Penguins on Parade

Two days in a row in one class...now that's kinda nice.  My day today had much less drama in the getting-there than it did yesterday.  No snow, or pushing cars up hills for me!  The day at school was much the same as yesterday although there were more kids here today.  I worked on a painting project with the kids in the morning while the assistant ran the literacy time (since it's all done in Spanish).  I got paint all over the table - yes, I did - the kids were relatively neat, but I spilled a container of paint - again - I did almost the exact same move yesterday!  Granted, the kids never actually touched the paint since they were just rolling a marble around in a container that I put paint in.  As well as getting paint on the table, I also got it on my shirt!  Thankfully, it was just tempera so it just washed right out.

In the afternoon I worked with the kids on the completion of a writing project.  They wrote a poem about penguins earlier in the day on a template the shape of an egg.  The egg shape eventually was to become the white stomach of a paper penguin.  We made the penguins.   This resulted in LOTS of paper bits all over the floor.  This was probably the most chaotic part of the day because all the kids were at different points of their project, and lots of them needed additional pieces of paper, but since I wasn't just letting them come and get whatever they wanted (because sure as anything they would take way too much and waste three-fourths of it), they were all crowding around me yelling out whatever they wanted as well as exclamations of "Teacher! Teacher!!".  I kept having to shoo them away trying to get them to sit at their seats and raise their hands!  This scene happened three or four times at least.  They were very excited though because when they finished their penguin with the poem I was giving them new colors of paper and letting them make a baby penguin to go with the big penguin they made.  And when you're in first grade, making a baby penguin is like, soooo much more fun than making a regular-sized one!  When I first told them they could make a baby penguin when they finished their poem I was meet with a chorus of "Awwwwwwww!"s.  You'd think I'd just brought a wagon full of puppies into the room with the reaction they game me!

After the penguin madness I had a hour prep, but it was completely taken up (to the last second) by a little project I imposed on myself to get ready for ELD (English Language Development) which is at the end of the day.  I was cutting and pasting and drawing to make a couple visuals of suitcases of clothes so we could practice talking about singular and plural words.  I was really glad I'd done it though because it made ELD go much smoother than yesterday and kept the kids engaged.  I left my creations with the teacher though since I thought she might have more use for them than I would.  Hopefully they just don't hit the recycle bin right away!

Winter Wackiness

Well do I have some tales to tell today!!  So this morning I got up and started to get ready as usual.  I saw roommate and she said she hadn't heard anything about a delay or school closure.  I then remembered that the weather people had said we might have snow last night.  I then asked her if it snowed last night.  She said the radio said we had some but she hadn't looked outside yet.  I then went to my window and looked out.  I believe my exact words were, "OH my!"  There were nearly two inches of snow on the ground and the street and the cars.  But for some bizarre reason the Salem-Keizer school district did not delay school (which I think was particularly nuts.)

So I got ready to go...trying to be quick because I'm factoring in at least 30 minutes for my drive that would normally take 15-20 minutes.  Roommate has a job to, but she has a big heavy car with no traction tires.  She has to leave about 30 minutes before I do because her school today has an earlier start time.  Well, she can't get out of our driveway, which is a pretty steep uphill climb.  She calls me from her car and asks me to come push.  I'm dressed for

 school already but I put on my snow boots (thank you again mom, for insisting I bring those with me when I moved last year), my coat and went out to try to help.  Once out the door I meet our neighbor girl who's probably in the 3rd grade, who's usually very chatty.  She launches into about how cool the snow is and chatters away as I attempt to push roommate's car up the hill.  However, not even my incredible strength can accomplish this feat.  I am soon joined by 2 of our neighbors (on of them the little girl's dad) who help push the car.  With our powers combined we managed to push that behemoth boat all the way to the top!  Unfortunately, somehow during our quest I ended up behind the passenger side wheel - which did a lovely job of spraying my all over with slushy driveway snow.  Once roommate was on her way I returned to the apartment and wasted about 10 minutes in the bathroom using the hairdryer on my pants.  Then I had to run around like a mad woman grabbing my lunch and my coat and getting new gloves (my previous pair was soaked) and changing shoes and the like.  Then it was my turn to attempt the hill - solo.

