Dobraye Utrah

Today I leaned to speak Russian.

Well, I learned how to say "Good Morning." It's today's blog title! (One of the little girls in today's class told me she spoke Russian, so I had her teach me a sentence.)

Anyway, got called a little on the late side today, and of course, whenever that happens it's when I'm called to go all the way across town.

I arrived to learn that there was a student teacher in this class. I also learned that they were all expecting a different substitute to come (one who apparently had accepted the job earlier). Not quite sure what the explanation for that is, except for maybe the other sub got sick. The student teacher was doing a teacher degree program - not a bachelor's degree. She told me she'd taught for many years as an IA in the schools.

So she was experienced with kids and didn't really need my help at all. Of course I got the standard, "How many years have you been subbing?" followed by the obligatory, "Oh! So is subbing what you want to do or do you want your own classroom?" Honestly, I think I'm about ready to start answering this question by saying "Yes, I just want to substitute" because it avoids the inevitable pity-, advice-, pep talk- or I-just-can't-believe-you-can't-get-a-job-speeches. The first three mean well, the latter is just annoying. Today I got a little bit of the second, followed by a smattering of the third. I've sat through worse.

Anyway, she taught the whole day today. I made some flashcards, and prepped a few envelopes and popsicle sticks for a word game. I also gave each kids their spelling test individually (Some of them I gave them two tests because the student teacher showed me which words she thought I should test them on and it turned out the be the wrong list! I got about halfway through before I figured it out.) Then I worked with a few kids during math activities and writing.

They were a cute class, and MAN did they have a lot of chanted back-and-forth responses. The teacher would say "Class" in some sing-song voice or multiple times and they'd reply "Yes" in a matching tone or number. They also did this thing where the teacher would say "mirror open", they'd repeat and then mimic all the hand motions she made while giving directions. Then she'd say "mirror closed" and they'd all stop. It was interesting. Couldn't really see if it helped them pay attention....it sort of distracted me! :)

COLD!

Today was a little strange, because while it felt like I subbed for a whole day, it was only half! Not that the kids were so terrible that they day seemed endless - they were actually pretty good and I'm sure I could have survived another 3 hours with them. However, it was a half-day for students at the school today, and so while I subbed from the time they arrived to the time they went home, it was just 'til noon.

Following me?

In today's events:

-When I left this morning, it was snowing! Surprisingly, the kids didn't seem that obsessed over it.

-We did math, took a bathroom break (surprisingly, quietest they were all day - when they were lining up in the hall waiting for everyone else to be done to go back to class), then did writing.

-We had a fire drill right before I was going to take the class to PE, and it was freezing outside! All the kids and teachers were shivering. Seriously - not fun!

-During their PE time, I went to the cafeteria and picked up the sack lunches - 18 sacks and 18 chocolate milks (nobody wanted white milk!) and carried them back to the room. They are a lot heavier than you'd think. Those last 10 feet were killer.

-After PE, they ate their lunch, I supervised, then they cleaned up and went home! It went by pretty fast. Nice thing about a half day is that none of them really have enough time to annoying you too much. :)

"Fur, Feathers, Scales....

...Shells or Skin,

What do they wear to keep their insides in?"

Sang that song about 5 times today.

It sticks in your head!

We also sang, "Going to the Zoo", "I'm Being Swallowed By A Boa Constrictor", "If I Were a Little Frog", "Rattlesnake, Rattlesnake", "I Was Sittin' Down to Eat", "Hakuna Matata", "If I Were...", "I Can't Spell Hippopotamus" and "Crocodile."

Do you detect a theme?

If you guessed animal songs - you're right! The 1st and 2nd graders are preparing for a program in a couple weeks. I had 5 classes of primary kids, so I sang most of the songs 5 times! I came home humming the tune of about everyone one in turn.

As for the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, we played recorders for about half of their music time (I learned last time that was all I could tolerate!) and then I taught them a game that my music-teacher mom taught me. Basically, it's a bean-bag toss game. Two teams try to land their bean bag on a musical staff and name the note it lands on. Higher notes on the staff are harder to land on so they're worth more points. They all seemed to enjoy it - especially the boys in the 3rd grade class because they absolutely creamed their girl opponents.

The 5th grade class was enormous (34 kids!) but they were pretty enjoyable - although any tiny bit of chatter seems super loud with that many of them! Still, I enjoyed the 5th grade more this time than last time.

And, on the plus side, howling boy was not there today!

It was busy and tiring, but a pretty good Friday. I survived despite the "crazy hair day" and intermittent snow. :)

Grade School Drama

This morning I got called back to the same class I subbed for yesterday. The day went pretty much the same although no hail, for which I was thankful!

Basically the biggest problems of the day were a bunch of boys who were always off-task, playing or just talking too much, and another group of mostly girls who were having some argument/crisis over some "groups" they were making up and whether or not someone was invited, excluded, kicked-out, etc. I never really could figure out what exactly was going on. One girl was crying, another was really defensive, and all the rest gathered around seemed to just enjoy the drama.

Personally, I prefer my dramas BBC style, not in person! :)

Hail is Evil

Today was a whirlwind of a day!

First, I got called at 8:20 for this job that started at 8:30. It was way across town, for a 3/4 blend, bilingual, and I just didn't really want to do it! So I turned it down.

