Pintastio!

Days are Escaping Me!

2011-10-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Guys! I am way behind!

The last couple weeks have been madness! I promise to go back and write interesting factoids for you on the days I've skipped this weekend!

For now, here's a picture of today's project!

Scarecrows and Scareteachers

2011-10-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

Today was not the best day. It seems that behaviors are going downhill for reasons I'm not sure of. Tomorrow we are trying some new things.

To top it off, this evening has also been stressful. Namely, because I had classwork to do and the Internet it not working well. It took a very long time.

Since this is short, I will appease you with a picture. These are the scarecrow glyphs my little "scareteachers" made yesterday and today. Aren't they cute? Can you find mine? (Hint: the "stitches" on the mouth show how old the person who made it is....)

Oh, and by the way, this is only about a third of the bulletin board....in case you were wondering why there were so few of them.

Squirt Guns and Tackling

2011-10-04T23:04:00.001-07:00

....all at recess.

That was about the point my day started to go downhill!

The morning was good today. The kids were super excited to see the pointer I bought/made, and they were also happy to hear I'd put batteries in the Leap Pad pens so they could actually use them! (By the way, those Leap Pad TAG pens are freaky! Just tap the pages and it reads it! I marvel at their magic.

The afternoon had bits of ok mixed up with madness. As mentioned, one child tackled another at recess, got spotted by another teacher and got written up because of it (he did the same thing last week). At a later recess another girl was spotted with a small squirt gun. And since the school/district has a no tolerance policy, she went home for the rest of the day. The remaining kiddos sort of managed to hold it together until it was time to clean up and line up for P.E. I felt like I was trying to corral a room full of puppies. It was ridiculous. I told them they'd have to practice that with me during recess tomorrow until they can do it right. Something tells me they'll get it right pretty quickly.

Supplies!

2011-10-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today was a bit of a challenge.

We also sorted supplies...which took forever and made me a little insane.

I may add to this tomorrow...but for now that's all.

I Wanted the Gold Button

2011-09-30T23:47:00.001-07:00

It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday!

So I made it through my first full week of teaching these kiddos, AND planning everything myself. Well, that's not to say that the first grade team hasn't giving me tons of stuff, but still - I decided what to do.

This week was a little tougher behavior-wise than the previous week. Lots of chatting, and a few kids seem to be showing their true personalities - some of which are a bit smart-alecy. Instead of earning 11 minutes of choice time like they did last week in only 3 days - this week they only earned 6! I was sure to point this out to them too.

Let's see, oh and we did this math activity today that struck fear into my heart but I did it anyway. It involved buttons...more specifically, giving groups of kids a cup full of buttons and expecting them to work together and share. Now, if you know first graders you can imagine the results this could have. Those bright shiny gold buttons and the sparkly "diamond" ones are just to beautiful to share! Half of my time was spent supervising the activity and guiding them in the sorting of the buttons, and the other half was spent making the more covetous little ones share. After about 5 minutes one girl was sitting at her table with her hands over her face. Someone reported to me that she was crying. I went over and asked her what was going on, but she wouldn't say a word, so I left her alone and we continued. She sat like that the whole rest of the time, which was nearly 20 minutes. When it was time to clean up and line up for recess she was still sitting there. The "mother hens" were gathering around her at this point and trying to console her over whatever was wrong. I shooed them away and asked her why she was still sitting there, and said that it was time for recess. She finally lifted her head and tearfully proclaimed that she wanted to stay inside. I told her that she couldn't because I had to go outside and watch the class. I asked her again why she was upset and she wailed, "Because I didn't get a gold button! When you said to find all the shiny buttons, they got the gold ones and I didn't get any!!" To this I had to gently remind her that we kept putting the buttons back in the middle to sort again, and if she'd been watching, she could have had one next time. I also sadly told her that since she waited til now to tell me, it was too late for me to help. "We've already put the buttons away. If you'd told me while we were still playing I could have made sure the boys shared with you." Eventually she lined up for recess, sniffling all the way, and eventually forgot about her woes when we were outside.

Gold buttons. They are just that awesome.

God Hates Halloween

2011-09-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

This is what I learned today from one of my firsties. We were talking about ideas for next months calendar pieces which we were going to make today and the idea of Halloween came up. I asked the class if anyone didn't do Halloween. One boy got up, came right over to me and proclaimed in his best serious voice that Halloween was bad, and that God hated it because it was bad and if you did it you'd go to the bad place. One of the little girls in the class (who was telling me all about it being her "church day" yesterday), heard this and looked at him and me in shock and said, "That's not true! God likes Halloween!" Clearly these two are attending very different churches.

That said, we (I) decided we'd make leaves and pumpkins. All sensibilities were satisfied.

Rest of the day was busy and noisy. I'm happy that I have the hour pull-outs on Thursday and Friday!

An Apple Weighs 47 Bears

2011-09-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Those multi-colored plastic bear counters that is.

Today a parent brought in 25 apples for us to use! It was very nice of her. This is the parent I probably know most now (although I've forgotten her name! oops!). She's stopped in a few times and chatted with me about the room and such. She's very positive and keeps telling me how cute it looks in the room, and how it looks organized and "like a teacher" in the room. She also kept saying this morning how she thinks I'm doing a great job and how she's glad I'm able to be there for the whole time. So anyway, I like her. But yeah, she brought apples, so we weighed one, and they kids each got one to draw a picture of on their little observation sheet.

This morning went really well. The students did 5 minutes of Read to Self today (which yes, is a big accomplishment for first grade). It so big, we wrote a note to the principal to tell her about it! The kids were so excited and proud of themselves. I hope they will be able to do it again tomorrow!

The afternoon was ok, but a little crazy. Lots of cutting and pasting going on and that always gets some kids acting cuckoo. We may be doing some more tomorrow so hopefully I don't lose my mind! :)

Yesterday was Tuesday...

2011-09-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday. Tomorrow will be Wednesday.

I realized after the students were in P.E. today that I had put the days of the week cards in the wrong slots this morning and that's what it said all day! Oops!

In other news, today was decent. There was a lot of paper cutting and gluing today. We made backgrounds for math picture problems that we'll finish tomorrow, and we started making an apple mobile the we'll also have to finish tomorrow. However, this group seems to all enjoy an art project (yay!) so no one was complaining.

The biggest problem was arguing over scissors (well, and there was that one yelling/fighting incident, but I'm trying to forget that!). The kids all have their scissors in a communal bucket even though most remember which are theirs and of course they want those ones and get very mad if someone else grabs theirs. I think we will change the scissor system tomorrow because I've about had it with that stinkin' bucket!

Apples!

2011-09-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

Short one today since I'm trying to do about 4 things at once tonight!

Today we did lots of apple activities because it's Johnny Appleseed day! We read about Johnny, did a sequencing activity, but the most favorite thing was the apple tasting! We tried Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Gala apples (I just realized a minute ago that they all start with G!) and wrote down all the words we could think of to describe how they tasted. Every apple at one point was compared to another fruit. Apparently they tasted like mangoes, peaches, grapefruits, oranges, cherries, and lemons. However, my favorite observation was when one girl told me the Golden Delicious apple, "tastes like I love it! It tastes loving!" So yes, "loving" is one of the words on our chart. :) Then we voted for their favorites. Granny Smith was the winner!

Tomorrow we continue with our apple activities!

More Interesting Turns

2011-09-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

Today was my third day with my class of first graders. Yesterday afternoon I moved around some stuff at the carpet area, and today I liked it so much better! I usually don't get to do rearranging (and yes, sometimes I want to!), but since I'm going to be here for another 3.5 weeks, the principal and the 1st grade team told me to feel free to move anything I wanted to! So I did. :)

In the morning we talked about the Daily 5 routine, which was new to them. Then we did mini rotations through each of the activities of the Daily 5 so they could get used to them and they did really well. Ok, for those wondering what the Daily 5 is - it's this reading/writing curriculum that the district adopted a few years ago. Among other things it has kids participating in a variety of reading and writing activities. They are: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing (which is essentially write in your writing journal), Listen to Reading (we have Leap Pad books with pens as well as the standard book on tape format), and lastly Word Work, which is what we talked about most today. There are dozens of Word Work activities, but today I introduced making words with pipe cleaners, and writing words in a box of salt with a golf tee. Next week hopefully we can start doing more of this but I have to skim the curriculum book because I don't know all the details of it yet! (The other first grade teachers are pretty much awesome and they've been giving me tons of advice, suggestions and materials, all the while repeating how glad that are that I'm there. Which I think is funny because surely I am just an incessant fountain of questions and pleadings! haha

Oh, and today I introduced the schedule on the side of the board (I know, big deal). But, they didn't really have one before and that's something that I personally like to have in sight, even if the kids don't care. However, the class seemed very interested in it and all day long were looking at it to see when something was, and then asking me to tell them how they'd know it was the time it said on the schedule. Lots of "big hand", "little hand" talk. Unfortunately, I think it's still a little to early to try to teach them to tell time (it's only the 13th day of first grade)!

In the afternoon, we had a guest speaker from the Salem Hospital come to talk about the importance of wearing helmets and seat belts. Then I introduced a new math game, we did math centers, had recess, then had the 11 minutes of choice time that the class earned in the last 3 days. After that they packed up and went to Music and P.E. It is kind of nice to have all the pull-outs at the end of the day. Monday through Wednesday I'm done with them at 2:30, and on Thursday and Friday I'm done at 2!

Finally, after the kids had gone home and I was cleaning up and putting up some new stuff, the principal came in and asked me if I'd "like to earn some more money?" I was very puzzled as to what she was about to propose to me, but said yes anyway. She then told me that she was hoping I'd be willing to write out detailed descriptions of what we did in class each week as well as giving her a copy of the lesson plans for the week so she could send it on to the teacher whom I'm subbing for. I guess she just wants her to know what's going on in her class while she's gone. The principal told me that they'd pay me for the time it takes me to write all of that! She also told me they were going to pay me for coming to Back to School Night last night! Oh, and she wants me to take pictures of anything I change or add to the room so she can send that to the teacher as well. It is very puzzling, but nice nonetheless.

I think that's about all. I'm very glad to have a couple days off. Now I can actually have time to look through the curriculum and plan next week (not to mention my new extra project)!

Back to School Night

2011-09-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

Well, the second day of a sub job seems like a perfectly reasonable job for the sub to meet all the parents right? Because that's what we're doing!

Today just happened to be Back to School Night at the school, and since I'm the sub until October - I get to be there.

This morning we spent some of the day making "About Me" puzzle pieces, which were essentially questions inside a big paper puzzle piece. Once they were all completed I put them together on the wall with the label "We All Fit Together in Room 23" (a bulletin board idea I stole from another class while subbing!) We also made large paper "Welcome Mats" to put at their desk for them to show their parents. It was not the most academic project, but it at least was a little more interesting then blank spaces.

I escaped for a little while after school to go home and have dinner, but then came back for the open house which started at 6:30. I got there at 6 so I could put a few last things up, and wouldn't you know it -that despite the announcement over the intercom that teachers' rooms weren't open until 6:30, I had some parents wanting to come in at 6:10. I ended up having to close the door and turn the lights off and do the last of my work in the dark. One of the other first grade teachers came in to check on me and she told me they were doing the same thing too. Haha!