Thankfully, my car has studded tires still and despite a little bit of floundering I made it up the hill with no problems.  The drive to school was insane.  All the roads were covered in slushy yuck except for Mission Street which is pretty much the biggest main drag in town besides I-5.  I made it to school and the drama for the day was mostly over.

After that it was smooth sailing.  The kids were actually very under-control considering the wild weather.  The assistant who spoke Spanish was there to run the morning, and the jobs I had to do were easy.  The afternoon was taken up by a lesson from the counselor, Library, and PE.  The only bad things were that the last half-hour was filled with chatty kids and I gave myself a paper cut while trying to pass out papers.  The kids were quite intrigued with that.  I made a hissing ouch sound (you know, like when you suck in air through your teeth) when I did it and then they all begged to see it.  Because apparently a paper cut is exciting news when you're a first grader.  Forget the snow, the sub, the art project, the sub got a PAPER CUT!!  My life's complete.  

Guisaxitars and Drumbaphones

The evening has gotten away from me, so I'm going to try to make this short.

I didn't have to do much teaching today because the kindergarten assistant did the majority of it.  I had some kids read to me and made running records.  I also did some coloring, stapling, and sorting for the teacher.  At one point I made a spreadsheet.  I mostly tried to stay awake.  You see, I got the call for this job at 5:30 this morning (a most ungodly hour of the morning).  Then I remembered that this class was the room with the pet bunny.  So before I headed out the door at around 8 I took a couple Benadryl to ward off any allergy attack.  Forgot that one of Benadryl's side-effects is drowsiness.  Yeah, they mean that.  I was REALLY sleepy and the room was warm and I didn't have a lot to occupy myself before the kids arrived, so I was fading fast.  But I didn't have an allergy attack, so I guess it was worth it.

The title for this blog was chosen because the kids had made pictures of Seuss-inspired instruments - lots of parts of normal instruments connected together to make something new and crazy.  Today they named them.  Those are some examples.  I laughed a lot at this project.  They had some crazy sounding names!

There Is No 'But...'

Last night, after spending two mind-numbing hours watching the Bachelor, I got on to the sub site and found a job for today!  It was for a second grade at one of the few schools I haven't been to yet.  I believe this brings my total to 37: been to, and 10: not been to.  Impressive, no?  Add in the 3 schools in Astoria and one in Warrenton and that brings my total of schools taught in to 41!  Yahoo!

Anyways, the school I was going to today is like on the complete other end of town, so I had to leave kind of early this morning.  I arrived to find all supplies and schedule laid out nice and orderly and an attendance list of 24 kids - 18 girls and 6 boys.  The morning went pretty well and we sailed through the schedule without any problems.

However, after lunch, music, PE, and a lesson from the counselor, they were all pretty wound up.  We tried to do math, something they've apparently done before, but about half of them needed my help and were not very patient and would resort to getting up and following me around after a while.  The other half was just loud.  I had to keep stopping every 5 minutes to tell them to sit down and work quietly.  It was frustrating for them to have to wait so long for help, but it was also frustrating to me because I just couldn't get around fast enough!  After a while of this I noticed two girls in particular who were bickering with each other.  One would push the supplies container in the middle of the table closer to the other, and then the other would push it back with increasing force and dirty looks each time.  Then one girl started to reach over and scribble on the other's name tag.  That girls would erase it, and the scribbler would reach over and do it again.  So at this point I stepped in.  I asked them what the problem was and they both launched into some story about who did what.  I told them to keep their pencils on their own paper and to just leave each other alone.  Well, it had not been 2 minutes later when I see these girls just shooting daggers at each other with their eyes.  I mean they had the nastiest looks on their faces!  Then girl A grabs the supplies container and puts it on the floor, which just makes girl B even more mad.  I told girl A to put it back, and now I can see she's starting to get frustrated with me.  So I went over and talked to them again!  (Meanwhile I've got like 10 other kids with their hands raised who need my help and I'm being distracted by the bickering girls - so I'm getting pretty irritated with them).  I told these girls they needed to knock it off, and since they obviously couldn't get along they were not to talk to each other, look at each other or touch each other for the rest of the day.  They were also to keep their hands on their side of the table, and to not touch the supplies anymore.  At this point girl A made the mistake of trying to argue with me ("...but she...!").  Bad idea.  So then I said in my loud-enough-for-everyone-to-hear-me-voice, "No.  There is no 'but...".  There is 'Yes, Miss Barnes.'  There is 'Okay, Miss Barnes.'  But there is no 'but...'.  So lets try that again." (A set of phrases I learned from another teacher this year on how to prevent kids from arguing with you.)  Girl A did not apparently think I meant it because she attempted the, "...but she...!" again.  So I repeated myself again.  Pretty much everyone is listening to us now, so she decided to quit trying to argue and give it up with the phrase I was looking for, "Yes, Miss Barnes."  After this point the girls continued to look like someone had force-fed them lemons for lunch but I didn't have to deal with them again.  However, I did give one of my timeless lectures to the class on how, "In life you are going to have to sit next to, work with and probably live with people who make you crazy.  Best get used to it and learn to deal with it now."  Oh so many pearls of wisdom for the day!

