An Apple Weighs 47 Bears

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! :)

Back to School Night

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!

Library

Today was pretty simple. Even slow at times! I was subbing for the afternoon in the library and for the most part I had very little to do. I started my afternoon by re-shelving books. Then I perused the book fair while I waited for the next class to arrive. When they came we watched a short video about the book fair, then played with an online site that lets you "carve" a pumpkin and experimented with MS Paint. The class then got to check out books before their teacher picked them up.

Shortly after this the teacher I'm subbing for tomorrow came by and took me down to her room to look at the plans for tomorrow (lots of apple activities are in store!) When I came back to the library a 4th grade class was in the computer lab with their teacher doing some reading test. They pretty much didn't need me.

At the end of the school day I spent about 45 minutes supervising the book fair. Parent helpers run the check out and such, so I was just wandering around seeing if any kids needed help finding things. I even convinced myself to buy a book (I know, this is not a terribly hard thing to do!) The parents running it even gave me the 20% off that teachers get! They were both super nice - they knew I was a sub, so they really didn't have to give me the discount, but I thought it was nice they did. So nice that I ended up buying two books instead!

Rhonda: I thought of your boys a lot today because there were a bunch of Star Wars books at the book fair! :)

3...2...1...Blastoff!

Well, it official - I am done with Super Saturdays for the summer! The last session was one of my favorites - rockets! It was also one of the most highly-anticipated sessions (seemed like every week some kid asked me when the "rocket week" was). I think we lived up their expectations.

We started today's class at the Foundation, as usual. We spent about 40 minutes building rockets. Each kid made 2 to 5 versions. Then we walked the block over to Riverfront Park. They have a nice big lawn area there were we set up the rocket launcher and rolled out a 100 ft. tape measure. After that I pretty much held the launcher at the angle the kids wanted to try, and blew up the 2-liter bottle over and over and over again! I was a little winded after an hour of this activity!

In case you don't know what I'm talking about now, I suppose I should describe the launcher in a little more detail. Basically it's a PVC pipe with a bicycle inner tube attached to one end. The other end of the inner tube is attached around the neck of an empty 2-liter pop bottle. The kids put their rocket on the free end of the pipe, and then stomp down on the 2-liter bottle. The air gets pushed out of the bottle, up the inner tube and pipe and propels their rocket into the air. Some of the rockets traveled over 130 ft across the lawn!

It was pretty simple for me (I was grateful to have the help of two assistants - shout out to my mom and Dani - as well as the parent of one of the students who stuck around and impressed (and challenged) the kids with his far-flying rocket!) The weather was nice, the kids had fun. No one got hit in the eye. Good week, good summer. I'm glad to be finished, but wouldn't mind doing it again if the opportunity arises.

Stayed tuned in September for my return to the world of subbing!

Cleared For Takeoff

Forgot my helmet, but thankfully paper and Styrene airplanes do not cause to much trauma to one's head. :)

Today was airplane day!

We started the session with paper airplanes. The original plan was just for the Styrene kind, but since we were a little limited with that material (just enough for each kid to make one), and since I didn't think that would occupy them for 2 hours, we added paper airplanes to the mix. I found a great website (www.funpaperairplanes.com) that had bunches of paper airplane designs (complete with templates!). I chose two designs for us to do, then printed the directions for each plane for each table, and one template for each student. I printed one set on green paper and the other on some salmon/orange colored paper. That way they knew which directions went with which template.

After about twenty minutes of that, we started the main project. I took a little time to talk about lift and such (great kid-friendly explanation found at the same website as the paper airplane templates), and then we did the build phase step-by-step. For most of the other sessions I've let them experiment with their designs more from the start, but since we only had so much Styrene (and since I knew some of the kids from previous weeks and I knew they would need all the steps explained), I went over the basic assembly a little bit at a time. Once they'd all built their first plane, they had the rest of time to tweak it, add things, or make other designs with Styrofoam plates.

A few even thought really outside the box and made "not-planes" out of the plates. There were a few "flying saucers", a few hats (really, when you cut the rim off a plate what else are you supposed to do with it than put in on your head?), and even a sailboat! That kid should have been here a few weeks ago! :)

Another interesting happening today: when I was putting supplies away and doing a final clean-up of the room, a man came in. He was the parent of a kid that was signed up for today's class, but didn't come. He said they'd forgotten about it until it was too late, but he wanted to know if he could have some material for them to do the project at home. Thankfully, I had some extras, so I handed him a Styrene tray, some paper clips and the directions and templates for the paper airplanes. He seemed grateful and I got rid of some stuff! :)

Next week is the last Super Saturday, and while it's been fun, I'll be glad to be done! Hopefully it's not 95 degrees out next weekend because the plan is to make rockets and walk the 2 blocks to Riverfront Park to test them. Should be a fun finale.

Scolded Again

Today would have been a perfectly pleasant day. And if I'm just talking about the time in the classroom it was. However....

I got reamed by a parent/guardian (I think she may have been a grandma) today! I'm taking the little darlings from the morning kindergarten out front to get picked up, and the last one is on her way, when granny comes up to me with her child and something to say. She launches into this one big complaint about how her child's backpack was stolen, and that "this is unacceptable". She also tells me that when her older granddaughter (?) was in third grade a few years ago, her coat was stolen and she never got it back. Then she tells me that when her children were in school they went to a "proper school" and this sort of thing would never happen and that this isn't a "proper school"! I standing there thinking, 'and what the heck do you want me to do about it?!' I told her that her child hadn't told me her backpack was missing until we were out the door, and it was nowhere in the room, so there was really nothing I could do but let the teacher know. She was irritated, but she did leave.