Anyway, once it started it went pretty well. Some of the parents asked me things I didn't know the answer to - like what a bunch of boxes of books in the corner were for, or how their kid was doing in reading, but them seemed pretty understanding when I explained I didn't know since it'd only been two days. One parent who I meet on my first day came in and told me she thought the room looked nicer than two days ago! So that was nice.

I am very much looking forward to tomorrow! Then I will finally get some time to figure out what I'm doing all next week (not to mention plan a children's church lesson and work on my master's class!) Newsflash Vanessa: Summer is now officially over!

Things Are About to Get Interesting!

2011-09-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Guess what guys? I got REQUESTED to take a 4 week assignment! Today was my first day with my temporary group of 1st graders, and for the most part it went pretty well.

First, it's nice to have the other first grade teachers tell you they pretty much wanted you and nobody else. Also, it's nice to read the letter the principal is sending home to parents to say their child's class will have a 4-week sub and how she's really good.

The kids were mostly alright, although they've had a bit of an upheaval lately so they were a bit squirrelly. We practiced transitions quite a lot today and I'm pretty sure we'll be doing more tomorrow. We also will be working on the whole listen-to-the-directions thing. Today at the end of the day I gave the directions very clearly twice that they were to put books away, go to their seat and put their papers in front of them. Still some kids started putting papers in their cubbies and getting their backpacks. Oh, first grade!

Currently, I am taking a break from trying to get myself organized for tomorrow (not something I have had to do for a while!) The room is a little on the bare side, so I'm trying to plan some art activities that we can hang up that will liven it up a bit. Also, tomorrow night is Back to School Night, so I want it to look a little cuter for when the parents come. As a result, I do not know how much sense this blog will make!

Oh, and here's the real topper for the day! I was handing out the letters for the kids to take home (which were in envelopes) as we were getting ready for PE. They are dismissed from PE, so they take their backpacks with them. Anyway, I'd just handed them all out and gotten the kids lined up, and as I was going to write one kid's name on his letter because he didn't have a backpack I noticed that the letter already had an address label on it! It was then I realized I'd given them all letters address to the parents of some other student. So they all had to get them out of their backpacks and give them back to me so I could give them to the right kid! It was a little madness there for a while, but I think they all went home with the right one!

Inservice Improvements!

2011-08-02T23:44:00.001-07:00

I'm baaaaack!

I can't believe it's August already! But, with August comes substitute inservice and also the return to my blog!

At the inservice this year we learned that all the teachers who got laid off and who choose to work as substitutes will get preferential treatment. What this means for me is that I'll depend on requests more than ever! So I plan on sending out especially pleading emails in a few weeks to pretty much every teacher I ever met last year! I'm not too worried since most of my jobs last year were requests anyways, and I THINK those teachers are pretty loyal to me - I hope!

Anyway, back to the inservice - it was better this year! They finally(!) took note of our comments I guess and redid the child abuse and risk management presentations and they were so much better! They focused more on the relevant info for subs and made their slides readable and it was quite a relief! They were also shorter and we got out an hour early! Double yay!

Again, there were some funny moments and odd statements and an onslaught of needless questions from other subs who apparently didn't want to use their reasoning skills. Here's my favorite quote from our risk management presenter when discussing the perils of using rugs to cover cords on the floor: "Rugs are not environmentally effective." I do not think those words mean what you think they mean! (10 points* for the first person to recognize my poor attempt at a movie reference!)

*Points have no actual value.

Cake Pops!

2011-06-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a very different day for me. I did not actually get called to work, although I spent most of the day at school.

I decided to make cake pops for the school that I've subbed at most this year. I made this little husky dog cake pops and put them in the staff room with a sign that said "Thanks for another great year" essentially.

Then I went up to one of the first grade classes and volunteered for the rest of the day. I filed, I lead the class in a few activities, I helped supervise at recess, I took a few classes from one place to another, etc.

It was funny when I went into the cafeteria with the other teachers to pick up their students. All of the classes seemed a little confused as they saw their teachers and couldn't figure out who I was there for. A whole bunch of kids asked me I was there for their class anyway.

Basically it was just a fun day of hanging out with some of the kids I've gotten to know well this year. I'm going to miss them this summer!

And with that, I believe another year of subbing is done. Monday and Tuesday are the last days of school for kids in Salem-Keizer (Monday is the last for students who attend one of the schools scheduled for remodel this summer). I'll probably be back to posting here at the beginning of August when I go to the infamous substitute inservice! Until then!

Kid Pix and More Boxes

2011-06-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm slow to write this (it's actually Sunday). But I have excuses!

You see, I had my week all planned out.

I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get called to sub since it's the last full week of school and I usually don't. So I was going to do some errands and some projects and some homework and keep busy and such. Thursday was going to be a particularly busy day (more on that in my next post).

But then I DID get called to work!

I'm as surprised as you!

So I went to the school I really like and subbed in the library. I had a grand total of 3 classes for 30 minutes each, and they each got free time in the computer lab. During the rest of the day I went around to various teachers' classroom and did odd jobs for them. In one room I re-filed a bunch of stuff. In another room I clean out toy boxes and sorted out the toys. In another room I packed boxes of books. (haha sound familiar?!)

I had lunch with the first grade teachers and it was very interesting. The school was having a BBQ for lunch today and lots of parents were coming to it too. Well, apparently they have a service elevator from the cafeteria to the outside level (I didn't know this until today!), and the elevator got stuck with all the hamburgers and hot dogs in it! It was a mess! The 1st grade lunch got delayed by 30-45 minutes as they waited for the elevator repair person to arrive and/or tried to get the food out on their own. The next 2 lunch times got delayed as well. It was pretty chaotic for a while there and I just tried to stay out of everyone's way. That was probably the only time of the day I didn't have something to do because I didn't want to bug anyone by asking if they had any jobs for me. Eventually it all got fixed, the teachers and students got back to their rooms and I found some more work for myself.

Books and Boxes and Me

2011-06-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today was probably the oddest day of subbing I've had for a while!

Technically I was subbing for the LRC teacher, but apparently they'd finished meeting with their groups yesterday, so there were no groups for me to work with. Instead, I was was supposed to go to the library and help box up books. (They have to box up the entire library because the school is one of the ones getting remodeled this summer due to the bond that passed a year or so ago.)

At the same time they were also having a book giveaway in the library today. I eventually learned the books were purchased by the parents' club and one of the teachers was kind of in charge of it, but obviously, she couldn't be in there to run it all day since she was with her class. So I sort of ran that too. I helped kids pick books, and straightened out the books on the tables after ever class left and replenished the supply from the extra boxes under the tables. Every class came in for 15 minutes except the 3rd graders because they were on a field trip.

When I wasn't occupied with that I was packing, packing, packing! I was supposed to meet with two kids in the LRC right after my lunch, but the first one was busy in his class and the second was absent. So I went back to my boxes. By the end of the day I had packed 40 1/2 boxes (they were a little bigger than the box for a ream of paper). Then I had to move them over the the corner of the room and stack them up. It was quite an impressive collection.

I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Short Day

2011-06-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well, after a long weekend and then a few days of no work, I grabbed another sub day for this morning.

I subbed for a first grade at a school I don't go to often. The teacher was actually in the building and was pulling kids out to test them. During this time I had the rest of the class. I read a book and started them on a writing project, then I met with two reading groups. We read a book and played contraction BINGO. After this the teacher came back and I went next door to another classroom. I'm not sure if they were first grade too or second grade. She had me take a few kids out to the pod area and have them take a math test. I was there to answer questions if they had any but basically I just sat there.

After a while of doing this it was the students' lunch time, and still an hour or so until I had to leave. I went back to the first teacher's room and she had me correct a few math papers and then I pretty much watched the kids while they ate lunch. Pretty simple day!

Leg Hug!

2011-05-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

Let's see...where to begin?

I was subbing in a different first grade class today and it was a little bit crazy.

After all, there are only 11 days left of school and this weekend is a four day weekend due to tomorrow's furlough day and Memorial Day on Monday.

The teacher left me REALLY detailed lesson plans - I think it was four pages and I only had the kids until 1:45 because they had PE and music at the end of the day and got dismissed from music. I carried that packet around all day and was constantly reading it to remember what I was doing. Even then, I forgot a couple things!

Oddly, even though I've not subbed in this class yet this year, nor did I sub in the kindergarten at this school last year, I knew a few of the kids already! Two went to kindergarten at other schools were I'd subbed in their classes, one was in a Head Start preschool class I subbed for 3 years ago, and another was in a different first grade class at the beginning of the year. I managed to learn the rest of their names pretty quickly (although I did have some trouble with 5 C/K names that all had 2 syllables).

I did not read Earthquack! again today, but I did read Piggie Pie! And now it's official, my Piggie Pie! book is falling apart - a page fell out today when I was reading it!

Lastly, my final story is the inspiration for today's title. During virtually every carpet time one of the girls I knew from last year was my best buddy. She sat right next to my chair and kept reaching out and hugging my right leg. Sometimes she'd just sit there with her arms around my leg and every so often hug it tight and say, "I'm never gonna let you go!" (In a sweet, "I really like you" sort of way, not a menacing one). Once she decided she was going to wrap her legs around my leg too, but I stopped her at that. She then settled for playing with my sparkly shoes and admiring my sparkly fingernails.

Day of Ailments and "Qwakes"

2011-05-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Today was busy, busy, busy!

First off, there were lots of ailments today! Here's a sampling:

"My head hurts."
"My stomach hurts."

"My arm itches."

"My leg hurts."

"My tooth hurts."

"My cut is bleeding."

"My knee hurts."

"My throat hurts."

These were followed by requests for band-aids, and trips to the office for ice packs, itch medicine, and cough drops. Many were denied. I do believe many requests were simply fabricated. Seriously, every 10 minutes or so someone was coming up to me with a complaint or an owie. Mostly I just responded with, "Oh, I'm sorry!" and asked them to go back to work. First graders are too dramatic with their injuries.

Late in the day, were about to take a recess break. It hadn't been raining for a while and I thought maybe we could actually go outside. Well, after I get them cleaned up I look outside and see a slightly ominous cloud in the distance. I decided not to risk it and let them play inside. Not 3 minutes later it starts pouring down rain so hard the noise of it got ever one's attention. Turned out it was a good decision to stay inside!

Lastly, at the end of the day I read the class a story I had been teasing about all day. They were eager to hear it because I told them it was funny and that it had some kid's name in it from their classroom. The book was called Earthquack! and it's an adaptation of Chicken Little. The main character in this one is named Chucky Ducky and instead of thinking the sky is falling, he thinks "the earth is crumbling!" and proclaims often, "It's a quake!" I read it Chucky Ducky's voice kind of like this: "The earth is cwumbling! It's a qwake!" After about a page or so of this I hear a couple girls comment to each other that Chucky Ducky is "so cute! And his voice is so cute too!" I think it's pretty adorable that they don't really realize it's just Miss Barnes making up voices and they really think that's his true, actual voice. As the kids were leaving the room after the bell rang I heard many of them repeating to each other, "The earth is cwumbling! It's a qwake!" :)

I Lose, Again

2011-05-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

Back to the LRC today!