A couple minutes later, I get another call from the real-live-person line of the sub office. Basically, they really needed a sub for the class, and were having trouble filling it.

It's a lot harder to say no to a live person than a recording!

So I took it.

By the time I arrived, some adult was in the room was taking the kids to music, after which they had PE. I had about a hour to myself to read over what I was doing and figure out how I was going to go about it.

On the whole, the kids were alright. Chatty, but not terrible.

The worst part of the day was during their lunch time, when I was one lunch duty. See, there was one other adult in the room, and I wasn't exactly sure if I was supposed to be in charge or if she was. And she didn't seem too bothered by some of the insanity that was going on, and I wasn't sure if I should jump in, or if I'd be stepping on her toes. Probably wouldn't even have mattered if it hadn't started hailing during their lunch! Of course, the kids see whitish precipitation falling outside, and what do they immediately yell? "SNOW!!!!!" Calming them down after that point was futile. They were jumping up and down, running to the windows, screaming - it was madness. Once we finally left to go back to the room (which, unfortunately is a portable, heck, even the main building isn't connected to the cafeteria!) the kids were sliding around on the slushy ground, picking up slush balls and throwing them at each other, and generally stomping up the ramp and yelping and making as much noise as possible! Hail. Evil. I tell you.

Shockingly (haha), it melted in about 5 minutes and we moved on with the day.

I hate winter weather. Sunshine please!

Valentine's Hangover

Today I was back in the kindergarten from Friday.

Since I'd last seen them, they'd had their Valentine's Day party, and let me tell you, I think they got a lot of candy! Those kids were hyper today! Lots of giggling, fidgeting, bouncing, and inattention. Despite this, it was a pleasant day. I managed to not repeat my slip-up from Friday and we got all things done we needed to: learned about sharks, practiced making patterns, read books, wrote words, had recess, done!

Tomorrow is still a mystery - we shall see if a job comes calling....

Oops!

I forgot to write about my Friday last week!

So basically, there was a significant mix-up that was pretty much my fault. But it was resolved, and no one was worse for the wear. That's all the details you get on this blog - I don't really feel like detailing my mistakes in writing. :)

The day was fun though, the kids were mostly good (except for one incident on the playground), and the day went by really fast because they had library, which when you only go to school for half a day, takes out a big chunk! And since I had two half-day classes, and they both went to library, I had lots of time to work on the projects the teacher left for me.

That's what I did. :)

Recorders Are Not Sub-Friendly

Today I ventured back into the world of subbing for music!

It was part irritating, part fun:

Irritating: fifth graders with attitudes, fourth graders with attitudes, fifth, forth and third graders who won't stop playing their recorders when I tell them to, and a first grader who doesn't listen to me and sometimes howls like a wolf when I'm talking.

Fun: having kids I haven't seen for a few years remember me with a smile, having two of my neighbor girls in class and having them be so excited to tell their class that they know me, having a problem child from last year happy to see me and eager also to tell his class that we are "pals", teaching the third graders to notice a rest in their recorder music and to separate the notes they are playing, and listening to the 1st and 2nd graders sing songs about animals all afternoon.

Blastoff!

Finally back to working today - I just wish I'd had more notice! Got called at about 8:20 for an 8:30 job. After a quick run around to get ready, I arrived at the school, in the room to realize that I've been in this class already this year! (I was pretty sure the teacher's name was familiar).

She was still there when I arrived and was typing up lessons. Unfortunately, the lessons she had me doing were pretty vague and a little challenging for a sub. Lots of big chunks independent work time that's hard to manage when you don't know the kids very well. We did writing in Spanish (thankful for help from the IA!), the same exact writing in English, and counting practice. That's it for the whole day. See what I mean about big chunks of time?

The math was supposed to be about an 50 minutes worth of time and the direction I was given was to practice counting backwards. I was at a loss as to how this could possibly be made to take 50 minutes and not bore the kids out of their minds. Thankfully, I remembered this game I'd read about for spelling and I adapted it for the backwards counting. We called it "Blastoff". We'd start at some number and count backwards, one number per kid, down to zero. The kid after zero would say "blastoff!" and sit down. Then we'd continue from a new number with the next kid, so on and so on until there was only one kid left. They liked this, although there were a few that didn't pay very much attention; however, I think it worked a lot better that just sitting at their desks with their hundreds sheet and counting!

There was some talk of the teacher wanting me to come back tomorrow before she left, but when I left school there was no more word from her, so I guess she's feeling better.

Too Many Grown-Ups

This morning I got another late call for the same job I did on Friday - Even Start preschool for kids 3 and under. It was much the same as Friday except that it was really nice out so we took a walk around the (very picturesque) neighborhood. It was an okay day except sometimes I didn't know what to do! Basically my instructions were to play with the kids. Sometimes the IAs would decide to start some project but didn't usually tell me what they were doing so I wasn't sure if they wanted me to help or just keep playing.

Also, there were 7 adults in the room today! (Normally there are 4. I don't know who the other 3 people were- no one ever told me. But they knew the kids so I guess they must come fairly frequently.) Shortly after I got there the director came in and saw me walking around the room observing the kids. He then went into this long description of how to get down and play with them ....guess he didn't notice that there were no kids that weren't already playing with an adult in a too crowded area.

Anyway, it was an okay day but I'm hoping for bigger kids tomorrow and less adults so I actually feel useful!