Puzzle Master

Alright, here I am - returned from my venture north to Vancouver - and it is time to blog about Friday's events!

As I mentioned in my last post, I was working in a bilingual third grade class on Friday.  They were a really sweet group and I enjoyed them.  It was also a fairly easy day for me.  We did a couple short activities in the morning before they had PE and music.  An hour later I picked them up and brought them back to class where we meet the counselor who was to give them a lesson in their room.  I sat at the desk and watched while he gave his lesson and tried to remember the kids' names.  I'd only been with them for about 2o minutes before this, so I was still trying to get a feel for the class and if there were any students I needed to keep my eyes on.  They weren't doing a great job paying attention, so I was a little unsure how that would influence my rest of my day with them.  They also kept coming up to me and asking if they could go to the bathroom, which I thought was weird as I was not the one teaching at the moment, so I had to keep telling them to sit down and that they needed to ask their counselor if they couldn't wait because he was the teacher now.  At one such moment I guess the counselor wanted to use me in some demonstration, but I was busy telling a girl to sit back down.  I just caught the end of his sentence; it was something like "...but she's distracted right now."  Oops! haha I need more warning than that!

Anyways, shortly before he left he lectured the class a little about how they need to be more respectful when they have a sub (which I thought was odd because they'd been nothing but great for me that morning.  Sure, they tested me a little - but that's completely expected, and as soon as I made it clear that I wasn't going to let them get away with doing whatever the heck they pleased, they all were really well-behaved.)  I took over and started the class on a game in the 15 minutes we had before lunch, and I noticed the counselor was still hanging around by the door observing (me? the students?)  I suppose he wanted to make sure I was really ok and they weren't walking all over me, but it did make me kind of nervous since I had no idea what he was doing. haha

The rest of the day was taken up by a couple short tests, some math games, and silent reading.  Then for the last 20 minutes of the day they had a "homework celebration" where everyone who had turned in all their homework from the week got to play games and have a treat (Cheetos).  All but one got to do this, and I mightily impressed some of the celebrating students with my ability to solve all the wooden logic puzzles.  Choruses of "Woooooow!"  "She did that?!" and "Whoa! How'd she figure that out?!" were heard all about the room.  I like to keep them impressed - helped though that the instructions were in the box and that none of them could figure out how to read them (no sense in pointing this out to them though!) ;)

Apparently I've Changed My Name

The kids kept calling me Mrs. R today.  I really wasn't sure why.  I thought maybe they'd recently had a sub named Mrs. R and they were just forgetting.  I was talking to another teacher at the end of the day about this and she said maybe they just didn't hear me well when I said "Barnes" and just heard the "R" sound.  Odd.  Never had that happen before.  Especially odd because I've been in this class twice already this year!

The kids were mostly good today.  It was a 1/2 blend, although I didn't see all of my class until after lunch.  The morning was a literacy block were all but two of my kiddos switched to different classes.  After that they had recess.  Following recess I had my class for about 15 minutes - enough time to do calendar and snack before they switched again for math.  The second-graders left for next door, while I kept the first graders and got all the first graders from next door.  When math was over they had recess again and lunch.

The kids eat lunch in the classroom, and at the same time they do sharing.  When they've finished sharing the teacher reads aloud.  I was getting ready to do the read-aloud (Runaway Ralph) when the kids insisted that I share too.  So I told them all about Powell's and how I was going there this weekend.  Most of them had never heard of it, and were quite amazed by my description of the giant book store.  That was probably the most important lesson they learned today. :)

And actually, after lunch they had library, so I really didn't have my actual class all together until about 2 o'clock.  And by then they were pretty much check out for the day.  A couple kids kept bickering with each other and the class as a whole had a really hard time quieting down and working.  It was a bit of an uphill battle, and one child in particular was REALLY getting on my nerves.  We had quite the heart-to-heart - basically me giving a speech on how he needed to stop bugging people, stop making excuses and get to work.  But other than that portion of the day everything went really well, and the kids were cute.  They all remembered me, and seemed excited to see me.  I got lots of hugs and choruses  "Yay, Miss Barnes is here!!"  So that makes me feel good.

Tomorrow I'll be subbing in a bilingual 3rd grade - wish me luck with that!  Look for that blog sometime on Saturday, as tomorrow I'll be heading out of town right after school.  Thanks for reading!

Let's Try That Again...