Seriously, what is wrong with these people in the world that think that it is EVER ok to talk to someone that way?! If you want to get respect in life then you should treat others with it! Just because I have to bite my tongue and listen to you doesn't mean everyone in life will. The world would be so much better if we all used a little tact and common sense when interacting with each other. Think about what you're going to say before you let it out of your mouth.

And....end rant!

Otherwise, the day was great. The kids were excited to see me, and they were eager to know if I would be coming back.

The only other downside to the day was that the afternoon girls got Justin Beiber's "Baby" stuck in head! I guess his singing voice is in the right key for them!

Fire Drills

Interesting day today.

One of the first things the teachers at the building told me today was, "Keep your coat handy." Apparently the school has been having freak "fire drills" all week. The alarm just goes off unexpectedly and since it's not planned, the fire department has to come and walk through the building. Today it went off at 8:30 - right before I'd taken attendance! So I had to count kids and just hope I had them all.

Other interesting thing was at the end of the day. A kid's dad came to pick him up about 10 minutes before the bell rang and when I asked if he'd already checked him out he said no. I told him he had to check him out at the office if he was taking him early. He acted like he thought this was a strange request and informed me, "I'm his dad." I told him that I couldn't let a kid leave unless they'd been checked out. He reluctantly went. I just kept thinking how opposite his reaction would be if I HAD let his kid leave when someone he WASN'T supposed to go with!

I'd Like To See You Try It

Well, I have to say Friday was one of the more interesting days I've had in a long time. Unfortunately, it was not interesting in the fun way, but rather the I-want-to-tear-my-hair-out way.

All week I've know that the school was having their jogathon on Friday. Basically, all the kids collect pledges and then at a point during the day their class goes out to the track and runs/jogs/walks laps to raise money. The money goes to buy new equipment or supplies for the school. The teacher I was subbing for wrote me a brief note about this, which I did not read carefully enough to realize that it actually didn't say what it seemed like it was saying. You see, I thought my class was supposed to go during their PE time at 2:30. I had planned for this all week, even mentioned it to other teachers and they nor I never realize that I was in fact mistaken - my class was scheduled to go at 1:30. So I'm going obliviously along with my day, when at around 1:33 the office calls and says they are waiting for us for the jogathon. So I had to pass out their lap recording card/bracelets as fast as humanly possible, and get them up to the track - which is the farthest away thing from our room and still on school grounds. So we race up there and arrive around 1:38 or something. One of the parent volunteers I met that morning was really sweet and actually apologized to me for not coming down to make sure we knew the time. I told her I felt bad we were late, and she and the PE teacher (who was running the show) both told me it was not a big deal, that they only missed maybe 5 minutes.

When the kids' time is up, they get to go over to the covered area and get a water bottle and ice cream bar. I'm walking along with them, collecting bracelets and showing them where to go. At this point a woman comes up to me and introduces herself to me as the mother of one of the children in my class. She then says, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm very disappointed in you. And I hope you do a better job in the future." She's even smiling at me like she's giving me some great helpful piece of advise. I almost laughed because I thought she was teasing me. Then I realized that no, she was completely serious and completely MAD at me. I was so shocked I think I said "What?" or something and then she reiterated the same statements adding things like, "This was really important to the students and because of you they've missed out. You were incredibly late and I just really hope you work harder to do a better job next time." I couldn't believe it! And again, she saying this in such a condescending tone like she's the Pope and I'm the spider crawling on her robes. And the whole time she's looking at me like she expects me to get on my knees and grovel. I tell you, it took every shred of self-control that I have to respond to her politely.

I told her that I was sorry that she was upset, and that I apologized for being late, that it was a miscommunication and I didn't realize I had the wrong time. I then stated that there was nothing I can do about it now, and that the PEOPLE IN CHARGE said that it wasn't going to make that much of a difference.

This was not an acceptable answers to her.

She then said that yes, in fact it was a big deal, and that I just need to do a better job in the future. (She liked that phrase). I told apologized again and reminded her that I was the substitute, I'd only been here for a week, today was my last day, sometimes things like this just happen, and I'm doing the best that I can and then I pretty much walked away.

Oh, I was so mad. I had a fake smile plastered on my face the whole rest of the time out there to avoid scowling.

I still can't believe that people think it's okay to talk to other people like that. I almost wish she would read this blog and realize that my job is a heck of a lot harder than a lot of people's. Every day I walk into the unknown. A new school, and new group of kids, new assistants, new administrators, you name it. Some days you find that the plans left for you are insufficient or non-existent. Often, you deal with children that receive no love, or discipline, or structure, or guidance, or accountability at home. It is my constant challenge to gain respect, cooperation, and understanding from children, and to teach them how to give and receive the same from their peers. I have to be ready to teach anything at a moment's notice. I have to accept that often I will be asked to teach the more "boring" subjects all day. I have to learn the floor plans of 40+ elementary schools so I know where to take them to PE and where to pick them up from recess. I have to be willing to change my plans to fit other's schedules. I have to be ready for the unexpected. I have to adapt to a completely new scenario EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

So if you have kids and ever feel like their teacher has somehow "wronged" your child. Please, take a minute and put yourself in that teachers shoes. Chances are, if you're honest, you might find we all just need to be a little more understanding.