced that I smelled good.  I must say I enjoy this comment more than the ones about my lips being weird.  Not sure what smelled good - laundry detergent, shampoo, deodorant (haha) - she seemed to think it was perfume, which is weird because I was not wearing any perfume or body mist stuff.

Anyways, the rest of the day was easy.  I read a book, did a reading group, and then supervised the kids while they worked on an endangered species project.  For the last hour we had a guest science speaker.  While I was standing at the door saying goodbye to the class, kids from two other classes in the pod that I've subbed for noticed me and bunches of them came over to give me hugs.  So I got three sets of goodbyes today.  It's nice to be remembered fondly. :)

Those Darn Lips Again

Yes, again!

Today it was a fourth grader during ELD that asked me while I was walking around checking on students' progress, "Hey, what's wrong with your lip?"  I asked her what she meant, but she quickly back-tracked and just said "never mind."  I responded with my tried and true response of, "that's just the way my lips are."  

But really!  That's the third time I've had a kid comment on my lips!  What is wrong with me?! Ah!  No one ever asked me this when I was subbing in Astoria...perhaps I am only a freakish lip mutant in Salem.

Anyways, I thought that was weird.

In other news - this hot weather is not at all pleasant when you're spending all day in a non-air conditioned room with around 30 sweaty kids.  They kids are irritable (as is teacher) and it doesn't smell that good.  And then I'm doing battle all afternoon trying to get kids to pay attention while we're reading a book that none of them like (Summer of the Swans) and do a long math test that none of them seem to get.

I know Summer of the Swans is supposed to be a classic book and all, but really, it's pretty boring.  And I'd guess that about 95% of kids don't like it.  Just seems like not the best way to inspire a love of reading.  But then again, those are the books schools have class sets of.  And the books that kids like aren't always the best suited for use in a classroom.  I don't know, I have mixed feelings on that.  

I did think the book the teacher was using as a read aloud was interesting.  That one's going on my list-of-books-to-read-someday-if-I-ever-have-time-and-ever-read-the-hoards-of-books-already-on-the-list list.

Finally Friday!

So after the last few weeks of various challenging classrooms and stressful situations I was finally rewarded with a pleasant, easy day! Yay!

The class I was in today is a class I've subbed for several times already this year.  The kids know me well and seem to like me. :)

They've always been a pretty good class, but today was even better!  The two kids who were the most chatty or disruptive the last few times I've been there are apparently no longer in the class - moved I guess.  So the group was really pretty calm.  A couple hyper-ish kids, but half the time the stuff they were telling me was so funny I couldn't really be annoyed.

And it was a fun day - they had a "homework celebration" at the end of the day where everyone just got free time to play games.  I brought a few spatial puzzles with me - a wooden box with 6 pieces of various sizes that you have to get to fit inside the box, and two of those metal puzzles where you have to get a certain piece off of the rest of the puzzle.  They liked playing with those for a while although they didn't really have enough time to figure them out.  They were quite amazing that I could do the medal ones in like 30 seconds (I practiced last night).  Now, onto the weekend and two more weeks of school!

Middle School Fever

Lots of the kids in my class today had this. It was a 4/5 blend, and the fifth graders were acting a lot like sixth graders - loud and sort of smart-mouthy. But they weren't too terrible. My biggest problem was a couple boys who just could NOT get along. I was forever telling them to stay away from each other.

The rest of the class was just really chatty. And oddly, also eager to "help" me - meaning, whenever I'd look like I was about to say something they'd all yell out to rest of the class, "Everybody BE QUIET!!!". Yeah, didn't help so much.

Thankfully, we had an assembly at the end of the day so I didn't have to do anything for 40 minutes or so. And the teacher was at the school so she came back to her room after the kids were done and basically told me I didn't need to stay - so I left a few minutes early.

No More Hating

Today was a lesson in flexibility for me.  I got a call at around 9 for a job with a start time of 9.  So I had to race around to get ready and leave.  And it never fails that when you are in a hurry you drop things and forget things and generally annoy yourself by being slow.

So I got there as quickly as I could to find the class already started.  The teacher isn't there anymore, but the school counselor is filling in while they waited for the sub.  The kids were doing stations, so that helped to have them already busy.  We spend the next 30 minutes (me, the counselor and the classroom assistant) trying to figure out what the teacher's plan was for the day.  She'd left in a hurry and had left virtually no plans.  We eventually figured out something to do for the day.