Puzzles

I have so little to say today that I almost forgot to do an entry at all!  

My day was pretty easy.  The kids were fine and the activities we did were nothing out of the ordinary.  They had a "homework celebration" at the end of the day where all the kids who'd turned in all their homework for the week got to play games for a while.  This week everyone got to participate.  I brought some of those metal puzzles with me - the kind with lots of loops and shapes connected and there's some piece that you're supposed to try to get off.  They had lots of fun trying to figure these out, although no one could actually do it.  Unfortunately, I hadn't done them for a while either so I couldn't remember the right way.  Next time I'll be sure to practice the steps so I can really wow them.

Simon Says...

This morning I was quite crabby. Why you ask? Well, last night I saw a job on the sub site that I wanted but I didn't get it because my computer was too slow. Then I did not get a call or see a job listed all morning. I sat by my computer and hit refresh. Roommate slept, then got up and sat downstairs and ate breakfast. Sometime during this time she did get a call for a full day today at a nice school. Even though she worked the same amount this week as me and she has jobs for each day next week. So I was peeved.

However, the day did take a turn for the better later. I got a call for an afternoon job in a bilingual 5th grade. They had a student teacher and she did all the teaching. I did some cutting and pasting (I'm quite gifted at this). I also did recess duty. And right after recess we had a surprise fire drill...which for some reason I read the roll to make sure none of the students were trapped in the imaginary burning building. None were. I was surprised they wanted to me read it though - the student teacher and the assistant were both there and I know they both knew the class better than I did - I thought they'd want to do it. However, I am also quite skilled at calling out names loud enough for all to hear - it's called "projecting your voice", not yelling - a skill in which many are sorely lacking.

Anyways, on the way back in from the drill we were locked out of the building. Something to do with the card reader locking all cards out during a drill. So nobody had an actual key - we just had key cards and they didn't work for about 5 minutes. One of the student teachers started playing Simon Says with the kids -which worked mostly well, until "Simon said" to "cry like a baby". In order to get them to stop she had to blow her whistle, which, unfortunately was the *exact* same loudness and pitch of the "crying". You get the picture. Eventually they stopped though, and the card reader worked again and we went back inside and I resumed my gluing.

Tomorrow, it's back to my bilingual 3rd graders from weeks prior. It's afternoon only, so I'm sleeping in! :)

Allergies

This morning I arrived at school to discover that I was not subbing in the class I thought I was!  I was subbing a half-day in kindergarten, but it was for the other kindergarten class.  Somehow I had just not realized this.  Anyways, so I set out for this new kinder class and couldn't find the plans anywhere in the room.  I walked up to the office to check the teacher's box, but all I found there was the attendance folder.  So I brought this back and looked some more.  I knew there had to be plans, because this was an absence planned long in advance.  I eventually concluded that the assistant must know where they are, so I patiently waited for her to arrive.

A few minutes later the teacher blew into the room and she delivered the plans to me.  Turns out the assistant was going to do a majority of the morning, and I'd just work on some projects as well as pulling kids over one at a time and having them read to me.  (They were an amazingly advanced group of kiddos with their reading!)

