Loving the Countdown Timer

Today was an okay day despite that I was outside in a portable classroom and it was pouring down rain for most of the afternoon. We had to run through the rain into the building a couple times for bathroom breaks and I was really wishing for sun!

The kids were kind of wound up and chatty for most of the day. However, I didn't have much left for them to do during the last half hour of the day and I was really trying to get them to earn free choice time. We'd decided that morning that they needed 10 stars at the end of the day to earn it, and they still only had 7 at about an hour left. I found a way to give them 2 for walking quietly in the hall and coming back in and getting ready to work. They still needed one though, so I told them they had to work on their writing for 10 minutes without me having to remind them to be on task or in their seats. I found a countdown timer online and displayed it up on the Smart Board so the kids could see it from their desks. This turned out to be my best idea of the day! They were totally silent and writing the whole time and I was relieved to be able to let them have free time. They were also happy that they could draw, play games, or write on the mini white boards for a while.

Once again, I am the cool Miss Barnes. This is the best part of being the substitute. I get to be the fun one. :)

Doing Fine

This afternoon I returned to a familiar classroom.

Despite a few challenging kiddos, the day went pretty well. Sent one to the office for a time out, but he returned shortly and was much better for the rest of the day.

We also played BINGO at the end of the day. Some kids opted not to play and instead drew or colored. This worked out pretty well, and we had just enough time to make sure every kid playing got a BINGO, and therefore, got to pick a sticker.

All in all a successful afternoon.

Spillage

Today I returned to another familiar kindergarten.

The kids were super hyper!

So yes, it is spring even if the weather doesn't seem to think so.

We also dealt with lots of spills this morning! The kids have breakfast in the classroom (if they want to) and today it was cereal in those little plastic containers with the pull off paper lids, milk or apple juice and apples. We had about 3 or 4 kids spill their milk - a couple were big spills too. Also had another kid spill their entire apple juice. Then another dumped their cereal all over the floor (before putting milk in it.) It felt like I was spending the first 20 minutes of the day sweeping up cheerios, and mopping up milk. The floor was grossly sticky for the rest of the day.

And that's pretty much all of interest for the day. The rest was just calendar, writing (which was quite the struggle for some of them! I spent a good 5 minutes asking a kid what he saw on his plant only to get a completely blank stare!), counselor, and math.

Is it really only Tuesday? Feels much later....

Who Needs Lunch?

Not me apparently!

So today started out looking pretty nice and simple. I got called in the morning to sub for the morning half of the day in a kindergarten that I love. They also have a student teacher in this class so it looked like I'd be doing mostly one-on-one stuff with kids, not actually teaching.

Well, when I got there, the student teacher wasn't there. Then the IA arrived and the ST still wasn't there. He never did arrive in the time I was there and they were wondering what had happened to him. So I ended up doing the calendar with the kids while the IA got the morning work ready for the kids. Then I pulled kids out one at a time to read with me while I did running records. (When the teacher came in at noon she told me I was one of the very few people (the only?) who she trusted to do that job because she could actually understand my running records.)

So this basically took us up to lunch, which I didn't take because I was going home at noon. I instead did some photocopying. Well, at right about 30 minutes before I'm supposed to leave, the office manager comes down and says the sub office just called her and asked me if I could go to another school for the afternoon. I agreed, but had her tell them I wouldn't be able to get there right on time. They said that was OK.

The teacher got back, we chatted for 5 minutes and then I raced out the door. I'd thought I swing in to some fast food place and grab something for lunch, but traffic was bad and I was already late enough as it was so I just had to skip lunch.

I got to the second school to find out the kids weren't even there yet! (Now I'm longing for my missed lunch). I met the IA, who was uncomfortably quiet. I'm not sure if she was super shy, or didn't speak much English, or what, but she probably spoke 15 words to me all day. It was a little awkward - I didn't know what to say half the time!

The class was small, and thankfully it was pretty easy. I read a couple books, sang a couple songs, and then supervised them while they did their "jobs" (centers). About an hour and 15 minutes before the end of the day they had a school-wide assembly. We went to the gym and watched the hour-long talent show. The acts were a mixture of singing, dancing, and instrument-playing. We heard lots of Taylor Swift and Justin Beiber. It was pretty funny to watch the audience during these songs and they were invariable mouthing the words along with the act. A few of the singers were pretty good. One girl who sang a song called "Concrete Angel" was pretty talented, as was a boy who sang "Grenade", although he had a lack of timing. I'm still amazed that he managed to somehow finish at the same time as the music! It was fun, and a welcome relief to the awkward communication that was happening in the room before then. :)

"I'll Write You Up!"

^Words I have never said.