Seems I do this job in spurts, doesn't it?

Anyway, today was pretty normal. I helped kids with math and reading and writing in groups of 1, 2, or 3 and sometimes I let them stop 5 minutes early and play with the toys in the room.

I also got to play another card game with one of the older boys. We played Magic again, and despite me remembering some of what to do, he hasn't really taught me any strategies so I think I basically put my creature cards out there for him to destroy a turn or so later. There's some sort of attacking involved, but I never really got the lesson on that, so I pretty much just slowing lost my points. Then we played some other similar game. I can't remember what it was called. It wasn't Pokemon, but something like that I think. Partway through our game another boy came in to work on some writing and he knew the game. He looked at my cards while the one I was playing against was on the phone with his mom. He told me I had a good card. (Go figure!) However, we didn't finish this game as my opponent had to leave shortly after that. I will never realize my full potential at Magic card games! Perhaps I should read up on the rules before I sub for LRC again? :)

I Fix Stuff

2011-05-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Today was pretty typical and therefore I don't have much to tell you.

Although it was nice to have an easy-ish, normal day so late in May! I shall cherish it.

Basically, the only weird thing that happened was that some person came in to take spring photos of a few kids who brought their form back and then they wanted the whole class for a group shot. That got us a little behind for the morning after we walked out to the grassy area of the playground to do the photo.

The rest of the day was basically reading, writing, and math (I'm sorry, I refuse to say "'rithmatic" because it's just dumb.) I was nice and let them draw while I read aloud the third book in the Gregor series, and I was also nice when I let them sit wherever they wanted during writing time.

In other events, I fixed the projector. Well, it worked at least. The IA in the room told me it hadn't been working a week or so ago and someone came in to fix it and they did, but then the document camera wasn't working and the projector was projecting too large an image to fit completely on the screen. Well, the second thing I knew how to fix, so I adjusted that, then I decided to take a stab at the doc cam. I turned it on to see what would happen and it worked right away! So either someone else fixed it over the weekend or I just have the magic touch. Either way, I'm sure the teacher will be pleased to have it up and running tomorrow. :)

This Time, It's an Earthquack

2011-05-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

Today was a little bizarre.

The morning started off alright with a group of busy but friendly 1st graders. A parent volunteer came in to do some planting project with the kids while I tried to manage the rest of them. This turned out to be a little harder than I anticipated since the planting took a while, and the class was finishing their projects and I didn't want to start something new with part of the class out of the room. Eventually, they finished, but we were about 30 behind on the schedule. No problem though, I'm just trying to calculate how to make up a few minutes here and there to get back on track.

So we do a spelling test, and maybe make up 5 minutes. Then I gather the kids to the carpet to read a book the teacher left. It's called Earthquack! and is basically an adaptation of Chicken Little. We get to a certain point in the story where the teacher wanted me to stop and have the kids write and sketch their prediction of what's going to happen next. I explain this to them and pass out the papers.

Now this is where things get weird...

Not 5 seconds after they are walking back to their seats does an announcement come over the intercom that we are having an earthquake drill! (The irony is not lost on the kiddos as they proclaim, "It's a quake! It's a quake!" in the funny voice I've been using for the characters in the book). All the kids crawl under the tables and we begin to wait....

And wait....

And wait.

I swear, it's been at least 2 minutes and I'm starting to wonder: They are going to come back on and tell us when to go outside, right? I'm having visions of the whole school getting under desks for a minute, then on their own lining up outside while we're all still hiding under out tables! Well, we must have waited 5 minutes - once I even got out and peeked out in the hall to make sure no one was out and about. Finally, FINALLY - they came on and told us to evacuate.

Now for part two of why I hate this earthquake drill:

We have to walk around practically the whole school (okay, maybe half) to get to our designated line-up place. The kids are doing a terrible job of walking quietly, and I'm trying to shut them up and also figure out where in the heck we're going. Finally we get there, and it's a lot easier to tell them to zip it when they are standing in one place and not on the move. I was very happy when they let us go and we made it back to the room!

So by now, we're like 50 minutes behind in the schedule and we never could quite make that up. I had to skip 2 reading groups, and because they were so wound up the rest of the day I shortened the math lesson. This ended up being a wise choice as a few kids didn't even finish the part I did have them do.

The one thing they did do fast today however was getting their stuff and being ready to go home! That took like 4 minutes, so I had time to read Piggie Pie (which happened to be by the same author as the book from this morning) - it is starting to get really worn and a few pages are about to fall out...I think I may have to buy a new copy for next year!

Do You Know What That Stuff Is?

2011-05-19T19:51:00.001-07:00

Today was another busy day in kindergarten. In fact, we had a wild day in kindergarten! (We read Miss Bindergarten as a Wild Day in Kindergarten.) And the kids were just a bit cookoo.

The day was pretty basic: breakfast/snack, playtime, story, writing, recess, calendar, math, home.

Funniest moment of the day came when I was chatting with one boy during breakfast. He asked me if I had a big house. I said no, that I lived in an apartment. He asked if I had any kids, I said now. Then he proceeded to tell me how when he was born, his mommy "pushed him out". Then he told me that the doctor cleaned him off 'cuz he had stuff on him. Then he looked at me and said, "Do you know what that stuff is called?" I told him that no I did not and he should ask his mom! :)

Magic

2011-05-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

It was back to LRC today, and there was much less stressing! In fact, stressed out boy from last week didn't even mention middle school today. He came in and unloaded his entire backpack (not exaggerating) and handed me a couple decks of Magic cards. I asked him if he wanted to play and he said, "If you wanna." So I said ok, and he "taught"me how to play. When I saw "taught" I basically mean, he told me to play a card and I'd show him one at a time and say, "Can I play this?" until he said yes. Then he'd play a whole bunch of things and start moving all the cards around and announcing I now only had 10 points and he had 15. I don't doubt that everything he was doing was perfectly legal, but I wasn't exactly being kept in the loop! Eventually, after attempting in vain to summon the right creatures and attack dear student, he put me out of my misery and destroyed me. I was baffled by how complicated the game was! I think I'll stick to Catan.

The rest of the day was just gravy. I think for a brief time I was in charge of 3 students at once. The rest of the day I pretty much had one at a time. It was nice.

Symmetry, Teeth and Crying

2011-05-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that lots of my titles for my posts this year have been a list of two or three things? I guess I'm running out of unique titles, so this helps!

This afternoon I worked in a first grade (different one from Friday) and it was just not easy.

Granted, it was better than last time I was there...and from what I hear, went better than the last time they had a sub (which wasn't me because I was in another room that day). I sent one girl to the office because she kept whining and crying and pitching a fit about everything and disrupting the whole class. Seriously, picture a cranky 2-3 year old throwing a tantrum and that's what she's like. Not even kidding.

Another boy I sent to the hall a couple times because he was giving me 'tude. Once I sent him out and said he could come back when he was ready to be polite. So he walked out of the room and then turned right around and came back in. I stopped him and said, "Oh, no. Not yet. I'm not ready for you to come back yet. You sit out there and think about it for a while."

So, not flawless, but ok.

We talked about lines of symmetry after doing this complicated math project that I already did with another first grade this year. I'd sort of spontaneously thrown in the symmetry part with the previous class because it fit in and they'd been talking about symmetry in their class previously. Well, today's teacher saw what I'd done with that class so wanted me to do that with hers. The chart, the symmetry, all of it. So I get to the symmetry part and ask if anyone can tell me what that is and none of them know! Apparently they'd not talked about it before. I almost didn't do it, but decided to try. So I taught them shortly what a line of symmetry is and we did a bunch of examples on our chart. They seemed to get it pretty quickly....I guess their teacher will see how much they remember tomorrow.

Lastly, and read (well, sort of skimmed) a book about teeth to the class (it was too long!). Then they colored this 3-d model of teeth, and cut it out and assembled it.

All that took up the whole day. And once again I was happy to send the couple little stinkers home!

Piggies, Drama, and 'Oops'es!

2011-05-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm finally getting caught up! I really hope blogger doesn't go down maintenance again right at the time I wast to use it!

So Friday I subbed in a very familiar first grade class - in fact, I've subbed for this teacher 9 full days this year and 7 half days so far. The routine and behaviors are pretty much the same.

This time we read a few "piggie" books. One was left by the teacher along with some activities, and I read another pig book of my own - one of my personal favorites, Piggie Pie.

We also had some required drama as two girls were arguing and then crying over how one had her feelings hurt and the other was embarrassed and it was the first girl's fault. Then it was my fault. Then the embarrassed girl got really snarly and I told the two to separate and left her to pout. About 20 minutes later they skip up to me with big smiles telling me they've "worked it out". I don't know why I waste time with this drama. Next time I think I'll just tell them to cool off for a while and not bug me.

It was a bit of an "off" day for me though. During this compound word game the class was playing I didn't see how the words "bean" and "jelly" went together, until a kid pointed out that it wasn't "beanjelly" but "jellybean"! I did the same thing later with the word "life". I couldn't figure out what word it went with, so the same boy had to show me that it went with "boat" to make "lifeboat". I tell ya - it was getting a little ridiculous! THEN, at the end of the day we were waiting and waiting for the popcorn to arrive that kids ordered in the morning. It never came and I was puzzled at what to do when another kid asked me if I'd sent the envelope down in the morning. Oops. No. No, I didn't. Good thing it's Friday.

You Shouldn't Be This Stressed!

2011-05-12T17:07:00.000-07:00

Today was supposed to be my well deserved reprieve after yesterday's torture.

And it mostly was. I had a quiet, low key day in the LRC helping kids with math and reading in groups of 2 or 3.

The stressful part of the day was when I meet with a 5th grade boy for a half hour. The poor kid was enormously stressed about the prospect of middle school next year. He talked to me for a long time about how he was afraid the kids there would make fun of him and beat him up. He also told me how he knew this would happen because middle school kids are bad and they curse and do drugs and get taken out of school in handcuffs. I tried to reassure him that not all kids were like that, and that he just needed to be around the right people. I also told him that they have counselors and teachers at middle school that can help him and talk to him and that they school wouldn't allow people to beat him up. He seemed basically unconvinced of my assertions and kept saying he knew it would bad. I encouraged him to ask questions when the middle school folks come to talk to his class. Maybe knowing what to expect would help him be less worried - maybe I'd be right and he wouldn't even have many, in any, classes with the older kids he was so worried about. By the time he went back to class I was exhausted! I'm not cut out to be a counselor!

Thank Goodness for Early Dismissal!

2011-05-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

I'm back finally! Yes, I have been working all week, and I would have written blogs for the past three days (it's now Saturday despite the date of this post), but blogger was down for 2 nights and the other night I wasn't home until late.

Anyway, now it's time to relieve my horror of a day that was Wednesday!