Throughout the course of the morning, and during the time I was reading with one of the kids (about an hour after I'd arrived) I came to the realization that yes, I am in fact, allergic to rabbits.  The class has a pet rabbit, and although this bunny wasn't there today (it was at the teacher's house) the room's memory of its presence was enough to set me sniffing.  Pretty soon my nose was running, my eyes got all watery, my hands started feeling swollen and itchy and I couldn't stop sneezing.  I finished up with the girl who was reading with me and went to find my purse and my Benadryl.  Took it about a half-hour to kick in, so I was a sniffly mess until then.  If I ever go back to this class again I'll remember to drug up prior to arriving!  Other than that it was good though - easy and the kids were sweet.  I'm just glad I carry a container of Benadryl with me everywhere I go!

Valentine's Revisited

Alright, this is probably going to be a short entry, because I don't have a lot to say, and because American Idol is on in 10 minutes so I've gotta write fast!! 

Snagged a job online this morning in a 4th grade class at one of my "top schools".  The kids were SUPER sweet and well-behaved.  Sometimes I thought they really didn't need me there.  Seriously, I think I could have left for a few hours and they have just kept right on working and not notice.

The day was almost boring it was so easy at times.  We didn't really do much - well, I didn't really do much.  Reading - I followed along as they took turns reading from their text, then I read while they silent read.  Writing - I read while the wrote.  Lunch - I did have lunch duty. Math, I helped a little with that.  Spelling - taught a couple brief things.  Then we had a Valentine's party!  Because apparently they had left over cupcakes from Friday - and they had a LOT of left over cupcakes!  So we ate those and goofed around for 10 minutes.  Thus I was very popular.  I learned later that one of the girls told her mom that I was "the nicest substitute [they've] ever had!".

So that's cool.

Tomorrow I'm going back to the same school to a kindergarten class - I've been in this class a couple times already and they're fun - so I'm looking forward to that.

Now, onto AI!

Valentine's Day (Observed)

1) I didn't have a camera. And...
2) I don't post pictures of kids or classrooms on this blog, but...

I wish you could see this kid's face! I was subbing in a 4/5 blend today - Valentine's Day (observed) for the schools of Salem (and probably everyone else too I guess). Well, it probably goes without saying that we had a Valentine's party at (blessedly) the end of the day. The kids eagerly tore into their Valentine boxes and marveled at the treasure-trove of candies and sweets that greeted them. On boy in particular decided at some point that his new purpose in life was to consume as many candy treats as he could in the course of the 30 minutes we had for our party. He made a valiant effort, and by the time I became aware of his quest, he had devoured at least 6 "Fun Dips" treats. Let me describe a "Fun Dips" for you: hard sugar candy stick which the child shall lick and then dip into a packet of tart, brightly-colored sugar powder. Eat and enjoy. Well, the Fun Dips said boy had eaten were all a lovely shade of green or blue...therefore his thumb and index finger (where he grasped the sugar stick) , his lips, his teeth, his tongue, and yes, it even seemed the very shadows of his mouth were transformed to a mottled shade of neon green and blue. Combine this with his manic grin and over-dilated pupils (surely caused by the sugar high he was experiencing) and he was quite the sight. At one point another student proclaimed to me that he had eaten 8 (!) of "those things" and I should tell him to stop. To which I replied, "I don't care what he eats, in 5 minutes he's not my responsibility anymore!" The rest of them showed a little more restrain and probably won't be slipping into a sugar coma tonight.

And as if this blog wasn't funny enough (at least I hope you're laughing) - I've got another tale for you! Earlier in the day I was supervising the class while they worked on various projects. I had the schedule from the teacher up front with me, which she had signed with her full name. A girl came up to me as some point and started looking at the schedule. She saw the name on the sheet and read it out loud asking, "Who's that?" To which I replied, "Your teacher." She then quipped back (in all seriousness I believe) as she walked away, "No it's not, her name is Mrs.!"