Well, after my half-day cancellation yesterday I got a job for today at the same school - also a morning half-day. Bobbie was working their in the morning too, so we rode together. It was kinda weird getting ready this morning. I was just hoping that my phone didn't ring! Also, I decided that I would drive to the school. Last time Bobbie and I got morning half-day jobs at the same school (it was last year) it was at a school completely in the other corner of town and she drove. When we got their it turned out that somebody had screwed up and Bobbie's job was actually a half-day in the afternoon! Since it was their mistake and Bobbie had arrived, they had to pay her for the full day and they just had her to office work in the morning. I subbed in my assigned room in the morning and was done by noon. But I was stuck because Bobbie couldn't leave, and I didn't have my car. I ended up calling a cab because the school wasn't near a bus line and it was nearly a $30 ride. So that sucked. Bob got paid for the whole day and only worked half. I got paid for half and then had to shell out a bunch of dough to get home. So yeah, all that to say that I drove this time so I would know that wouldn't happen again! haha

Today was pretty simple. It was a half day for the students, and my class had PE and Media in the morning...so that cut out an hour. The time I had them I just helped and supervised them doing some math worksheets. Then they had lunch, which I also supervised. Aren't I talented? Seriously, that's all I did. Oh, and I broke a pencil sharpener. The teacher wanted me to sharpen a bunch of broken pencils when the kids were at PE. I was about 5 pencils away from being finished with the stupid thing stopped working!

I have no funny kid stories today. Sorry!

Well This is Just Frustrating

I was excited all weekend because I knew ahead of time that I had a half-day job today.  This morning I got up and got ready to go.  I was just sitting down to zip up my boots when my phone started ringing.  It was the sub office calling (and no, it's not a real person - it never is anymore) telling me in its nice (read: annoying) computer voice that my job for today was cancelled.  Why is it that for subs to cancel a job assignment we have to give a reason, but the teachers don't?  I mean, it would be nice to know just for the sake of knowing.  But I don't have any idea why it was cancelled, and by this point it was nearly 8, so most other jobs for today were already taken.  I saw a few go by on the website..."in callout"...meaning the system was already calling subs for the job so you can't accept it online.  And of course it didn't call me.  I think, if a job gets cancelled on you the day of, you should jump to the top of the list of people the machine calls.  But no one ever asks my opinion so I guess they don't care what I think! haha

It was doubly annoying today too, because a friend of mine who teaches in the district texted me last night asking me if I was available today and tomorrow.  I had to tell her I wasn't because of my half-day I thought I had today.  So she had to get another sub for those days.  So this morning's cancellation felts more like the lose of 2.5 days instead of just one half.

Annoying.

Never Was A Hottie

I bet you're just dying to know what that title's about!  Haha you will just have to keep reading and see!

Today I was doing another split-day.  I did the same kind of thing in November at the same school, actually.  I spent the morning in a first grade class, and the afternoon in a fourth grade.  The teachers were in the building, but at some meetings, so there were quite a few other subs in the building doing the same thing.  One was my friend Hannah, and another I recognized from my Corban days - absolutely could NOT remember her name though!

The first graders were a small group - only 19 there today.  I knew one of the kids from last year - he has a sort of uncommon name, and when the teacher mentioned him I wondered if it was the same kid.  She told me where he used to go to school, and sure enough, it was him!  He was somewhat of a handful last year, but he did really well for me this morning, so that was good.  I think I started off on a good note with him, because I went over and talked to him first thing in the morning and told him how I remembered subbing in his kindergarten class and how he was the only kid in this class that I already knew!  He seemed pleased by that little revelation. 

Basically all I did with this class was their reading groups.  We had 2 rotations before recess, 2 after recess and then they had lunch, which was went I switched classes.  But the funniest part of the day was when the kids were cleaning up and lining up for lunch.  I overhead a girl asking her friend if she was "a hottie".  To which the friend replied, "No, I'm a coldie".  Apparently that's their was of saying if they are having hot or cold lunch.  And they completely do not get the more common usage of the word "hottie".  It was just too funny.

The forth graders were a busy group.  The teacher had me facilitating a lot of group activities, which meant I was trying to quiet the group down most of the afternoon.  At one point I was writing some stuff on the board while they were working on their writing, and when I finished I realized it was on this insane downward slant.  So I erased a bunch of it and started again, trying to keep it mostly straight.  Second time was much better.  I stepped back and studied it.  Then I erased a couple other bits that were crooked and went to work fixing those.  Meanwhile, I did not notice that one of the girls in the front row was watching this entire process.  After I erased part for a third time, she sweetly said, "It doesn't have to be perfect."  Ahh...now you know you've crossed the line when a forth-grader feels the need to point out that you're being WAY to obsessive-compulsive!  I stopped fussing with it.