It started off all right with my arrival to a school that I've only been to once before. The classroom and building was nice, and the class list only had 20 kids on it. However, every adult that spoke to me indicated (very subtly) that this class was not going to be a cake walk. That's fine. I can deal with squirrelly and naughty.

These kids were not squirrelly and naughty.

They were malicious and spiteful and disobedient and uncooperative.

There were only 18 kids there and I swear it felt like 45.

Now, I should say, in most cases of naughty classes, there are about half of the kids that really are good and kind of get overwhelmed by their troublesome classmates. However, there were only 2 or 3 of those kids in this class. The rest sort of just played along with the tide of rudeness.

I had two boys chasing each other around the classroom whenever they got the chance, one boy who only knew the word, "No!", a girl who told me I was wrong and made faces at me when I informed her she was not in charge, another boy who thought directions applied to everyone BUT him, and a whole room full of chatty, disruptive, and snarly 2nd and 3rd graders who seemed to resent everything I said.

The attitudes I got really felt like middle-school stuff. It was scary.

Thankfully, it was an early dismissal day so I got to send them home at 1:45. I really don't think I could have made it until 3. I don't believe I will be returning to this class again!

Bubbles and Paper Plates

2011-05-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

Today I returned to one of the schools I used to go to all the time but haven't been to much lately. However, I had been to this class before way back in September. Some remembered me after a while. I didn't really remember any of them, but I learned most of their names.

Shortly after they all arrived in the morning and remembered who I was, they started requesting that I read them "that pig book" that I read last time I was there. Took me a minute to figure out what book they were talking about since they didn't actually remember it was pigs at first. Unfortunately, I didn't have it with me today. We ended up reading The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig instead which they liked (and which is now overdue at the library!).

In the afternoon we went outside to blow bubbles. Apparently it was "bubble day" in the classroom, or so they kept telling me. The teacher had it marked on the schedule to do that for 45 minutes, but they seemed bored after 20 and I was tired of supervising and keeping them out of the way of the older kids at recess and then keeping them away from the classroom windows, so we went in and I read stories.

The kids had PE and music today so my afternoon was really short and I had a huge prep period at the end of the day - I didn't even have to go back and get them because they got dismissed from PE. No relaxing for me though! I help the sub next door do a project the 1st grade team had left for her - glue 2 paper plates rim to rim with bottoms facing out, then glue 3 of these sets together to make a little tower. First she ran the glue gun and I put the plates together, then we switched. By the time we were done we'd made 65 plate stacks, and our hands were cramping from the glue gun!

I'm Back, Kids!

2011-05-09T23:12:00.000-07:00

This morning I subbed again in the same class I did on Friday. I bunch of kids were gone at the start of the day, but unfortunately, the rest tried to pick up the slack. They were pretty chatty.

We finished off with some last Princess and the Pea activities, then did a compound word game, which I thought would be really fun for them (it's usually the kind of activity that first graders love), but they just seemed bored with it. However, the morning went by really fast and then I was done!

I Never Cease to Be Amazed

2011-05-06T23:38:00.000-07:00

AH I'm behind!

This was supposed to be done already, but now it's Tuesday and I'm trying to remember what I was going to write about for Friday.

Ok, so we did a lot of stuff about The Princess and the Pea today. We read 3 books (one traditional, two silly), did a sequencing/writing activity, and made a chart comparing the 3 books. They did really well with the comparing, and we had a pretty impressive chart when we were done. We also did some math, which was kind of tough for some of them. However, the instructional coach came around right about that time and she helped some of them as well.

Surprising but not moment of the day was when it was time to fill out one kid's behavior card at the end of the day. He either gets "wonderful", "ok" or "not good" ratings for morning and afternoon. Well, all day he'd been pretty much a pill (not following directions, not doing work, interrupting, bugging others, whining, arguing with me, hiding when time to line up from recess, etc.) So when I went to talk to him about his card before they went home he asked me if he'd gotten an "ok" - like he was really sure that's what he would get. I had to explain to him why he did not get an "ok" and he was not too happy with me. Thankfully, then he went home. :)

Oh Rats!

2011-05-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

I could have worked today.

But somehow, my phone got bumped to silent mode and therefore I didn't hear the call when it came in at 6:00 am. By the time I noticed, it was too late and I didn't get another.

Kind of mad at myself for that.

Tonight, I am happy to have a job in advance for tomorrow.

Appreciate Me!

2011-05-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

It's that day again - Substitute Appreciation Day (where subs get recognized as much as any day (not a lot) and really almost forgotten because it's Teacher Appreciation WEEK and well, people remember that.) Haha, I sound bitter - really I'm not - it's just that the whole practice seems a little ridiculous to me. Hardly anyone in the district remembers it's Sub Appreciation Day anyway (one person remarked on it to me today) and they're the people that already make you feel appreciated everyday you come in anyway.

Today I spend my hours in the library - something I'll likely not be doing next year as the district is cutting all library positions except for high school. I checked-in bunches of books, then shelved them, then straightened shelf after shelf after shelf.

I also supervised one class while they worked on computers, read another class a story, and showed a third class a video on DVD and an interactive video/activity online. And then I helped them all find books they wanted to check out. I love the library, but my eyes were bugging out of my head a little after all the Dewey-decimal reading!

Triangles and Elephants

2011-05-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

Today was another nice day hangin' in my friend's bilingual 1st grade class. Despite my lack of bilingual-ness, I still enjoyed myself.

The IA did a couple activities that needed to be in Spanish in the morning and the rest of the day just went swimmingly in English. We did some reading and writing activities in the morning and art and math in the afternoon.

Most noteworthy activities of the day:

- We went on a triangle hunt around the school. All the kids carried clipboards with paper and a pencil as we walked down the halls and around the playground looking for things shaped like triangles. The kindergarten class I sub for a lot happened to be out at recess at this time, so that was interesting as a bunch of them wanted to come talk to me. :)

- After reading a book about an elephant, I taught the kids how to draw and elephant. We looked for shapes in the elephant (like circle for his body, egg for his head, triangle for his ear) and drew them all together. Pretty soon they all had really cute, really different elephants that they were SO proud of! Seriously, almost all of them were holding theirs up and calling, "Look at mine, teacher!" It was fun.

Texting and the Wrong Way

2011-05-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I worked (for a short period of time) in a second grade classroom. Seriously, it was pretty short. I got there at noon and the kids went to recess. I picked them up thirty minutes later. Then I helped them with math and read a Weekly Reader with them which took a little over an hour. Next the class split up and went to a bunch of different places for a reading time. I ended up having a group of 6. When this was over I took my original class to PE. From there they went to music where I picked them up 5 minutes before dismissal. I had to sort out a bunch of papers and file them during the prep times.

Best moment of the day: The Weekly Reader was about different ways insect communicate. We were discussing the different ways humans can communicate (signing, acting things out, body language, facial expressions, etc.) I was calling on kids to offer up other ideas when one came up with "texting!" A parent had happened into the room just before this to drop off some stuff for the teacher and she and I shared our own non-verbal communication of amusement from across the room. :)

Most embarrassing moment of the day: I went to pick up the class from music and started walking across the school to get there. I passed another teacher in the hall and shortly after realized I was actually going the wrong way! So I turned around to go to the right place. Well, the teacher I passed noticed and turned around to ask me if I was looking for him. I said, no, that I'd just forgotten where I was going. So I start walking to the Music room, but for some idiotic reason I go to the gym (which is close to the music room, but still). I poke my head in and think "This isn't my class..." Then I realize that I dropped them off at PE, but I'm supposed to pick them up at music! So I turn around and who's behind me? You guessed it! Teacher-man! He then asks me if he can help me find something and I say no, that I'm just having a moment, and came to the gym instead of the music room like I was supposed to. I did finally find the class and make it back to the room in one piece without running into teacher-man again!

Loving the Countdown Timer

2011-04-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-27T22:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-04-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

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!"

2011-04-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

^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

2011-04-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

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"

2011-04-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

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"

2011-04-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-08T23:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-04-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-06T22:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

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! :)

I Almost Cried

2011-03-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a really good day. I guess it could have been better if the principal had come down and said, "Hey, I wanna hire you. Come fill out some paperwork?" But the kids were fun again and the day was pretty enjoyable. I read a goofy picture book to them which they liked and we played Mad Libs and generally had a good time. Oh, and we also had a fire drill! We got advance notice from the principal but probably would have been fine without it - the kids were really super helpful. :)

Once again we shared writing towards the end of the day. I asked them if they even wanted me to draw pictures again, to which they responded (quite loudly) that they did. So I drew ridiculous pictures and they begged to see them and then we laughed. After a few kids had gone I called on two girls to come up and share and they started reading their composition....called "Miss Barnes" (You can read it in the picture to the right. Click on it to make it bigger). I seriously almost cried! So when they finished I basically said, "You guys! That's so sweet. I seriously want to photocopy those and hang them on my wall." They then graciously told me they'd leave them out on their desks to I could! So I did. :) And I also wrote them each a little sticky note saying thanks for the sweet comments and put them inside their notebooks.

I kinda also want to submit these in my job applications. Haha ya think??

Draw Me A Picture

2011-03-30T22:14:00.000-07:00

It's getting late so I'm going to try to make this quick!

Today I subbed in a different 4th grade. The class was really nice, and fun and well-behaved. They are seriously like the ideal sub job. If someone subbed for them on their first day subbing they get the totally wrong idea about the difficultly level of this job! I however, know how hard it can be so I really savor days like this.

The activities of the day were pretty typical but I tried to be laid back and make it easy and fun for them. I even talked to them for a while about how I wanted it to be fun when they have a substitute, but that also means that they need to be respectful to me and not take advantage of that. Honestly, they were pretty good about it.

Near the end of the day we took an extended period of time for some of the kids to share their writing with the class. I had a notepad and pen in my hand and I just started doodling pictures of the students' writing as they read it. Some kid asked me what I was doing so I showed them the drawing. They all thought this was hilarious, and so I ended up drawing a picture for every kid that shared their writing. They've all got them shoved in their writing notebooks and bookmarks! Ha! Tomorrow I've promised to let the rest share. Wonder what their teacher will think when she returns and keeps seeing odd little drawings in every one's notebooks? :)

Can You Count To 100?

2011-03-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Getting up and going back to work this morning after a nice Spring break was hard!

I had to get going early too as I was subbing a school with one of the earliest start times in the district. I arrived early and made my way out to the portable. The kids arrived shortly after me and we had some confusion with the cafeteria lady trying to find the breakfast cards when they delivered the breakfast foods. (I eventually found them a couple hours later when I wasn't even looking - figures.) The kids and I lined up right away and headed to the gym for their morning "Team Time". Basically, a teacher leads a couple dances with the kids (we only did 2 this morning and they we're my favorite - I was bummed because I was looking forward to that part of the day - last year when I subbed here we did some funny moves to Hannah Montana songs and such.) then they do announcements and birthdays.

After Team Time we went back to the room to correct their math homework. This is when they decided to test me by talking a bunch and not paying very good attention. I won though and by the end of math time they were cooperating. They also learned that I could speak a little Spanish and wanted me to count to 100. I did 1-20 and then counted by 10s the rest of the way. They were amazed at my knowledge. Ha!