However, today I dealt with one child threatening to do just that to a bunch of other kids in the class. I never really did figure out what she meant by that, because when I told the others that she couldn't write them up - shes's just a kid, the informed me that she could. There's some sort of reporting list somewhere I guess. I had at least 4 kids come up to me and tell me she'd made the threat over something they never did. Little miss "write-you-up" denied ever saying such a thing. I did not buy it (I know these kids pretty well by now and it definitely seems like something she'd do.) There were arguments about it in the morning, dirty looks shot at each other throughout the day, and a big (verbal) fight at recess which culminated in one girl crying and the rest huddling together and shooting furtive glances at me. I had to go get my counselor on and try to help them work it out without them all just exclaiming, "I did NOT!" after everything the other kid said. Eventually we came in from recess - with all of the girls with their grumpy faces on. However, they finally seemed to realize they were first graders, not middle schoolers and 3 minutes later the 2 heads of the opposing parties are walking around the room with their arms around each other and proclaiming to me that, "We worked it out now Miss Barnes!"

Sigh. Equal parts relieved and exasperated! I can tell it's spring!

Just Stop Making That Face

Today went pretty decently. For the most part I was able to keep the kiddos under control, and that's saying something!

Nobody went to the office because they were in trouble (although one child went twice for other reasons (more on that in a minute)).

The morning started oddly when the principal came in with a giant stack of printed papers and asked me if I'd happened to send this to the printer. It had to have been like 300 sheets at least! I told him that I hadn't, and he said it had showed it came from the teacher's account whom I was subbing for. He left them in the room. Still puzzled about that one.

Later in the day one child had to go to the bathroom. Like, really badly. He came up to me with his legs pinched together, ankles crossed, holding himself, hunched over, with this inexplicable look on his face. He had his eyes scrunched up, rolled up in his head, nose pulled to the side, and bottom teeth biting his upper lip in the most bizarre and somewhat disturbing grimace I've ever seen. I asked him to stop making that face and go to the bathroom already!\

Even later, he and I had more drama when his shoelace got so knotted that I couldn't get it undone! After trying a couple times, and convincing him to stop whining about it and start walking I sent him to the office to see if they had any laces they could replace them with. They didn't, but they did try to get the knot undone. They couldn't either. By now the child is back in the room with me, with his shoe half off and making a big ol' fuss about it. Thankfully, the class was working independently for the moment, so I took his shoe off and after about 5 minutes of prying I GOT THE KNOT UNDONE! I was quite thrilled about this. He didn't seem too excited. I believe he was still having the false hope that I was going to let him go home early because of his shoe. Dream on.

Oh, and to continue the drama of said child: during P.E. he ran into another kid and hit his teeth on the other's head (not quite sure how he achieved this - I'm picturing him running with his mouth wide open and front teeth aimed out, haha) The other kid was not injured, but teeth-boy was and apparently also bleeding. He walked past the room on the way to the office sniffling and sobbing. Came back 10 minutes later to get his stuff and go home (that's when I got the whole story.)

So really, not a bad day - kind of a lot of drama, but manageable stuff. Tomorrow I do it again and then get my well-deserved weekend!

Testing My Patience

This is an important blog post!!!

Want to know why?

Because it is number.......300!!

That is a lot of blogging, my friends! (Never mind the 166 posts on the other blog I started at the same time! I am well documented!)

Now I'm wishing I'd started this baby on my first day subbing...now that would have been really interesting.

Anyway, on to today...

Morning was pretty good. The naughty children were mostly compliant and I was thinking that I was finally going to have a mostly-nice day with this class.

Apparently, they were not willing to let that happen.

The naughties stepped up their naughtiness for the afternoon until I was so fed up with them I had to keep reminding myself not to huff in frustration and growl at them.

I was constantly redirecting, having everybody go back to their desks and put their heads down so I could go over the directions again. Multiple times I had them put away fun activities (i.e. math centers, art projects) because they got out of control.

However, there was about half of the class doing a superb job. They listened, were always on task and following directions, and were visibly frustrated with their annoying classmates. Unfortunately, it only takes a couple rotten kids to foul up the whole class. I always feel bad for the good ones, and try my best to praise them over and over. It's frustrating! I was going to give those few a piece of candy at the end of the day, but we ran out of time...thinking I might bring them pencils tomorrow because I'm moving down the hall to naughty class #2!

Dear substitute office - I earned my pay this year, you hear?!

Sunshine and Clouds

I wasn't sure about today.

The class I was going to sub for has at times been pleasant, at times they've been difficult. Today, happily, was a pleasant day.

Despite starting the morning with no plans (the teacher I was subbing for had emailed them to the teacher next door, but they were stuck in a staff meeting all morning, so I didn't get the plans until the kids arrived - thankfully I'd found some old plans and sketched out something before they arrived, so I had an idea of what order things were happening), it all went pretty smoothly.

