Who Needs Lunch?

Not me apparently!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dobraye Utrah

Today I leaned to speak Russian.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Los Pinguinos Comen Mucho!

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!

Miss Barnes, I love you!

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

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!

Spelling Tests!

Today I pretty much gave spelling tests.

I also graded math papers.

And once, I supervised 3 kids in the computer lab while they took reading assessments.

I didn't teach.

Because there was a student teacher doing her full-time teaching!

Thankfully, I am a good worker bee, and I kind of don't mind doing the menial tasks once in a while. It's interesting to interact with the kids but not be "in charge" of them.

The spelling tests did take up most of the day though. The way they do it in the class requires a lot of testing. You see, each student has the same list of like 1000 words. And at some point someone goes through the list with them, reading the words to them and marking a plus by the ones they already know how to spell. Then each week the teacher makes each kid their own spelling list of 10 of the words they've missed. So I went through pages and pages of the master lists with kids so the teachers would have words to give the kids for the upcoming weeks of tests. And if the kid was a good speller it took even longer because I needed a list of 10 words they didn't know! At one point I was doing 5 kids at one time, all of whom were at a different place on the master list. It was going around and around the table saying the kid's name, then their word, then the next kids name, then their word, then the next kid's name, etc. Repetitive, but a pretty good way to make money for today. :)

Firefighters!

I love days like this.

To preface, I actually turned down 3 or 4 jobs for today before finally taking the one I did: a kindergarten at a school I like but don't go to often. I still wasn't feeling that great last night when they kept calling me, and they were all for schools or grades I didn't love that much. But this morning when I got called again I finally decided to suck it up and go. I'm so glad I did, because not only will I have an extra day on the paycheck, but it was super easy and fun and the kids were so cute.

Right off the bat when I arrive I learn that the classes are getting visits from some firefighters today. Three firemen arrived and talked to the class about the gear the firefighters wear and one guy put it all on to show the kids what he looked and sounded like when he was in it. They talked to the kids a lot about not being afraid of the fireman if you're stuck in a fire, because even though he may look and sound weird or scary, he's there to help. Then they had the kids practice crawling low to the ground to escape a smoky room, talked to them about not playing with matches, and had them practice "stop, drop, and roll". After that we went out to the front of the school where the firetruck was parked and the fireman walked them all around the truck and showed them the different parts of the truck. The kids were amazed at the hoses and nozzles and lights and anything else the firefighters showed them. It was very fun.

One of the girls in the afternoon group actually did get scared of the firefighter when he started putting all the gear on and I had to spend much of the presentation right by her side whispering reassurances to her. However, once we got out to the firetruck she eventually left my side and was right up front with all the rest clambering to touch anything the fireman held out to them.

After the firefighter excitement we had snack, recess and free choice/art time.

Don't think I could have hand-picked a more enjoyable day. :)

Feel My Muscles

Today I worked in an afternoon kindergarten class. The kids were fine. A few were not good listeners and a few had a bad case of the "...but I don't WANT to!" syndrome. As if that's going to change what we do!

One of the more challenging rascals of the beginning of the afternoon, decided for some reason after recess that he now loved me. I was sitting at a table working with some kids and he came up to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I casually shrugged him off and asked if he needed something. He said that he wanted to play the math game with me. I pointed to an open chair at the table and said he could come play. He then stalled by rolling up his sleeve and encouraging me to feel his muscle. I politely declined. He kept trying to convince me for a few minutes, but eventually gave up and sat down. :)

Less Eventful

Today no one threw up.

For that I am glad.

However, today I have nothing interesting to write about. It was just pretty typical. We had that "team time" thing again in the morning. My dance skills improved slightly - or so I like to tell myself. The teacher was actually in the room until about 10. She was doing something at her desk. That always makes things a little weird.

We had silent reading and a reading test. After PE, we read a Scholastic News paper about Ireland. Then they had lunch. In the afternoon we did math, and then an art project. The kids got louder little by little throughout the day, but were mostly good.

Tomorrow, there is no school in Salem-Keizer because of a grading day. I still have to get up early though because I'm babysitting Kailey and Kenna for the day.