The rest of the day consisted of writing (I supervised them working), PE (I had to keep a few boys in to work on division by the teacher's request. I ended up letting them go to PE after 15 minutes because they could see the class outside and were desperate to join them.), and reading groups (I meet with 3 while the rest of the class work independently - for the most part pretty quietly! - Told you I won.)

The teacher came back right before lunch and got quite the gathering of students around her desk. I wasn't quite sure what she wanted me to do then. It's always a little awkward when a teacher comes back and doesn't really indicate if he's/she's taking over or not. Although really, he/she should because once he/she enters the room I have no more authority in the eyes of the students - I don't care how good they were before. But it was ok. She eventually had them clean up and took them to lunch at which point I got my stuff and left. Pretty good day. I wouldn't mind going back again.

Shhhh...It's A Secret

2011-03-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

Spring Break is rapidly approaching, but thankfully, I managed to snag a half-day before time's up. (Wednesday is the last day for students)

It was absolutely POURING rain when I arrived at school which made it really difficult to find a place to park! The parking lot was pretty much flooded with 2 to 3 inches of water and I wasn't exactly wearing rubber shoes. Somehow I managed to tip-toe around and not get terribly wet.

The class I was subbing for was a second grade, and they were pretty good. We basically did reading and writing all afternoon - most of it self-directed by the students so I was just supervising. Annoyingly, there was some IA in the back of the room for the time I was giving a short lesson and she felt the need to interrupt me to threaten the kids that she'd tell their teacher they were being "rude. Do you know what that means?!" It was oddly passive aggressive and, I felt, completely unnecessary. I had just asked the students to share an idea with a partner, and was just starting to get their attention back. They weren't all paying attention after my first signal, so I was about to do it again when she jumped it. I'm sorry, I know she's trying to help, but it's so frustrating! I didn't need help! Sure, they weren't all paying attention right away, but I can handle that. I will get their attention before I move on. If I have to, I will use my scary voice and threaten to tell their teacher MYSELF. Just because I sound nice and I'm not yelling at the kids doesn't mean I don't have control of the class. Frustrating.

Anyways, other than that the day was fun. The kids were funny and sweet. I had a couple girls tell me that I looked "pretty" and another girl inform me I was her best friend. It happened after school when I was supervising bus lines. One of the girls from my class ran up to me and whispered "You're my best friend!" I didn't quite hear her, so I asked, "Who's your best friend?" and she said, "You are! Shhhhh....don't tell anyone. It's a secret!" and scampered back off to her place in line. I guess I make quite an impression - even in only 3 hours!

Waxy Wonders

2011-03-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

Today was a crazy, busy, read-a-book, run-around, make a chart, calm-them-down kind of day.

I'm back with the first graders who I believe I've spent the most time with this year. They started off the morning not at their best. Super chatty, can't sit still, not always listening, ugh. After a while of this I resorted to bribery. I told them I was going to keep a record of who was following directions and listening all day by making a star by their name on list I made. Whoever had the most stars at the end of the day would get a treat (a.k.a. candy). This seemed to help. Most got better because they wanted to have the most stars! More on this later...

Today was also unique because we went to the "Wax Museum"! The fifth graders have been working on biography projects for a while. They've made time lines, Time magazines, I think reports, etc. Today they dressed up as their person and sat at their desks in the room while other classrooms came down to see them. Each kid had a "button" on their desk that the visitors could push and the students would give a speech or a few facts about themselves. We went down to one class in the morning and the other class in the afternoon. The first-graders loved going around and seeing all the "statutes". It was really fun! The fifth graders had obviously worked really hard and you could tell they were proud it! Also saw a lot of visitors in the building today making their way down to the museum with their bright yellow/green visitor stickers from the office. This is something their fifth graders do every year, but the first year I've gotten to see it - very fun stuff.

Anyway, after all the events of the day, it was time to go home and I had 6 students on my list who had 5 or more stars by their name. I announced their names and let them pick a candy. Well, lo and behold the very child who had the least amount of stars (none) was absolutely shocked to not be getting a candy! The kid looked at me with such a look of shock, I just couldn't believe it. Really? Really?! You honestly think you did a better job than most of the class? I do not know what world this kid was in but wasn't the same one as me!

Dewey Decimal System

2011-03-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

Today was different for me than usual because I was subbing in the library!

I started the morning by re-shelving books for a couple hours. There were dozens and dozens of non-fictions items that needed shelving and let me tell you, that will boggle your mind after an hour! Of course, all non-fiction books have a number from the Dewey decimal system. Some are whole numbers, some have tenths or hundredth places. First I sorted the books on the cart by number, then I rolled it around the library and found the correct place on the shelf for that book. Sometimes I also found books on the shelf that were in the wrong place and I had to move those too. Looking at all those numbers makes you start to go cross-eyed!

Other library jobs that I did today include checking in books, checking out books, and pulling the books on the shelves forward so you can read the numbers and titles easier.

Then of course we had a couple classes come. First was a fourth grade (which I'll be subbing for on the 31st). They were super fantastic! They worked on a typing game on the computers for most of their time and I barely had to supervise them. Later we had a kindergarten class who I read and book to before they got to check out. They were very cute and fun. Lastly, there was a second grade class who did the same typing game as the fourth graders. They, however, did need my supervision.

Oh, and I also played with Legos. I took the library IAs recess duty so she could supervise Battle of the Books since she knew more about how it worked. It ended up raining during recess so they second-graders I was supervising had recess in their room. About half the kids gathered around the computers and the other half played with the Legos. I joined the latter and made a house.

All in all a pretty easy (and quiet!) day. Tomorrow should be quite different as I'm back to my challenging little 1st grade bunch. :)

Have Some More Sugar!

2011-03-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

This afternoon was a little more hectic than yesterday, although not all bad.

When I arrived, we started on a math activity which involved the kids holding a card with a shape on in and finding someone who had the same color as them, and then holding up their card when I asked for shapes with 3 sides, 4 corners, right angles, etc. This got them a little wired before we moved onto a craft project.

They were making paper lion heads. This went OK until some started finishing and running wild. Even after I'd given the direction to put their project in their backpacks and read a book at their desk some were still horsing around on the carpet. This lead me to having a long talk with them about following directions and then another long talk on expected behavior during the presentation we were about to go see.

Thankfully, they did awesome during the "Tree Man" presentation - basically this guy who talked to them about trees: how the grow, different kinds, what we get from trees, etc. Also, during this time, the most challenging student got called out by the office to go home with mom. It is amazing how much the dynamic of the classroom changed minus this student!

After this they went to PE and I hung up a bunch of artwork in the hallway for the teacher. Also, one of the student's parents arrived with cupcakes for the class! This made for quite a crazy end of the day.

The kids get back from PE five minutes before the end of the day. In this time, I passed out cupcakes, popcorn and candy some of the kids ordered for "popcorn Friday", as well as a piece of candy to all of them because I promised it to them after the great time in the presentation (this was before I knew cupcakes were coming!).

So basically I sugared them up and sent them home. You're welcome parents! :)

Fist Bump!

2011-03-03T20:09:00.000-08:00

I'm finally back to working today after the beginning of my week being spent in sickness! My job today was a first grade for the afternoon. I've subbed for this class a lot, so I remembered most of their names and I know who to keep my eye on.

There are actually a lot I need to keep my eye on! I don't have enough eyes!

Thankfully, there were actually pretty good today. Only used the angry voice 2 or 3 times which is GOOD for a couple of these kiddos.

Day was pretty simple. We shared vocabulary words (some project they'd been working on), did math worksheets, had inside recess and snack, read a Time for Kids mini-magazine and then I walked them to music and PE.

During the math time I was helping this one boy with his worksheet. He was getting really frustrated because he didn't understand these few problems at the end. I sat down with him and explained it to him. He's pretty quick and figured it out fast and finished them up himself. When he was done I said, "All right!" as I was taking his paper from him I held up my fist for some reason, then about to open my hand to give him a high five, but he just looked at me with his fist out. So I recovered quickly and he bumped his fist into mine and then we both "exploded" our fingers at the same time. He smiled impishly at the fact that I knew the proper way to do the fist bump and went merrily onto his next activity.

Going back tomorrow afternoon to the same class. Lets see how many other fist bumps I can give out....

Dobraye Utrah

2011-02-25T23:10:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-02-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

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....

2011-02-18T22:34:00.000-08:00

...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

2011-02-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-16T19:43:00.001-08:00

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

2011-02-15T22:56:00.001-08:00

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!

2011-02-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-02-07T22:32:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-01T23:06:00.000-08:00

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!

I Chase Children

2011-01-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

This morning I got called by a real life person at the sub office! It was kind of late in the morning (around 9) when they called, asking if I would go sub at Even Start for the morning. I said yes (much to the relief of the lady who called me) and dashed over. I've subbed in this program before, but it's been a couple years. Surprisingly, the director(?) and the IAs both said they thought I looked familiar when I came in.

Basically, Even Start is for kids age birth to 3. The kids are with us while their parents are next door having some sort of classes.

So I played with tiny kids today and got paid. When at recess, a few of the boys decided it would be fun if a chased them. They don't speak much English, but they were all yelling, "Get me teacher! Get me!" So I "chased" them around, by which I mean I walked really slowly after them, as they are tiny and therefore have tiny legs. But you'd think I was running full speed at their squeals and giggles. Then they'd hide under the play structure and I'd creep up slowly and poke my head under and say "boo" and they'll all run out laughing and squeaking. This went on for a very long time! :)

Anyway, it was a pretty simple day, and pretty much all I did was play with the kids, keep them from dumping their lunch trays on the floor and sweep up after they were gone. I wouldn't want to do it everyday, but it was fun for today.

Los Pinguinos Comen Mucho!

2011-01-27T22:14:00.000-08:00

Today was back to work and also back to land of Spanish - a school and classroom I haven't visited for quite a while!

The class is bilingual, but despite my notably lacking Spanish skills, they did a really great job. They even helped me remember some of my Spanish! I also had an IA for the morning and a student teacher for the day. Both of them spoke Spanish, so that helped too - especially for the morning activities which needed to be done in Spanish.

Does it seem like I'm saying Spanish a lot? Kinda does to me....

Anyways, it was an eventful day, and there are stories, but none are really good for the blog, so you'll have to do without for today!

Copy, Repeat, Copy, Repeat

2011-01-25T22:17:00.000-08:00

The copy machine and I are pals. We hung out today for like an hour.

I think I must have copied nearly 300 pages of stuff. You know, when you doing that many pages you kind of get into this meditative trance. I was joking with one of the IAs that it was so obsessive that I kind of enjoyed it! And the teacher who I was doing all the copying for was very grateful for my hour of service! :)

The rest of the day was spent in much the same way as yesterday. I had groups of 1 and 2 today. Read with some, played games with others, even let one group do Bookflix on the computer for a while. Pretty simple, and quite calm and pleasant. LRC is a fabulous sub job.

Just Monday

2011-01-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

I tell ya, it sure is nice to know all weekend where you're going on Monday!