Best Teacher Ever

Today I earned the title, "Best Teacher Ever!"  Bet you are

 wondering what I did to deserve this honor?  Well, let me tell you: when the kids arrived this morning one asked me if they could draw in their journals.  They were supposed to be reading after they put their stuff away, but I said they could draw if they wanted (I didn't really care).  Usually they only get to draw on Friday mornings, but because I let them do it on Thursday (!) it apparently nominated me for sainthood - at least in their minds.  To show their eternal gratitude to me, they drew me many pictures - two of which are featured on the right.  Both of these, as I'm sure you can tell, are portraits of me!  I'm still not sure why I have a cat on my head in the second one. :/

The day really pretty well with the exception of the last 10 minutes or so.  It was at that time that all the students unanimously (okay, really only about 5-7 of them) decided to bicker with each other and yell and pick on each other, and run around the room and hide under tables.  Yeah.  That lasted for oh...about 5 seconds - and then they got to meet not-nice Miss Barnes.  She made them all sit on the carpet in silence until the final bell rang while she talked to them about the behavior that was expected.  They did not like this.  But it was quiet.  

I win.

Tomorrow it's a return to my favorite school for a 4/5 blend.  Hopefully I'll get to do some fun Valentine's stuff with them!

Cutting Paper and Filing

Pretty much that's what I did today.  I was lucky enough to get to return to a class who I knew had a student teacher.  She was in the middle of her full-time teaching, so she did everything - the lessons, taking them places and picking them up.  The only thing I did was recess duty and I brought them in from recess.  

The rest of the day I did a lot of cutting and pasting.  The teacher had a bunch of printed-out pictures that she wanted cut out an affixed to colored construction paper before she laminated it.  After that I organized a drawer in a file cabinet and made file folders for a couple stacks of Investigations (math) materials.  I was a little tired of all the sitting, and my back kinda hurt from sitting on those cold hard metal chairs all day, but I really didn't mind doing the projects.  It was better than just having to sit there and stare off into space.  The teacher was very appreciative - it saved her nearly 7 hours of work!

Cute story:  Can't remember exactly how it came up, but at one point a kid raised his hand during a conversation and said that his mom said that there's something you learn when you don't have much money: that money isn't really that important, and you learn to trust in God instead.  I thought it was cool that he just shared that with his entire class! :)

Full Day Surprise

I was scheduled to work a morning half day today in a school I went to at the end of January.  However, on my way to the school this morning (amid the falling snow) I got a phone call from the secretary of the school telling me that the teacher needed to extend her absence to a full day and wondering if I could do the full day.  I could, but unfortunately, I hadn't brought a lunch with me.  I was about 15 minutes early though, and almost at the school so I just swung into a Fred Meyer nearby and went in and bought one of those microwavable pasta things.  I could have just gotten a school lunch, but I didn't really want to fuss with getting in line with the kids and also, I just didn't want to eat cafeteria food!  It seems like everyday I'm thankful that I actually feel like I know this city and can think of where stuff is in relation to where I am - made finding a grocery store much easier!

Anyways, the kids were fine today.  A little wound up, but otherwise okay.  It was a really busy day for me - only had a half hour without the class during the day for PE - and that time I spent reading the plans that had just arrived for the afternoon.  Then I had lunch of course, which I spent eating! haha

So I was pooped.  And my voice was sore because a cold is trying to get me.  I am trying to teach it that it should fear me.  I believe it is slowly realizing this fact, but it is having a bit of fun with my throat while learning this lesson.  Zicam is my friend.  End of blog.

Onto My Spanish-Free Weekend!

Wow.  Am I ever tired.   I proclaim this week "Bilingual Week" and as such, all people shall be extra nice to me from this point on, and not speak to me in Spanish anymore!

Today I was in yet another bilingual first grade.  First graders are always tiring, but when they are trying to communicate with you in a foreign language that you only have a minimal grasp of - it's utterly exhausting!

Today's first graders seemed to have a better understanding of English than the earlier groups of the week.  It actually did help for the beginning part of the day, which is surprising since I had to lead reading groups (all books in Spanish) and supervise writing time (which again, was all done in Spanish).  The afternoon got a little dicey though.  First off, right after lunch was ELD (English Language Development) - all the schools with high populations of non-native English speakers have this subject built into the day, and all use the same curriculum.  However, the teacher had not left me any plans for ELD.  The schedule she left simply said "ELD" on it.  There were no flashcards, books, worksheets or anything set out for this time.  I quickly found the curriculum book, but there was no indication in it as to what lesson they were on.  I ended up reading them a book, and then giving them a coloring page for the rest of the time.  They liked this.