Silent Spew

Ok, wow it was an eventful day today! Let's start at the beginning.

I arrive at the second grade class I am subbing today and find the teacher still there. She is getting a lesson plan ready. I do a couple things for her and then the student arrive. They are puzzled by me because they see their teacher is still in the room, so clearly I'm not a substitute. Five minutes later we are leaving for the gym for their morning "team time". Basically we go to the gym with everybody else and do some simple step dances. The selected songs for today were: the bunny hop, Cotton-eyed Joe, YMCA, and something else that I can't remember the name of. I was not very skilled at the dances, but a few girls were happy to try to teach me the steps.

A little later we return to the room. I take attendance, read a book aloud, etc. Then they switch rooms for reading. I get a slightly altered group of kiddos, and we start read to self time for 20 minutes. About halfway into this time I find myself at a table in the front of the room looking over the materials for the day. One group of students sits at a table directly behind me. It is really quiet in the room when I hear a couple of the kids from behind me softly gasp. I turn to see what's up and discover that one of the other students at this table has just thrown up all over himself, the table, and the book he was reading. I tell the other kids to move, and quickly write this kid a pass to the office. He's out the door and, besides the 3 at his table, no one else in the room has even noticed! That's how silent his throwing-up was! Shocking. Anyways, we call the janitor, it gets cleaned up, the kid goes home, no one is too traumatized - although I did have the urge to wash my hands a lot!

In other news:

• It was freakishly cold at recess. I even sent one boy inside because he had a light coat on and was shivering and complaining about being freezing.
• A person from OSU came to give a health lesson and I didn't realize they were coming. I had to work about an hour less which was nice, but it did make the clean up at the end of the day a bit crazy because we had so little time.
• Their teacher is still sick, so I'm going back tomorrow. Hopefully my dance skills will improve and no one will puke.

Surprise Student Teacher

Whoops! I knew I was forgetting something! I did work on Friday, and so I'm dating this post as Friday even though I'm writing it Saturday night...

Anyways...I got called at 5:30 in the morning on Friday to sub in a 1st grade I did a few weeks ago. And once again, this class had a student teacher (which I was not expecting) - although it was a different student teacher. This made my day pretty easy. I gave a spelling test, coaxed children along with their various projects, and just helped when I was needed. The kids were pretty good, so I just enjoyed walking around and talking with them.

All in all it was a pretty good week! I hope next week is as enjoyable.

Quack, Quack, Quack

Today, I helped kids make paper "gingerbread" people.

Oh, and I read a book with three boys and helped them do a worksheet.

And I listened to a girl read my about 5 books in a row. She was very eager.

I also used the pointer to point to words on a chart while we sang a song.

And....that's really about it.

I had a student teacher! She did everything. I'm just there to make it legal and get paid for nothing. It's an awesome thing. :)

Also, today was the Civil War football game between the Ducks and the Beavers. And if you can't decide if you're a Duck or a Beaver, you can just be a Platypus - so I'm told. :)

Much of the students and teachers were decked out in their green and yellow or black and orange today. Some were considerable brighter than others! The kindergarten teacher apparently is a big Duck fan, because on the way out of the school at the end of the day she had her whole line of little guys quacking away! Unfortunately, Beavers do not much such great sound effects.

Storytime

It's Sunday afternoon now, but I'm going to date this as Friday. I DID work on Friday - I've just forgotten to write about it!

After my day with the pouting master, I was hoping for a slightly less-demanding group for the last day of the week. Little did I know that I would not only have that, but also a student teacher who did pretty much everything! Here is a summary of lovely day:

The kids came in and did puzzles in the morning. (Apparently Friday is "puzzle day".) I helped a variety of student with their puzzles.

After puzzles the class did calendar activities. The student teacher led this activity.

Then it was time for the class to read together from their poetry books. The student teacher led, I sat next to kids and read poems.

Next came reading groups. The ST dismissed kids to groups and led the groups. I went around the room and sat down with various students and had them read to me.