Today I was back in LRC - the same on I was in on Wednesday and Thursday morning last week. The schedule was pretty much the same, and I worked with groups of 1 to 3 kids at a time. Some were doing reading, others writing or math. Sometimes I guided them through an activity, and other times I just watched them and was there to help if they needed.

When I didn't have students to work with I was working on my own schoolwork or doing loads of photocopying for the reading specialist.

Tomorrow I'm back for more of the same!

Mouse, Motorcycle and Bingo

2011-01-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I was in another first grade class. I read a really long picture book to them that their teacher left, then started reading a health handout before we went down the hall to the first grade class that I subbed for yesterday and watched a movie!

They were all watching The Mouse and the Motorcycle and it also happened to be my movie! Yesterday I was talking to the teacher I was subbing for before she left and saw they were reading the book, so I asked her if they were going to watch the movie too. She said she wanted to, but hadn't tracked down a copy yet. So I told her I had a copy and I could bring it to her tomorrow - little did I know she decided then to watch it tomorrow! Good thing I remembered - she sure trusted me a lot to come through!

Anyway, the kids loved the movie, which was no surprise. Then we went back to our room and played Bingo for about a half hour until they had to get ready for PE. Thankfully, the time went by pretty quickly, as a few of my charges were not at their most cooperative! However, the PE teacher proclaimed to me how wonderful they were for her - best they've been for a while she said - I guess I just used up their store of orneriness. :)

Fast Day

2011-01-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

....and yet, also long. If that even makes sense. It just seemed like the activities from the morning took place so long ago when I got to the end of the day!

So I started this morning in the LRC again, doing pretty much the same as yesterday (although I did arrive at normal early time today). One of the absent kinds from yesterday was there today, and I had a nice time with him. I've known this kind for a couple years, and sometimes he has shut down in class or refused to do work, but I've found that since I've subbed in LRC where I work with him one-on-one, it's much calmer if I ever step into his classroom as the substitute. Anyway, I like the kid. Today we has very enthusiastic about some Playstation game he got called "Black Ops" or something like that - a game which he got up at 5:30 this morning to play. Sheesh.

After my morning in the LRC I moved upstairs to 1st grade. I picked them up from lunch to be greeted with exclamations of joy and "Miss Baaaaarnes!!!" Then about 5 of them had to give me a hug at once before we went up to the bathrooms. While we were up there, one girl complimented my outfit. Another admired my shoes (which are about the plainest silver flats ever). She told me that silver was her favorite and when she grew up she wanted to get shoes just like that so she'd be just like me. :)

The rest of the day they were ok. Had a couple chatty/giggly/out-of-seat/not-listening moments, but hey, they've been worse - and I view that as a victory! I read a book to them, they did a math worksheet, had media and PE, and then read a little Scholastic News about Martin Luther King and they went home - about 8 minutes after the bell, partially because I was slow to pass out Thursday folders and partially I don't know why! I guess they just didn't want to leave me!

Slow Day

2011-01-19T21:59:00.000-08:00

Argh. I'd already written like half of this post and then the internet got all screwy and I lost the whole thing. So this will be brief as I don't want to type it all over.

Basically, I got called for a job last night with a weird start and end time. Called the school this morning and eventually figured out what time they wanted me there, and had to sort of dash off at the last minute.

After I arrived all excitement for the day was over! I was supposed to have four groups/sessions with students, but only ended up having 2 because the other two groups where just one kid each and they were both absent. I was also supposed to help out in a classroom for a portion of the day, but the teacher didn't need me. So I spent 1 hour with kids and the rest I didn't do anything. Tried to read my book, but it was so quiet and warm in that room that I just felt sleepy!

On the plus side, on my way down the hall in the morning, I got stopped by 2 teachers who wanted me for afternoons tomorrow and Friday. Then the LRC teacher wants me back tomorrow morning. So it will be a one-school week, and for that I am glad. :)

Math Quiz Game Show

2011-01-14T23:17:00.000-08:00

This afternoon was a bit wild and crazy, but it was fun. Shortly after I arrived for my half-day, the kids were on their way to recess and lunch. The teacher was actually still hanging around too because she only needed to be gone for the last hour or so of the day. She explained to me that she was going to stick around until then, but be pulling kids up to the library to read with her, and I would stay in the room and play a math game with the rest of them. Had a chance to visit with her during the lunch time, which was nice - I don't see this teacher as much as some others in the school and it's always good to get to know them - more likely they'll want me back if they know me personally! :)

Anyway, so once the kids got back I read a few chapters of their book (Gregor the Overlander), and then we started the game. It was kind of like Jeopardy in layout - 5 categories to choose from, 4 point values each, the teams chose the category and point value they wanted and I read the question. That team then got a minute or so to answer, if they got it right they got the points, but if they got it wrong, the next team got a chance to answer. We played this for about an hour. During that time, one kid's dad brought in cupcakes for the kid's birthday. So after we finished the game we passed out cupcakes, and since by this point they were totally hyper and loud and difficult to corral, we got their stuff together and went out to recess for the last bit of the day until the bell rang.

It was a loud day, a rowdy day, but it was Friday and I was having fun being a game show host and I didn't care so much! :)

Yeah for a full week of jobs and postings!

A Little Bit Noisy

2011-01-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

Got called late this morning for an afternoon job with some 5th graders. The day was mostly pretty ordinary, and they stuff I was doing with the kids wasn't that exiting.

I did some epic crown control while they worked on a thesaurus project. Then we discussed the project. Later, I went over practice problems for their OAKS math test. Then, I continued the crowd control while they had writing time. The kids were pretty nice, if a bit noisy. Noisy, I can deal with - in fact I pretty much always deal with it - but since they were nice kids, it's not as annoying. Not sure how much sense that makes, but it's true!

At the end of the day I took them outside, stood around watching kids go home for about 15 minutes, then went and sat around "Homework Club" for a half hour doing pretty much nothing. But I went because the teacher said I should go be an additional "adult presence" in the room. I'm pretty sure I didn't help at all, but oh well!

At first they indicated that they might ask me to come back tomorrow, but I checked with the office before I left and they said they hadn't heard from the teacher yet. So then I checked the sub site and I'd been requested for an afternoon tomorrow at my favorite school, so I took that because it was a sure thing.

HEAT!

2011-01-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

My personal life is creeping into my blog. It cannot be avoided. You see, I was really tired today at school and in order to tell you why, I must include a story from home:

Last night I woke up at the icky icky time of 4:23 am (after not going to bed until nearly midnight because I was working on my Masters class stuff) to a strange sound in my room. I got up and stumbled around in the dark (with my eyes squinched shut) following the source of the sound. Turns out the little whirring and clicking noise was coming from the thermostat on my wall! I tried to turn it down but it wouldn't stop. I turned it all the way up and then down again, but still the noise wouldn't stop. Also, I could hear the baseboard heater still running despite the heat being turned "off". Well I managed to sort of go back to sleep for the next 2 hours by covering my ears with my blankets.

Anyways, so I was a bit tired today. I yawned a lot. Once I overheard a little girl tell her friend that she thought Miss Barnes looked tired. Oops!

Kids were good though. One boy had to stay in with me during recess (his mom didn't want him to go out due to illness) and he was very quiet when I called the maintenance people about my freaky heater. After I hung up he talked my ear off about Batman and cops and robbers.

Looks like their teacher is back tomorrow, so too bad for me. Maybe I'll get a job in another room...

Oh, and by the way when I got home my room was like 80 degrees and maintenance still hadn't come. So I called again and they said they'd send someone right over. Guy arrived like 5 minutes later and fixed it! He told me it was good timing because he was just about to go home when they called him to come over.

Which goes to show, if you deserve assistance and you don't get it - nagging always helps. :)

It's SNOWING!!!!!

2011-01-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

Pretty much all other events of today left the children's minds when, at about 2:55 one looked out the window and gasped, "It's SNOWING!!" All eyes whipped to the window as their faces filled with joy at the....oh, about three snowflakes that fell to the ground. However, much like Tinkerbell who lives simply because the children believe, the snow continued to fall in slightly larger and larger dustings. By the time it was time to go home, it was falling at it's hardest (which really, just made the yards of the neighborhood look like they'd been given an artful shake of powdered sugar), but hey, these are Oregon kids, and three flakes of snow IS snow, and it shall not be ignored.

I am a teacher though, and while waiting with two of my kiddos for one of their big sisters to come meet them, I caught snowflakes on my glove and pointed out to the kids how you could see the 6-points of the snowflake (like we saw yesterday when we talked about snowflakes!) Ah, teaching moments. Ha!

Before that excitement the day was pretty average. I tested kids on sight words. We read more versions of the "There was an old lady" stories, and then made a chart of which was their favorite.

Then it snowed.

And really, that's the most important part anyway.

Although, I'm sorry to request this snow, but please don't stay because I'm going back to this class tomorrow and I can't have you messing that up. (Snow tells me it's not planning on it....we shall see!)

*This blog has been brought to you by a Vanessa who is tired and has spent all evening writing a 1,000 word paper. Hope you enjoy it's eccentric style.*

Go Ducks!

2011-01-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

Today the kids were all excited about the Oregon Ducks playing in the BCS bowl game. There was quite an animated discussion this morning between two kids about who was a better team. One argued that Auburn was better, but the other countered with "Oregon is better tacklers!" It was funny to see little 5 year-olds get so worked up about it. Saw lots of yellow and green worn today.

Unfortunately, as I write this the Ducks have just lost. Should be some bummed out kiddos tomorrow.

Oh yes, I'm going back tomorrow too.

Anyways, this is a really backwards post. I've been a bit disjointed lately - apologizes.

This is like one of my favorite classrooms to sub for in all my 4.5 years. I really like the teacher and she leaves good plans and is flexible, but most of all I love love love the IA in this kindergarten class. Seriously, I would sub forever if I could work with people like her every day. That's how awesome she is.

And someday, if I ever get a teaching job, I am going to write her a "thank you, I'll miss you, did I ever tell you you're awesome?" note. Remind me.

Balloons

2011-01-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

Today I have learned that balloons are a good motivator. Now, I'm not sure I want to start using them anytime soon (I can foresee lots of potential problems) but for today, they seemed to inspire good behavior. You see, the PE teacher was using balloons for some activity with the kids (1st grade) and since they were the last class of the day, she told me she was going to let them each take a balloon home. Fine with me, since I basically pick them up, walk them upstairs to their room and supervise them getting their stuff to go home about 3 minutes later. So when I go to pick them up, the PE teacher has them all lined up, and she's telling them how we're both going to watch their behavior in line, and if they aren't walking down the hall like they're supposed to then they won't get to keep their balloon. I've never seen them walk down the hallway so straight and calm and quiet! When we go to the classroom the PE teacher and I looked at each other and just laughed!

Anyway, earlier on the day was going pretty well anyway. One of the most challenging kiddos of this class was absent, and wow, does that make a difference! The whole room was much calmer. We read a book, drew pictures based on the book, wrote sentences, played a math game, played BINGO (which was the first time for some of the kids), and finished off with a Reading Rainbow movie.