The class was really pretty good. However, come the afternoon they were fighting with each other a lot.  I found a note that one kid had written saying "I Hate so-and-so".  So we had a long discussion about respect, politeness, treating each other they way we'd want to be treated, and how hating is a bad thing to feel.  As I was in the middle of my "hating only makes everything worse" speech, one of the boys raised his hand and chimed in, "Well it's like in God's eyes we're all brothers and sisters and so we should be nice to each others."  However, soon after, another child contributed, "Well, some people believe we evolved from Orangutans and I believe that too, and maybe the Orangutans got alone but when we evolved to humans people started fighting."  She had quite the well thought-out story with dialog and everything! Yeah.  Then we had to end the discussion.

Oh, and the picture above is one drawn for me by one of the kids (named blurred out) - notice his spelling. :)

Another Day Down, 13 To Go!

Can you believe there are only 13 days left of school? I can't.

I subbed today in a second grade class. The kids were pretty good considering how close it is to the end of the year. Their biggest problem was that they couldn't seem to get along. I had to have a lot of "if you don't have anything nice say, don't say anything at all" conversations.

Other than that it was fine.

And I have absolutely nothing else to say. :)

Forgotten Casanova

I forgot one of my funniest stories from yesterday so this blog is going to be partially about yesterday as well.

It was during the end of the day when the kids were working on that crossword puzzle that a few boys were kind of goofing around.  One of them had gotten a fake red rose from somewhere.  I started hearing whispered voices saying every so often "teacher".  They weren't trying to get my attention, they were talking about me.  So I turned around to see what they were up to when one of the boys come strolling up with the rose clamped between his teeth like he's about to do the tango with all of the others trailing behind him.  He walks up and says to me in his Spanish accent something along the lines of "let's dance", and reaches out to grab my hands.  Oh my gosh it was just so funny!  But of course not a good idea AT ALL to be seen with a student like that, so I'm trying not to laugh and gently push him away.  He persisted for a moment, grabbing both of my wrist ands swaying himself back in forth before he and the others couldn't contain their laughter any longer and drifted away.  I then saw some of them dancing together before I finally had them put the rose away.  Oh my.  

Anyways, on to today!  I went back the the first grade class I did most of last week for the afternoon.  It was super easy.  When I got there I took them to recess.  After recess we went to reading buddies (which was the class from yesterday), then they had music and PE.  So I only had them for about 30 minutes.  Some still managed to be little pills, but most of them were good.  No funny stories for today though.

Now onto the 3 day weekend!  Only 14 days of school left this year, can you believe it?

UFOs, Superheros, and Bees

While I was talking via Skype with my brother this afternoon I got a call for an afternoon job.  Good for the paycheck, but bad timing!  I had like 3 minutes to get ready and leave which really just is not fun.  I can do it, but really, why would I want to?

So I tootled off to sub for some 3rd graders.  It was a pretty light lesson plan - the whole afternoon consisted of reading and writing for the kiddos.  They had to write for a long time!  The first hour they were writing stories about a UFO landing at their school.  Then we had silent reading (which was not silent at all, but it was hard for me to quite them down while still doing battle with my half-voice.)  Then they were supposed to spend the next half-hour writing about some superheroes they were creating.  Some were eager to work on this but most were all "wrote-out" so I gave them a word search the teacher had left in case we needed it.  They liked doing this and it kept things relatively calm until the end of the day and clean up time.

As for the bee: when I got home I was out watering my plants and a bee flew into the apartment!  It was absolutely gigantic and I was pretty much terrified of it.  I'm sure my antics would have made for a great sitcom bit.  I was trying to coax it out of the window and out the door by throwing an empty hot pocket box at the window blinds from about 6 feet away.  But that blasted bee would NOT come out of the window!  I ended up going outside to scope out what the bee was doing from a safer vantage point and then my neighbor came outside!  I told him my trial, and he kinda laughed at me, but then came into the apartment and pretty much just picked that dang bee up on a piece of paper and tossed him outside.  So I felt like a moron, but at least it was gone!  

Oops!

I totally forgot to write a blog last night! (Yes, despite this being dated as last night, I am writing it Thursday morning.) I suppose I was too wrapped up in American Idol to much think about anything else.  I read the spoilers when the show ended on the east coast, and then it took me about a half-hour to make my peace with my favorite not winning (haha) and then before I knew it the show was starting here.  So in all of that my blog slipped my mind.