After ELD we were supposed to watch a movie.  Now, when I first saw this in the plans, I was happy that I'd have an easy end to the day...that was until I saw what movie was planned.  She had left the Disney cartoon version of Cinderella for us to watch.  Now I love Cinderella, but this class was nearly 2/3 boys!  So of course they all turned their noses up at that saying "it's a girly movie".  So instead of it being a nice relaxing end of the day it ended up being a highly stressful and frustrating end to the day where I spent the entire time trying to get them to not talk.  Sure, I could have just stopped the movie and done something else, but there were no other activities left by the teacher, and some activities I might normally do with a class I couldn't do with this group because it would involve reading something in English that would be too complex for them, or trying to explain something complicated to them in English knowing only half would understand.  So I muddled through the movie and prayed that time would somehow speed up.  I survived.  Barely.

Why oh why couldn't we have watched Toy Story?!

A Stressful Fiftieth Post

This is my FIFTIETH entry to this blog!  I'm pretty excited about that. :)

Today's job was a morning in first grade that I'd accepted sometime last week.  It was at the same school as yesterday, but a different class.  When I took the job I thought it was for an English first grade, but yesterday I found out that it was bilingual as well.

The teacher told me that she was going to have the classroom aide do a bunch of stuff in Spanish since I don't speak it.  Unfortunately, after the kids arrived this morning I learned that the aide was sick and they didn't have a sub for her.  I got an assistant for about 45 minutes in the morning from some other room, but then I was one my own.  On my own with 25 kids who all spoke Spanish and had varying knowledge of English - it is solely a testament to how long I have been doing this that I managed to avoid having a panic attack.  A couple years ago I would have totally freaked out - inward freak out, but freak out nonetheless.  Now I just glide right over a freak out (realize that I should be having one) and move onto "Dang it, what do I do 

now?!".

What I did do was fake it.  I had kids translate for me when it was necessary, and basically had them reading, doing their on-going projects, and writing while I just tried to prevent chaos.  Mostly it was okay, but it was tiresome.  Tomorrow I'm subbing in yet another bilingual first grade (different school this time though).  Next week I'm hoping for a return to English because I'm really not cut out for this!

Lost in Translation

Another return visit to a class for me today.  I got my phone call (gasp!  yes, a PHONE CALL! - nothing sweeter than that robotic voice!) at 5:30am (that part wasn't so sweet, haha).  The job was for a bilingual first grade that I'd been to once before.

They were pretty good, as they were last time.  It's a little difficult occasionally because some of them don't speak much English, and they just assume you know everything, so they come up to you and start rattling off something in Spanish, and I can't catch any of it.  I can often understand teachers when they speak Spanish because they over-enunciate and speak slowly.  But natural speakers slur, and speak much faster so I can't hardly catch anything.  A couple time I had to grab one of the kids who I knew was very proficient in English and have him or her translate for me.  Thankfully there were quite a few who could do this very well. 

Not much of the day especially stands out to me.  It was fairly typical, and the kids were mostly well behaved.  Needed reminders to stop talking and such, but that's just your lot in life in first grade.  You know you're doing all right when they want to hold your hand to walk down the hall and randomly walk up to you and hug you throughout the day. :)

Student Teachers Are Awesome

Got a late call today - around 10:30, although it was just for an afternoon job in a third grade way up north in Salem.

It was super easy for me because the student teacher did everything! During their reading block I walked around and made sure the kids were on task while she did the reading groups. And then when they were doing a writing project I walked around and helped kids who needed it. But for the rest of the time I just sat off to the side of the room where I could keep my eyes on the students and I read my book.

At the end of the day one of the girls asked me, "How come you were here, but all you did was stand around?" I explained that, "You have a student teacher, and she gets to have today to practice teaching, so I'm just here to help." I guess this seemed like a satisfactory answer to her because she shrugged and then started talking to someone else. Kids. They say the darnedest things! :)