One girl liked me so much, she wanted to give me her penny. I thanked her for the nice offer, but told her I thought she should keep it. This prompted a hug from her and the declaration that I am "the nicest teacher!"

Oh, and also - I learned about the music box trick from my previous blog (happened to be right next door to that teacher today). She told me she got it from another teacher and basically that if they have any music left Friday afternoon they get a treat - she said usually a Jolly Rancher or a sticker or something small like that.

Music Boxes and Stop Watches

2010-12-16T23:10:00.000-08:00

Today brings me to the (likely) last day of working before Christmas break, for which I am glad. Today I also start my master's program at Grand Canyon University (online). I think I shall dedicate today's posting to my new pal Dustin at the GCU admissions office who keeps answering my incessant questions and fixing my problems.

Anyway, today I visit one of the fourth grades at my school of highest choosing. To date this year, I have visited ALL classes in the school except for 2 half-day kinders, 1 3rd grade, 1 4th grade and 1 5th grade. (I HAVE been to the all-day kinder, all 3 1st grades, 2 2nd grades, 1 3rd, 1 4th and 1 5th). I am quite the spectacle when I walk down the hallways now - about 9 out of 14 kids recognize me and feel compelled to say hello. It is fun to be popular. :)

I knew some of this class from last year or even the year before. One girl actually remembered me from 1st grade when she went to a different school!

Anyways again, the class was a bit eager to be heard sometimes (read, yelling things out to me without raising their hands), but were really very pleasant and easy. This is mostly thanks in part to two management systems the teacher had in place that I particularly enjoyed:

1- When the class was called to attention and did not give it right away, or started talking during instructions, I just started a stopwatch around my neck and waited for them to pay attention. Once they were listening again I stopped it. The time would add up on the watch and then they would miss that time from their recess the next time.

2- When the class go too loud during a working time, I opened the lid of a music box in the front of the room. This was the cue to the kids to settle down. Once they heard the music they all shut up really fast and I closed the lid. I'm not sure what the consequences for this one are - I'm guessing since it was a wind-up box that maybe when the music ran down they missed out on something? I will have to ask their teacher next time I am there for someone else.

Anyway, I liked these things because they worked well, they weren't confrontational, and they were very easy to leave for a substitute to use! Sometimes a teacher has a great management plan that they use, but it's challenging for a sub to implement - either because it's complicated, or I'd need to know every one's name, etc. And it's always nice to shock the class by revealing you KNOW about their music box. :)

Computer Projects

2010-12-14T20:10:00.000-08:00

This morning I got one of those really really early calls, even though the job didn't start until 11. At least I got to go back to sleep.

It was a bit of an abnormal day today. The teacher had to go to a couple of things in the afternoon, but she came back to school between her appointments, as well as before the end of the day. I did some teaching, as did she, as did the IA.

We made lots of Christmas-themed books.

And I read a book.

And I helped the IA find pictures of spices online and make posters with them on the computer. She often has me do some computer project when I'm there. Sometimes I teach her how to do it, but today we were short on time, so I just made them.

And I can't think of anything else interesting to say.

So I'm done.

Very Observant

2010-12-13T22:03:00.001-08:00

Today I branched out from my K, 1, 2 streak and subbed in a 5th grade class.

They were very enjoyable despite a short period of time when they all started making paper beards and mustaches and not doing their work.

The rest of the time they were on task and quiet and so independent that I didn't quite know what to do with myself! I've gotten very used to the demanding cries of little kiddos who need my help at every turn!

The class was also quite observant today. They noticed my necklace (it was admired by many girls and boys), the very old blond streaks in my hair that are now grown out like 4 inches because I'm too lazy or cheap to get them touched up (the kids liked them though, so I think that's validation enough), and my Invisalign aligners. I've had those for 5 weeks now and this is the first day anyone has noticed them before seeing me take them out or something. I guess it's because the average fifth grader's eye level is about at my chin. When the first kid asked about them I was afraid I was about to get the dreaded lip question!

However, no comments about my lip were made. (Sorry to disappoint.)

The Legend of Forte

2010-12-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

Today was a little like a nightmare. At least where one child was concerned. She was gone for a few minutes once - it was a much more manageable room.

I shall refer to her as "Forte" from now on, as that means loud. :)

Forte wanted to have things her way and when they did not go that way, she got very vocal. She spent most of the day crying. Once I made her cry. You see, she wanted to write on a piece of paper when she was supposed to be listening to directions and watching me demonstrate a project. I told her to put it away. She didn't. I told her again. She still whined about how she "didn't want to!" (I'm always marveled at how kids think that's going to make any difference. Get used to doing things you don't want to kids! You'll have to do it for the rest of your life!) Anyways, I then made her give me the paper. I put in on the chair next to me and she gradually started to scoot her way toward it so she could get it back. So I moved the paper to a different place. She inched toward that. I put it in my lap and gave her the evil eye. She tried to slowly take it off my lap. At this point I'd had it with the interruptions, so I took the paper and crumpled it into a ball and threw it behind the teacher's desk. This sent Forte into a whole new level of crying. I broke out the scariest voice I possess and ordered her to her seat to put her head down and stop crying. The look of fear on the other kids' faces was interesting. Their looks of amazement when I turned back to them and returned to using my sweet voice was particularly amusing.

(Some time later I did give Forte her paper back and explained to that she needed to let me do my job and follow directions. She agreed that she would do that.)

First grade promises are easily broken.

Later in the day she refused to get in line for P.E. I threatened to tell her teacher that she should owe recess time for not following directions. She caved and got in line. However, not long after the P.E. teacher returned her to me because she was so disruptive and she spent more time crying at her desk. The principal even stopped by to talk to her. And after she calmed down I talked to her again.

My talks only seem to have about a 15 minute effect. She continued whining throughout the rest of the day until they went home.

I am marveled at how her teacher deals with her everyday!

Slightly Inappropriate Stories

2010-12-08T23:11:00.000-08:00

Today was party amusing and partly frustrating.

The kids were okay in the morning. Chatty, but OK. Then they had inside recess after lunch and the afternoon just went downhill from there.

I did a lot of this:

"Look at me."

"Sit."

"Stop moving."

"Put the pencil down."

"Listen."

"Sit."

"Stop talking."

"Follow directions."

"Stop."

"Sit."

"Stop!"

"Sit!"

Argh. Anyway, I hate inside recess.

I've got one story for you from this morning. During writing time a kid was telling me he was going to write about his trampoline. This was overheard by another child, who also had something to tell me about his or her trampoline. Anyway, eventually, once everyone is back to working one girl comes up to me and quietly tells me she wants to tell me a funny story about her trampoline. I say OK and she proceeds to tell me that sometimes her mom jumps on the trampoline. She then points to her chest and says, "You know these things right here? When my mom jumps on the trampoline they go up and down. When she jumps up they go up and when she goes down they go down!" She then giggled to herself and said, "Isn't that funny?!" (Very innocently and having no idea that what she's saying is the slightest bit inappropriate - she's just making observations!) So I just nodded and said, "Oh. OK, go finish your writing." Which she skipped off happily to do.

First grade. They will say ANYTHING.

One Big, One Little

2010-12-07T17:48:00.000-08:00

I think the best story from today once again, revolves around my ever fascinating lip. Little did I know when I moved to Salem 3 and a half years ago that the children of this town would be so stricken by my lower lip. And yet, every year, sometimes multiple times, I have a student point out its strange shape, the dent (a.k.a. "hole"), and generally the many ways in which it is weird.

Today I was sitting by and talking to one little girl in the afternoon class before class actually started. She looked at me, then looked away for a second, and glanced back up and squinted her eyes in that, "I think I'm going to say something" manner. She then pointed to her own bottom lip and said, "You have one big lip," then she moved her finger to her top lip and finished, "and one little lip." I laughed and said, "Yes, I do." She had nothing else to say on the matter and went on with what she was doing.

The rest of the day was pretty ordinary. It was fun. I was glad to be back to working! Tomorrow I hear rumors of another sub job....I hoping it comes through tonight!

Pedrito

2010-12-02T23:03:00.000-08:00

This week has started out slow but today I finally got back to work. Unfortunately I got called really late and had to rush around to get there on time. On the plus side, I get paid the same amount for less work!

The job came up as K-1 blend but I think it may have just been 1st grade. The kids were nice but they did not listen very well! The teacher had this listen signal that she put in her note: I was supposed to raise my hand and say "pedrito" and they were supposed to repeat it and look at me and stop what thru were doing and such. Except that they didn't do that! I had to repeat it 2 or 3 times and nearly yell at them to "stop" and " look at me"! I don't even know what "pedrito" means! I looked it up and it's not in my Spanish dictionary!

It wasn't all bad though- they did seem to like me and no one was a big problem. I got lots of random hugs and one girl informed me that I looked pretty. Also, one of the girls I knew from head start preschool 3 years ago! She was a bit of a challenge then, but was very well behaved now. I even talked to her a while about when I was in her preschool class and she smiled and said she remembered. It's fun to see kids years later from when you met them. :)

This concludes my first post from my iPhone. (I forgot to write this before I turned my computer off.) Hope it looks normal!

"Your Osom"

2010-11-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

That is the note a girl gave me today.

On a bright pink post-it.

Now, keep in mind these are second graders and they still haven't learned the difference between 'your' and 'you're' and the correct spelling of the word 'awesome'. It's the thought that counts, I say.

Today I was back at my favorite "osom" school in a new class. Although I knew the kids from previous years (some didn't get me as a sub last year but did remember me from kindergarten - told you I was "osom"!)

We did schoolish stuff today. I scolded them a once or twice (but really, they were pretty good). There was a freezing cold recess and time in the computer lab, and interesting things being done in music. I think I want to go to the Winter (bah-winter! I want to call it Christmas!) Concert. Christmas exists, no sense denying it! Kudos to my mom for always doing real Christmas songs in her "Winter" Programs. :)

Even After 4 Years...

2010-11-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

...I still sometimes see something new!

Today, I went to one of the few elementary schools in Salem-Keizer that I haven't been to yet! There are only 3 left out of the 47 total.

Anyway, it was second grade and they were pleasant.

We did pretty basic stuff during the day. I could list it all but I doubt it would be that thrilling. We played a math "game" that they (surprisingly, to me) really liked. Basically it involved rolling a pair of special dice (one had numbers 0-5 and the other had 5-10) and charting the totals as they came up. I was going to go through and have everyone roll once, (21 kids) but they were so interested we ended up going around twice. They had no concept at the beginning that the numbers in the middle would be more likely to turn up because there are more combinations of numbers to get them, but I sure hope they did by the end! I stopped many times to re-emphasize how we had many more 7s and 10s and 11s that we did 5s or 15s. Then we talked about how many combinations of the dice would add up to 10 and how many would add up to 5. They seemed have a better understanding by the end, and our graph very cooperatively showed the increase in probability toward the middle of the number set.

Yay for math.

Also, yay for Mad Libs: great savior of those last 10 minutes of the day when you have nothing left to do but it's too early to pack up to go home! (And it's educational - parts of speech and all.) ;)

See Ya Boss

2010-11-15T21:10:00.000-08:00

I think that's what one of the kids said to me when he left today! Granted, it was kind of muffled, so he could have been saying Miss Barnes and I only heard the B sound at the beginning and S at the end and it just sounded like Boss...