But I did work yesterday.  No work on Tuesday, and right now I have nothing for today.  I subbed for a fourth grade yesterday.  They were sweet, funny kids that I really enjoyed.  They were talkative, and I do not have my full-voice this week due to some weird allergy stuff, but honestly, I wish all days were this easy.  

I talked briefly about American Idol actually in this class.  I was trying to get them to understand how they were supposed to be writing down ideas for a poem rough draft and they just weren't getting it.  Some thought they had to actually start writing the poem, so were totally caught up in trying to make things rhyme.  So I finally just stopped them and started writing on the board, "American Idol is a TV show.  It's on FOX.  Simon in a judge.  He is mean, but usually right.  Paula talks too much." so they'd realize they were just supposed to list everything they knew about the topic they picked.  This sparked an American Idol discussion though. They wanted to know my favorite judge (and were outraged when I said Simon), and who I wanted to win (which gathered mixed-reactions).  However, once I finally got them back to work they seemed to be doing better.  

There you are folks.  Idol in the classroom. :)  

100th Episode!

That's right - this is officially my one-hundredth post!

And unfortunately, I have very little to say.

I got a late call this morning - they called me at 8:30 for an 8:30 start time.  So that wasn't the awesomest start today, but I got ready at light-speed and got there pretty quickly.  Turned out that the class I was in had a student teacher, so I taught about half of the day and she taught the other half.  The kids weren't bad, but they were pretty chatty.  The student teacher seemed to think that they we really badly behaved, which was funny - apparently I have a very high tolerance because I was just thinking how it had been a pretty decent day!  I guess I just have a lot of patience, and I've seen some true terrors in the last few years - so some chatter seems like the least of my worries!

Life After Friday

I have made it!  I have survived yet another week of madness!

And since it is now mid-May, all kids everywhere are just about 25% naughtier than they usually are...maybe more.

So today's class wasn't terrible, but they weren't really fun.  It was worth the money, that's about it.  A couple were bratty at the start, but got better.  A few were just annoying (like the kid who every time I turned around had is notebook out and was drawing.  I should have just taken it away, but every time I caught him he whipped it back into his desk.)

Anyways, there's really not much to say besides that.  One kid asked me if he could call me "Miss B" (which is very common for some reason), but he asked me in the last 10 minutes of the day!  Weird.

Tonight I was at Target with my mom and I heard a girl's voice call out my name, and I turned around and saw one of the students from the forth grade calls I subbed for last week.  And - I remembered her name!! Go me.

There is Hope!

Well, at least for part of the day there was.

The kids were better today!  Like yesterday, I carried a class list around with me all day and I made notes on specific behaviors by the students.  When they were on task I put a star next to their name.  When they were not, I marked next to their name with a letter.  "O" was for "off task or out of seat", "T" was for "talking", "D" was for "disrespectful", etc.  I think I had 9 letter codes - one was "M" for "being mean to others" but I never had to use that! Yay!  Anyways, my two trouble girls from yesterday were, for some reason, really into the chart today, and kept coming up to me every 15-20 minutes asking how many stars they had.  Whenever they had more from the time before they got really excited.  I also had to send one of the girls to recess timeout because of yesterday, but she didn't put up a fight about it, or turn surly on me.  She seemed to think that she deserved it, so that was good.  I was afraid that was going to ruin her afternoon for me, but it didn't.

The 3 troublesome boys from yesterday however only improved a little.  Two of them didn't seem to care one little bit about the chart, but at least it worked for some!

I was feeling good by the late afternoon because I'd had no disrespect problems from the class (which I had a lot of yesterday), and while they weren't perfect, they seemed to be making an effort.  

But then they went to PE.  And when I went to pick them up from PE I learned that 2 girls (my two I'd been working with all day) had been sent to the office, and only SIX of the students had been following directions every time.  Oddly, the ones the PE teacher told me had been good were some that had not been good for me, and lots that had been good for me were among the misbehaving group.

So by this point they were feeling ornery again, and the last 30 minutes of the day was a bit of a struggle.  But it was better for a while at least, and I didn't leave feeling as defeated as I have for the past 2 days.  Tomorrow, I have no job yet.  I guess this teacher is coming back, but last night she decided she couldn't come after 8pm, so that could still change.

Death By First Graders

....continued.

Back to the same class today.

They were a tiny bit better...for about 45 minutes.

Then they were not so great again.

I'm going back tomorrow.

I need my sleep, so that's all for tonight.

Vote for the Title

So I've considered two titles for this blog entry:

1) "Terrible Tuesdays?" - because last Tuesday was difficult and today was even more challenging!