Well, tonight's stories are kind of random, but it's hard to tie things together from 2 different classes.  And I'm tired, so this may or may not be coherent.  Congrats for making it this far!  Happy Weekend!  (No school here on Friday - teacher inservice day).

Historic Day

Today I watched Barack Obama take the oath of office and become the 44th president of the United States.  The reporters are frequently calling it the beginning of a new era.  Well, I'm hoping that today is a beginning of a new era of the sub system!  And if I continue to get jobs, I'd be happy to give Obama all the credit! :)

Anyways, I was actually watching the inauguration this morning and had resigned myself to not having a job again.  When right before the prayer my phone started ringing!  (A sound I have not heard for a long long time!)  It was the sub system (which has not called me since the beginning of December!)  The job I was given was a morning half-day, but I was just so grateful to get anything!  The down side was that the job was supposed to start at 8....it was currently 8:45.  So obviously, I was a little late!  The school is also on the complete other end of town.  So by the time I got dressed, grabbed my stuff, set the DVR to tape the rest of the inauguration coverage, drove across town, and found a parking space, it was about 9:15.  

I was supposed to be subbing in a fifth grade, but that class was soon to have PE and the office wanted me to go cover for a 3rd grade class while my class was covered because the sub for the 3rd grade wasn't there yet.  They were trying to figure out where the wanted me, when and such for quite a while before they finally decided to just have me stay with the 3rd graders (since they needed a sub in that room right away) and they'd send the other sub to the 5th grade (since they didn't need to sub there for about 30 minutes).  The kids were watching Obama give his speech at this point, so I had a minute to look over the plans and get instructions from the other 3rd grade teachers.

After the end of Obama's speech, the 3rd grade classes rotated to new rooms.  At this point I read a book to the new group called, So You Want to be President?  This took the whole time (we actually didn't even finish the book) and then we switched classes again!  And so I read the book to the new group!  After this my original class came back, and I immediately lined them up for PE, which an assistant took them to.  I read while I waited for the teacher to come back, and she gave me a big stack of papers she needed cut in two.  After I did that I was done for the day!  Pretty nice start to the week!

She Lives!!

I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to write in this blog again!  It's be pretty weird for the last month.  Let's catch up!  Okay, so the week before Christmas vacation we had a wild snow and ice storm here in Salem and school got cancelled for the entire week.  Then it was vacation for two weeks, and I spent the first week still stuck here in the snow.  Was able to make it home for the second week before I returned to Salem to start back subbing (or so I thought).  I expected the first week back to be slow - but I did not expect it to be non-existent!  I ended up not working at all last week.  This week I was hoping it would pick up, but again, it has been mind-numbingly slow!  My roommate, who also subs, got called 4 times this week while I have not gotten called once.  It's been very frustrating.  

I did however, manage to snag myself a job online for today.  I was subbing in a first grade bilingual class in one of the smaller schools in the district.  The day was mostly fine aside from the soreness of my voice called by talking over the ceaseless chatter of my first-grade charges.  That and the 10 minute delay getting into the building.  I go there on time, but I couldn't get in because all the doors were locked.  All the schools keep their doors locked, so I'm used to that - you just have to ring a buzzer by the door and someone in the office remotely unlocks the door so you can come in.  Problem today was the no on was in the office (or anywhere to be seen) when I got there to ring the buzzer!  Turns out they were all in a meeting.  So I had to wait outside quite a while before someone finally found me.  The kids were mostly nice, but they just could NOT shut up to save their lives!  Every time I turned around I was telling someone to be quiet or to sit down.  Lots of times I tried to get their attention by using a clapping pattern.  They would repeat the pattern back to me like they were supposed to, but then they just keep right on talking like nothing had happened!  I was about to lose my mind!  They also liked to yell out "TEACHER! TEACHER!!" whenever they wanted my attention.  And no matter how many times I told them to raise their hands, or that "I don't talk to people who yell at me" it didn't seem to stick with them for long.  I had to speak loudly many times simply because that was the ONLY way I could even get their attention.  So my voice is very tired...doesn't help that I haven't used it this much for nearly 5 weeks either!

I've got a job for Thursday next week, and there's no school on Monday or Friday.  I'm hoping I can get some stuff for the other two days so I don't feel like the despised one of the calling system anymore!