I'm going to decide it was Boss because that's funnier.

Anyway, I subbed for another first grade today (I've now done all three 1st grades at this school - where I also subbed in all the kindergartens last year. So pretty much all of the kids already knew me, and I knew them. Names come so much easier when I just have to re-memorize them!)

The kids were really good. This class is probably the easiest to sub for out of the three first grades.

One of the projects we did had to do with crabs. Except I had a problem actually saying "crab" and kept calling them "frogs"! Which of course the kids noticed every time and just giggled over me saying wrong so many times. Then one boy told me how he remembered in kindergarten that one day I kept calling a turkey and penguin. Which I did not remember until he said that.

Apparently I have problems keeping my animals straight and 1st graders have amazing memories.

Rough Day

2010-11-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

Seriously, today was not the best day.

The kids were super hyper (left over Halloween candy?), didn't have enough time to run around (inside recess - yuck), and had a terrible time listening! I'd get there attention, spend a while calling out lots of names to get them to look at me, and then as soon as I'd start talking some kid would start making noises, or someone would come up to me to ask to go the bathroom, or someone would start coloring again, or playing with the pencils, or poking their neighbor, or generally ignoring me! It was maddening.

I don't understand the kids who keep coming up to me while I was talking! I'm standing up front, giving directions, and some kid would just get out of their seat, and come up to me and start calling, "Miss Barnes. Miss Barnes. Miss Barnes!" As if they don't realize I see them and am ignoring them. They just get louder and start poking me, so I HAVE to stop and tell them to sit down. Kid has got some complaint of needing to go to the bathroom or needing a band aid. Then they look at me with shock and horror when I tell them "Not now, I'm talking and you should be sitting at your seat listening."

Kid: "But I'm bleeding"

Me: "You'll be fine."

*Look of shock again*

Me: "Sit down"

*Kid holds finger in my face* (which by the way has a 1 millimeter scratch in it that is kind of red - it's not like I'm denying first aid to the mortally wounded here!)

All. Day. Long.

Sit down. Sit down. Sit down.

Not now. Not now. Not now.

You'll be fine! Tough it out. Get over it!

I sound mean don't I?

But when you're dealing with kids who don't do their work, can't get in line quietly, are prone to pushing and hitting each other, and whine over ever tiny thing they don't like, my last concern is getting a band aid to the kid with a hangnail.

On the plus side, they do listen to a story well. Perhaps next time I just need to give directions like I'm a picture book. Maybe illustrate it as I go. Something to try for next time! :)

Sleepy and Grumpy

2010-11-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

I think there were a few other "seven dwarfs" thrown in today too!

One girl fell asleep at her desk when the class was supposed to be drawing and cutting out pictures of crabs. The other children kept wanting to point this out to me and I kept trying to get them to leave her alone. Eventually I think she woke herself up and actually finished the project quite a bit before some of the kids who never were asleep. Curious.

A couple other boys were having much trouble getting along today. They argued, send each other dirty glares, once acted like they were going to start swinging if I hadn't jumped in. It was very annoying.

The rest of the class was just regular and demanding! Every second someone needed my help, my attention, my incredible problem solving skills, etc. After only 3 hours with the kiddos my voice was sore.

Tomorrow I go back and I'm hoping that my contention that full days are easier than half day afternoons will remain true.

Sweet Compliments and Sweet Relief

2010-11-05T16:16:00.000-07:00

We'll start with the sweet compliments:

-Today was "Dress up" day (I think I mentioned this in the last post) - but basically it was a day to dress up in your "fancy" clothes. I was wearing a black dress with red tights and sparkly shoes (more on those later). When one of the girls arrived she got my attention to tell me, "Miss Barnes, you look so beautiful!"

-Later in the day a girl (I honestly can't remember if it was the same girl or not) came to me and said, "Miss Barnes, I wish you were our teacher like all the time the whole year!" And I know they love their teacher and she's great, so this is high praise! :)

Now, the sweet relief comes in the form of the weekend! The rest of the day was a bit of a struggle. Wants-to-go-to-the-office girl actually did get to go to the office today! She fell off her chair and smacked the back of her head against the desk. Then she proceeded to wail at the top of her lungs for awhile. Eventually she calmed down enough (after I kept telling her to calm down and take a deep breath and such, and after I yelled at one of the boys for making fun of her.) Then I sent her to the office to get an ice pack. After that she recovered quickly, although was still a bugger for the remainder of the day. I'm tired of saying her name.

And then there were two boys who could not sit still, follow directions, quit making noises or pay attention without being CONSTANTLY told to. I am weary and am glad to have a break from them for a few days!

The rest of the kids were cute. The art project we did turned out cute too! (I choose it and prepped it all.) It was fun to get to plan something for a change. I hung them all up in the window for their teacher to see next week. (See photos.)

EDIT: I forgot to tell you about the shoes! So I was wearing these cute black shoes with sparkly silver things all over the toes, and invariably, every time we sat at the carpet the kid who was sitting closest to my feet would start petting my shoes. Sometimes just once and then they'd look up sheepishly at me. Other times they'd just pet them over and over again and basically ignore me. Little kids aways notice my shoes. :)

November Sunshine!

2010-11-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

Today was another beautiful day of sunshiny, warm weather!

We had a bonus recess. Miss Barnes wanted it. The kids didn't object. :)

Wants-to-go-to-the-office girl still wanted to go to the office today. She did have better excuses this time! One was because her ear was bothering her, another was because she wanted to pull her loose tooth, I think she threw in something about her arm and her stomach hurting once too. I still didn't let her. She was not too happy about that, but thankfully she forgets quickly.

Between an assembly, lesson from the school counselor, media (library) and PE, (not to mention extra recess!) the day went by really fast and I had lots of time to get the art project for tomorrow ready. We're going to make "stained glass" fall leaves with tissue paper. Tomorrow is also "Dress Up Day" - meaning wear fancy clothes, n0t a Halloween costume. Should be interesting...

Wanted: Lunch Box Inspector

2010-11-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today was very busy!

There are a few kids in this class that have interesting personalities. One likes to be disruptive whenever possible. The other throws tantrums when things don't go the way she wants. One particularly interesting moment was when we came past the office after lunch to take a bathroom break. This girl came to me and asked if she could go to the office. When I asked her why she needed to go to the office she evaded my question by saying something like, "I just need to!" I asked her again why and she gave me the same non-answer. She was getting whinier and whinier and starting to stomp a bit and questioning why I just wouldn't let her go. I told her she needed to tell me why she needed to go to the office. She said things like she needed to tell them something or ask them something but would never say what. Finally, after I'd told her for the tenth time she needed to tell me what she needed to tell/ask them, she came up with, "I just....need to....ask them........if my lunchbox is empty!" (The lunchbox that she is holding by the way.) I told her she could just check that herself. Then she got really mad and stomped around crying at me "I NEVER get to go!" I pretty much knew she had no reason from the start, but I am still surprised she couldn't come up with a better lie!

Miss Barnes, I love you!

2010-11-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

Today the kids were practicing writing the word "you" in their quick write notebooks. They've already done "I" and "love" so they combined them to make the sentence "I love you" also. I was outside of the room at this time, doing more counting assessments. But, when I finished and came back in I found all the kids lined up for PE. It was then that one of the girls smiled at me and said, "Miss Barnes, I love you!" It was kinda funny and very cute.

Anyways, besides assessments, I also taped up the edges of some big thin boxes that will become giant files for song charts, copied stuff, peeled labels of small plastic bottles, sorted fake plants and leaves into long and short stems, and helped kids paint big paper leaves with marbles. I think there may have been a few other things I did, but I can't really remember!

Oh, and we had a pizza party! Yay for free lunch. :) (The kids had all apparently turned in some forms on time so the class earned a party.)

The teacher is going to try to make it back tomorrow, which is just as well because I've been requested for the rest of the week for a first grade class down the hall! It should be fun. Still waiting for the official call for that, but it should come soon.

I'm excited for my first full week of the school year! (Even though it's only Tuesday and I'm already tired!)

Ordered

2010-11-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

Got a wake-up call this morning at 5:30 (I still hate that time of the morning, by the way). Happily, it was for a kindergarten at my favorite place. I actually thought it was a certain teacher, but turned out it was the other one at this school (if that makes sense). See, this teacher's name somehow is not the name that's read to me when the system calls me. Instead it says some completely different name, a name of someone who as far as I can tell, doesn't even work in this district! Anyway, I remembered this was the case, but I mixed up which teacher it was who had this problem. Not that it really mattered; I would have happily subbed for either of them.

Turns out the teacher I was actually there for has a student teacher! (She also has like the most awesome IA in the world.) The student teacher was in the middle of her full-time teaching, so I did lots of random tasks today, including: sorting books, writing name tags, photocopying, stapling, searching for books, die cutting letters, adding papers to 3-ring binders, and testing kids. I was very busy all day, which was good! The IA and student teacher were impressed when I took the game board for the math game and photocopied it and added spinners like on the original so all the kids could play it at once (something the student teacher was trying to figure out how to do).

Oh, reason for the title of this entry: When the IA arrived this morning she told me that the teacher had told her she was going to be gone today an that she'd "ordered" Vanessa. :)

Going back tomorrow morning!

Apple Day!

2010-10-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

Today was what Miss Barnes called "Apple Day!"

Basically, everything we did had to do with apples. Apple books, apple crosswords, apple coloring, apple gluing, apple drawing, apple writing, apple snack, apple graphs. It was apple madness! We couldn't do any Halloween stuff because a few of the kids don't celebrate holidays, which was kind of a bummer.

The kids were ok. A few of them can be challenging, but we didn't have any huge problems. Basically I just dealt with some tattles, some whining, some kids not getting along.

I think the part of the day the kids most enjoyed was when we did the apple snack/tasting. The teacher had left me two different kinds of apples for the kids to try and then chart which kind was their favorite. I was going to cut them up during my lunch, but I ran out of time. I had to cut them while the kids were in the room, so I turned on the document camera and put the cutting board and apple slicer/corer under it. Then I used a funny accent (not sure what nationality it was!) and called it my cooking show. I pretended to be straining to cut the apple, once I told them they had to be really quiet so I could concentrate. They seemed highly amused by all of this. I'm beginning to wonder if they will request my "cooking show" next time in their room. :)

At the end of the day I had an interesting encounter. I was standing in the hall after the kids has left just supervising, and an older girl came back into the building crying. I looked at her questioningly and she mumbled out to me that she'd forgotten her backpack (!). I was puzzled because she was carrying a purple backpack on her arm. So I asked her, "Well, that's not your backpack?" She stopped and looked at me all puzzled. "What?" she said. I then pointed the bag on her arm and said, "That's not your bag? Who's backpack is that?" She then looked down and inhaled in surprise and said, "Oh. That is mine. I didn't have it on my back so I thought I forgot it!" I wished her a happy weekend as she went back outside. Poor thing, hope she has an easier day tomorrow!