2) "Death By First Graders" - because I was near death today while trying to deal with a exceedingly naughty class of 26 first graders!

3) And other suggestions?

So yes, I do not have the energy to completely rehash my day, but here it is in short:

Kids were loud

Kids did not stay in their seats

Kids did not listen to me while I was talking

Kids hit other kids

Kids rolled around on the floor

Kids yelled out "TEACHER!" all day long

Kids didn't do their work

Kids made a mess

When the kids finally went home I was totally spent!  And since I'm either stupid or brave, I'm going back again tomorrow.  I have a plan of attack though, so hopefully we will see improvement.  I don't think it can get much worse!

I am on a Streak!

Last week I worked five straight full days and I got another full day today! The teacher I subbed for Friday was still not feeling well so she requested me back for today.

There's not much to blog about tonight however. The kids were fine. The day went by really fast because we had a guest come talk to the class for a half hour, then had an hour-long music program practice followed by PE. So I only had the class for 30 minutes in the afternoon. And it was less crazy today than on Friday, so that was nice.

I'm going back to this class again tomorrow. I think there will be less extra stuff happening in the afternoon so I'll have more time with the class - perhaps this will provide with me with some more interesting stories for tomorrow night's blog! Hopefully interesting in the cute, funny way not the driving-me-crazy sort of way. :)

Survival

This week I actually worked 5 full days!  And for at least 2 of those days I got called for jobs even when I wasn't requested for them.  I'm hoping that things are starting to turn around and the system will actually call me instead of just my roommate.

Today was really busy.  I spent most of the morning helping kids wrap their Mother's Day presents.  I also had to assist a couple kids who still had to make their presents.  Meanwhile, the assistant was working with the class on a writing project.  I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but we did finish everything.  

However, the afternoon was pure madness!  For lunch most all of the students had pancakes with maple syrup and a piece of cake with pink frosting - and they were feeling the sugar shortly after!  We were supposed to meet with their reading buddies, but we couldn't because the buddies had testing.  We tried to have partner reading in our room but the kids were really wound up!  Then they had a practice for their music concert, and then PE.  After PE we had another half-hour before the end of the day and we were supposed to do calendar, but once again, the class was just too crazy to get anything done.  I ended up talking to them for 15 minutes or so about what they should be acting like in the classroom.  They weren't terrible - just the high sugar-content of lunch, and this being a Friday near the end of school year all got together to make the kids a little cuckoo.

Oh, and one funny story (although not nearly as funny as the one from Tuesday which only my mom has read.  It's one of my top 5 funny stories, so if you haven't read it - do it now!):  When I took the kids outside at the end of the day to go home, one little boy (not from my class or any other class I've subbed for) came up to me and announced, "My mom is pregnant!"  That's all he had to say.  Funny stuff.

Finally, A Fun Day!

After paying my dues for the past three days in some of the more challenging classes of my year, I was offered a slight reprieve today in returning to a first grade class I've subbed for a couple times this year.  They are a bilingual class, but wow! - I noticed significant improvement with the English fluency and the confidence in speaking it.  I had no trouble communicating with the class, and while they had a couple little moments of chattiness and not sitting still, they were really good.

Quite a few of them colored me pictures, which, come to think of it, I think I left them there.  Oh well, they were mostly just pages ripped from coloring books.  It's always sweet when kids want to give you something they made though.

We almost had a problem partway through the day when we were going to start a Mother's Day project.  The kids were supposed to be painting little clay pots, but we were 2 pots short!  The assistant tried to call the teacher, I went to ask the teacher next door if she knew, but we both came up with no answers.  Then we started looking around everywhere while the kids just kind of watched.  The assistant opened the cabinet, and while we were both looking it in all of the kids started pointing and yelling, "There! Right there!"  Then we realized the extra pots were on the top shelf and that all the kids had spotted them before we had. :)  So we had enough pots and we got started painting!  All the pots turned out really cute, so I'm sure they'll have fun finishing that up tomorrow.  I just hope I will have something fun to do again tomorrow as well!

Tired

I am tired.  This has been a challenging week.  So far I have had no days that I would consider "smooth" or "easy".  They've all been hard.  The last two days I spent with chatty, bickering, and often disrespectful fourth-graders.  Today I taught a group of rambunctious, mischievous, LOUD first-graders.

The whole day I was battling to keep the group relatively calm, and getting everyone to sit down and listen.  They certainly weren't the worst behaved I've ever had, not even the worst this year, but I was just so tired!