We had math in the morning, which consisted of a short review, a worksheet and making pop-up Mother's Day cards, followed by music, P.E. and recess for the kids. I picked them up after that to get their lunches and bring them back to the room.

Lunch was eventful because they cart they're supposed to put their trays on after they've dumped was missing! One of the kids from the classroom proclaimed he'd get it and ran off to who-knows-where. Thankfully, he came back a minute later pushing the cart and smiling at himself for being so clever, and looking oh-so-cool pushing that cart down the path.

After lunch we did some reading and writing and finish-up-work time. I made them all very happy by saying 'yes' to the requests to draw on the little white boards. Then I made them even more happy by letting them have an extra recess on our beautiful sunny day! (Basically Miss Barnes really wanted to go outside so she made sure they "earned" an extra recess. Although, they really were good, so it's not like they didn't deserve it.)

We came in from our bonus recess to go to my friend's first grade class (this class's 'buddy room"). My group helped the first graders cut out, staple together and stuff big paper clouds with magazines. I'm not sure what they're doing with them after this, since that's all we got to today - it's got something to do with Earth Day though.

"I Hate Yellow"

This morning I returned to my frequented, quiet, cozy LRC! It was a busier day in the LRC than it normally is, since the aids both left at lunch. (Something to do with the furlough day on Friday? I don't know.) Since they were gone, I had all the afternoon groups by myself. It wasn't a huge number by any extent, but it was more than usual. :)

The most interesting moment was when one boy returned from the office for the last hour of the day. He'd been in to see me during lunch, and had complained of not feeling well. He called his mom, and she wanted him to stay at school. Apparently this has been happening a lot. So I sent him to the office to lie down. When he came back with the secretary he'd been up there for nearly 2 hours! Apparently he'd been there the whole time, and they'd called his mom again and the office gave him a choice of going back to his room, or coming back to the LRC, so he came back to me. He spend about 30 minutes sitting and doing who-knows-what while I worked with a group. Then I tried to help him write a poem that he had due today. Eventually he settled on writing a cinquain and chose the charming topic of how much he hates the color yellow. Oh well, at least he did something. :)

"I Think I Got Pee On My Shirt"

Today was another day in first grade for me.

We talked about rain and the water cycle (even sang and danced to a cool song), did some dental health activities, reviewed the 3D shapes, and of course did some reading and writing, etc.

They also had library - at a time I was really wanting a break from them, so that was good!

Bathroom issues were another big part of my day. The teacher had told me she doesn't let them go during class anymore because some had been goofing around in the bathroom. Now she reminds them to go before school, and they take a bathroom break after lunch and afternoon recess.

I had to let one kid go in the morning because despite going before school started, he looked like he was going to have an accident if I made him wait 40 more minutes.

During our lunch bathroom break one boy had to go to the office because he told me he got pee on his shirt. He came back a bit later with a bag and a new shirt on.

In the afternoon we didn't get outside recess because it was raining. We had it inside and didn't take a class bathroom break, so I ended up also having to let a few kids go (one at a time) during our afternoon. Thankfully, we didn't have an crises!

Sunshine Walks

Today was a good day to end a very busy week. I moved up to 2nd grade today, in a class I haven't been to yet this year. Although I did sort of know some of the kids from subbing in their 1st grade class last year.

The morning started off by the assistant principal telling me some people were coming today to observe in a bunch of classrooms during the reading time, so they could see the "Daily 5" program in use. Therefore, she was planning on coming in first thing in the morning and teaching the reading lesson in my class. So for the first hour of the day I didn't do much.

After this, we immediately headed out to the music room for a practice with the other 2nd grade classes for their program. The music room is at the other end of the school, and since the classroom is right by an outside door and it was nice and sunny outside we walked around the building. The program they were practicing for was all ocean songs, and again I basically sat around observing for another hour.

When we came back from music, I did a quick writing lesson and then they had lunch.

The rest of the day was taken up with math, PE, reading a book, and then going back to the gym/music room building again for a Battle of the Books assembly. That got out about 10 minutes before the end of the day so we took an extra recess (and the kids loved me forever.) :)

Please - No More Crying!

Today was a bit of a challenge. I dealt with a lot of crying.

Some was because kids didn't get their way. (And then again when I sent the child to the office.)

Some was because someone said something mean to someone else.

Some was because some kid hit another kid.

Some was because a kid lost her earring.

Literally, there was someone crying pretty much ever hour I was with the class. I was so glad to send them home and have some peace and quiet!