And then at the end of the day we had a birthday party for a kid who's name I could hardly remember how to pronounce.  I was just glad I was waving goodbye to them before the chocolaty, sugary cupcakes had a chance to fully infiltrate their bloodstreams.

Not the Offer I Was Hoping For

One funny story for today despite the general annoyance that was my day.  Felt like I was fighting a constant battle for order.  I'm glad to be going somewhere new tomorrow.

But onto the story: during a work time today I was talking with two boys - let's call them Joe and John.  Joe was telling me how he was making a Mother's Day card.  John said he was doing the same.  They then started listing things they could write on their cards, one of them being, "I love you mommy."  A girl nearby overheard this and commented, "Ew!" The boys then started teasing her a little for not telling her mom she loved her.  I said something about how you should always tell your mom you love her, to which Joe agreed.  Somehow the girl misheard and asked me, "You're Joe's mom?!"  Then I had to tell her that no, I was not his mom.  I told her I was not old enough to be Joe's mom.  Then another girl joined in the conversation, asking, "Do you have any kids?"  To which I said no.  She then asked me if I had a husband, to which I again replied no.  It was at this precise moment that John yelled out eagerly to me, "You're single?!  My dad's looking for a new wife!"

I could do nothing but laugh, it was so so funny.

Starburst Creates Admiration

I don't think there is going to be much to this entry.  I subbed today in the forth grade class that I did a few weeks ago when the first substitute left before the end of the day.  The kids were ok.  Very chatty.  A couple annoying ones.  A few that could NOT stop bickering (that was incredibly annoying!)  But it was okay.  I survived.  I'm going back tomorrow actually.

I hope the kids will be fine tomorrow as well.  Their last memory of me for today was me handing out Starburst candies to the whole class (because they cleaned up quickly at the end of the day.)  This prompted much praising for how I'm "the best teacher ever!" haha kids love candy.

Me And My Freakish Lips

89th blog post by the way!  Looks like I'm gonna make it to 100 before the year's out!

Anyways, I subbed in 3rd grade today.  In the morning I did not do much.  The teacher was still there.  She wasn't leaving until around 10.  There was also a student teacher.  I worked with a group of 5 kids on math.  Then the kids had music.  I helped the student teacher organize books.  Then the kids came back and the student teacher taught a lesson.  Then the kids had PE.  I helped the student teacher organize books again!  After lunch the student teacher left as well and I had the kids by myself for the rest of the day.  They were ok.  Lots of chatty ones in the bunch so I was forever telling them to quiet down.  There were also a couple kids who didn't really want to pay attention or do their work.  They annoyed me, but at least they weren't defiant.  

One funny tale for the day though: during one of the reading groups I had 3 kids reading with me - two boys and a girl.  We'd been reading for about 10 minutes when all of a sudden the girl blurts out, "Hey!  Your lips are differently shaped than ours."  I responded with some great wisdom such as, "Well, everyone's lips are a little different."  But seriously, what is it with my lips?!  Last year I had a kindergartner ask me why I had a hole in my lip!  I think they must be seeing another dimension.  Or maybe I am!

Kindergarten Craziness

Today I traveled far, far away (well, about as far as I can and still be in Salem) to sub in kindergarten.  The day went pretty well, and the kids were sweet, but wow, was is busy!  The AM class had 29 kids in it.  I think one or two might have been gone, but I can't remember now.  Either way, that is a LOT of kindergartners!  The PM class had 28 kids.  

During the day we did calendar and a multitude of songs, a Mother's Day art project, some writing, snack and sharing.  It was a little crazy at times trying to squeeze all of this in.  I was running back and forth collecting finished art projects, putting them on the drying rack, bringing the writing booklet to the kids who were done with the art, checking the writing to make sure they'd done it right, etc.  Times that by 29 or so kids and I didn't sit down much today!

In the afternoon session I met a little boy who had the same last name as me.  He thought this was pretty hilarious, and reminded me that our names were the same quite a few times.  This was nice as it distracted him from eating paper and glue, as I was told he sometimes does.

So it was a good day, and it's almost always fun to spend the day playing with the cute little ones, but I'm sure tired!  Kinda hoping for some older kids later this week.

Chicks & Fish & Silkworms, Oh My!

Today I returned to the kindergarten class that has a bunny.  Only now they not only have a bunny, but they have multiple types of fish, 2 young chickens (who I believe they've had since they hatched), butterflies, and silkworms!  The bunny wasn't there today, but despite that and the fact that I took some allergy meds before I came, I still had a bit of an allergy attack shortly after I got there.  I think I just took the medicine a little too soon before I got there and it didn't really have time to "kick in".

But even though my nose didn't love the first 3o minutes or so, it was a really easy day for me.  (Finally!)  The teacher stayed until around 2 because she had some stuff she wanted to do with the class and her appointment wasn't until later.  So while she was still there I cut some stuff out.  After she left, the kids went to recess with the assistant (who apparently, had not had the same speech on all the things assistants can't do - thank goodness!).  When the came back from recess I read a book to the class and read through a Scholastic News paper with them while the assistant and a parent volunteer called kids back to finish up an art project.  This last for about 25 minutes and then the kids went to PE.  After PE they went home.  So my pay is pretty sweet today considering how little work I actually did! :)

No Shoe Stories Today

In fact, no one commented on my shoes at all! Perhaps I should have worn a different pair - I was hoping to continue the streak, after all.

On the plus side, my day was much smoother and calmer and simpler today. I had a class of fifth graders, and they were quite enjoyable. They were funny - a few jokesters in the bunch, but they were very polite and quick to listen when I was giving instructions. They are having a sub tomorrow as well (in fact, it's my roommate), and I'm actually disappointed to not get to go back to them! One girl told me she wished I was going to be their sub tomorrow too. I left my ID number for the teacher, so I hope she requests me back! In fact, I told the girl I was going to leave my number, and that she should tell her teacher to ask for me if they have to have a sub again. I have no shame. :)

I'm not subbing for them tomorrow because I've already had a job for tomorrow for over a month. I'm going back to kindergarten (just for the afternoon) to one of my favorite classes, so at least I'm looking forward to that even though I would have liked to do today's class again.

It's nice to have an easy day again!

Shoes (Again!), and Frustrations

Yes, I do have another shoe story!  In this one I had the same shoes as a student (kindergarten).  Yes, mine were much bigger than hers.  But they were the same style of silver flats.  She seemed to think it was funny that we were wearing the same thing.  The fact that we were was pointed out to me many times.

In other news, my day was incredibly frustrating!  The kids were amazing sweet little things, but I was running around virtually the whole day with no lesson plan.  The teacher had been gone the day before, so hadn't written out a detailed plan for today.  I was reading the tiny notes on her weekly plan as well as yesterday's plan to get a feel for the class.  The notes specifically said that the assistant did a lot of the instruction when the teacher was gone.  I was okay with this, so I just assumed that's how it would go.  However, when the assistant got there she told me that she couldn't lead the class because they had had a meeting at their school recently where some union rep told them that assistants couldn't lead the class without specific written instructions on what to do.  And since the teacher hadn't left specific instructions she was reluctant to lead the class because she was afraid she'd get in trouble.  Unfortunately, this left me in a really hard place.  I didn't know what the stations the teacher mentioned were.  The assistant did, but she didn't feel she could even explain them without breaking this new rule.  Ugh!  Whatever idiot made that rule really is not my favorite person right now.  

It really bugs me when people act like the instructional assistants are somehow less competent or capable than licenced teachers.  Yes, the licenced teacher has more training, but I have meet many, MANY assistants over my years of substituting that were absolutely wonderful, and more than capable of doing everything the teacher did.

Anyways, the assistant ended up calling the teacher and the teacher emailed directions over to her.  Then she was able to give directions for station time and lead her group without breaking the rules.  It was just frustrating that we had to jump through all those hoops when the day could have been much smoother (and might I add, more educationally valuable for the students) without it.

My Shoes Are From China

Yes, again, we are talking about my shoes.  Today a girl told me my shoes looked "kinda Chinese".  They are ballet flats with lots of differently colored vertical stripes.  So then I said, "Maybe they are Chinese!"  I took one off and looked inside and sure enough - they were made in China!

You learn something new everyday!

Anyways, I was subbing in a bilingual kindergarten today.  I think is a kind of weird that they call it that.  Because it's not actually "bilingual" in the literal definition of the world - the whole class is taught in Spanish.  The don't do anything in English (well, today they did).  Shouldn't they just call it Spanish kindergarten?  Other weird thing was that about half of the kids were native English speakers and I meet a lot of the parents who spoke only English.  So I was puzzled as to why the kindergarten was all in Spanish.  Wouldn't it make more sense to do a mix of Spanish and English - as "bilingual" implies?  There's probably a reason for it, but I did not get to the bottom of it today.  Maybe next time....