Besides the crying, we had an assembly, did journal writing, read Charlotte's Web, worked on telling time and did a math worksheet, and read a Time for Kids magazine. If not for the crying fits we probably would have gotten a lot more done! Spring fever is here!

Kindergarten is for Kids

Today was pretty ordinary and so my post will be pretty short.

I got called at 5:30. I still do not like that.

Kindergarten was fun. I read a book, sang some songs, helped with writing, did calendar, played a math game, sent them home, had lunch and then did it all over again.

The kids were pretty good and therefore did not provide me with any humorous antidotes.

Perhaps tomorrow I will have more for you. Hopefully not all tales of frustration. :)

More Cable Confusion

Today I got to sub in music for the day (in a different school than the last times I subbed in music). I arrived in the morning in the middle of the orchestra practice (a different teacher leads this) and had to weave my way around violins and cellos to get to the teacher's desk - where I found absolutely no lesson plans. I dug around for a while but couldn't find anything. I went up to the office to check her box, but still came up with nothing. After awhile, the orchestra kids left and school started. I didn't have any classes for the first hour, so I started poking around and finally found the plans a materials! They were on a music stand in the front of the room, behind the piano. I imagine they may have been in more plain view before the string section filled up the room.

I ended up starting the day with 2 fourth grade classes. The first was pretty chatty, and a bit of a challenge to get them focused. The second class was the one I subbed for last week and I love them. Seriously, I would volunteer to chaperone any event these kids were doing. They are some of my favorites. :) I played melody bingo with these classes, which they mostly enjoyed.

Later in the day I had 3 second grade and 3 first grade classes. In the second grade classes we read a book, and played a game called "Music Match" which was basically like Memory. In the first grade classes we watched a video. (After I spent a good 10 minutes getting the sound and the video to work at the same time! I tell ya, the electronic devices and I are not seeing eye-to-eye lately!) The video was kind of old, but the kids liked it. Basically a classroom of kids goes on a round-the-world trip with a guy dressed in a globe costume. In each country they visit they learn a song from that place.

The second graders were mostly ok - biggest problem there was outbursts. Lots of blurting out of how they do this, that or the other thing. All the first grade classes had a least one instigator that was blurting things out, rolling around in their seat, or generally just being a nuisance. One kid thought he was very funny by raising his hand and asking the same question twice (and then raising it again I assume to ask another time. By this point I told him, "Sorry, I'm not going to answer your questions anymore because I don't believe you are going to be serious. Too bad.") Another is basically just acting as if she's got a rampant case of the terrible twos - throwing hissy fits if someone looks at her wrong, yelling out things whenever the mood strikes, whining and stomping her feet if she doesn't get her way. Fun time. That class didn't get to finish the movie because of all the interruptions.

And ack! I think I'm going to sub for their class later this week. I'm currently brainstorming some management ideas that I can implement for one day....

Tall Tales and Component Cables

I suppose I shall call today's call a late one. Not that I was rushed to get there, but I had already given up on a job for today when the call did come.

Decided to take the job even though I swore off doing fourth grade at this school a couple years ago. I wanted the money and I'd enjoyed my fourth graders last week, so I was hoping for luck.

Turned out not too bad.

I ended up supervising lunch, reading a book aloud, supervising RIF (Reading is Fundamental) giveaway, supervising independent reading, supervising writing, and finally, playing a video!

The video part was my idea and almost bombed on me. The class is studying different styles of imaginative writing, one of which is "tall tales". I happened to have a DVD in my bag of the Disney cartoons of Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, etc. The teacher had told me I could just choose one of the imaginative books to read at the end of the day, so I figured the DVD applied too. I told the kids we were going to watch one of the cartoons (which they were very excited about), but then I had trouble getting the sound to play on the projector! It took about 5 minutes to get all the cables situated so it worked, and by then we were getting close to the end of the day, so while we started the video, we didn't finish. But since we were interrupted by going-home-time, they didn't seem too perturbed. :)

I Almost Screamed

Well today couldn't have been more opposite to yesterday! Yesterday, I get touching notes of love from the students. Today I get whining and disobedience and bratty behavior.

Sigh.

Basically, I arrived, and the kids were very excited and eager to see me. Then we got back to the room and they showed their joy by interrupting, complaining, being as loud as possible, and responding to directions with, "But I'm just gonna..." After about 5 minutes I had to stop everything and give the how-to-be-a-good-listener speech, and the one about how to be polite to Miss Barnes, and how "you're in first grade, almost second and I shouldn't have to tell you this." It was a bit maddening.

To top it off, they were all excited for some movie/ice cream party that was happening after school, AND one kid's mom brought in two boxes of maple bars for the kid's birthday. They were going to be well-sugared by the time they got home.

It was a very tiring day even though it was only half a day and I'm glad for the weekend! :)