They had lunch. The ST walked them to lunch. I pushed play on the VCR - Friday was also video day. You can see how much I've been exerting myself today.

In the afternoon I read a story! Then, after the story there was an activity in the lesson plans that didn't say "the student teacher with do this" next to it, so I thought I would actually have to work today. But when I'd finished my story the ST came up to me with the stack of papers and acted like she wanted to take over. So I asked her if she wanted to do it, and she said, "Yeah!" So I sat in the back and listened.

After this we had a birthday party for a student. Again, the ST took charge of this.

I did however, make myself useful near the end of the day. When the class was in PE an adult brought in a small stack of papers that needed to go home with the kids whose names were on them. I passed out the papers but found one that wasn't from our class. I took it back to the office, found out where it was supposed to go and then took it to that classroom.

And yes, that is all I did. Deliver a note, read a book, and listen to kids read. Pretty nice way to end the week!

Full to Half AGAIN!

Last week I took a job online for today at one of the schools on the other end of town.  There were actually two jobs that I saw for the same school - one was first and the other third.  I took the third grade job.  

So today I arrived bright and early (start time is at 8), and met the student teacher.  She lead me to the room where I then met the teacher.  While the teacher was explaining to both me and the student teacher what the schedule was going to look like she kept saying "it's going to be a pretty easy morning for you."  So I finally asked, "Are you coming back for the afternoon?"  She said she was.  I was surprised because the job I took online listed as a full day job.  But the teacher told me I was supposed to go to a first grade class for the afternoon but she didn't know which one.  I was surprised no one in the office has mentioned this when I first checked in.  So I went back to the office and asked and the secretary told me that I didn't go to a different class in the afternoon unless I had signed up for another job on the site.  I then pointed out that the job I had signed up for was listed as a full day.  She apologized a lot but told me there had been a mistake and it was supposed to just be a half day.  Bummer.

The class was pretty good.  I didn't have them for long.  The student teacher did one morning activity.  Then I did calendar and then was went to watch a presentation about trees for an hour.  The kids did a fabulous job listening during this!  After the presentation we went back to the room and they worked on a writing project.  By this time they were getting a little wound up, but it wasn't too bad.  The student teacher read a story to them and then they had lunch.  When we got back to the room after delivering the class to the cafeteria the teacher came back and I left.  I'm getting really tired of all these adjustments to my schedule after I arrive!

Simon Says...

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

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

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

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

Cutting Paper and Filing

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

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

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

Student Teachers Are Awesome

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

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

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

Big Time Mix-Up!

So today was an all-time interesting morning for me! I got up and got half-way ready this morning at the normal time and then waited around for a phone call. I was kinda wondering if I'd get called to go back to the same class as Friday since the ST told me the teacher was going to be gone again, but I didn't get a call. It was around 8:45 when my phone finally rang. It was the sub office asking me if anyone at that school had talked to me about coming back Monday. I said that the ST had asked me if I was, but that the sub office told me it was only for Friday and no one in the office had asked me to stay. Then the sub office told me that the school had retained me for today. (Retained is the word they use when the job extends past the point it was supposed to end because the school finds out later that the teacher needs another day and then asks the sub if they can stay, the sub says yes, and then they let the sub office know that the sub's going to stay for another day). Anyways. I had to race around and get dressed, grab lunch and run out the door. Unfortunately, this school isn't super close to my apartment, so I had to fight the morning traffic on my way there. I got there and apologized for being late and explained to the office that no one had told me on Friday that they wanted me back for Monday. Then they explained to me that they'd requested a sub originally for both days and that they sub office should have told me. Ahh! Thankfully, no one seemed upset with me or blamed me for the whole thing. The sub office blamed the school, the school blamed the sub office - I don't know who's fault it was but I was glad it wasn't mine!

After that they day was pretty uneventful, the classes were still very nice kids. We did math and reading, and had picture day and it all went pretty smoothly. Even had time for a quick game of quiet ball at the end of the day. I'm hoping I'll get to go back to this class sometime later in the year since they are so easy to handle - also because later in the year the ST will be doing more and those are always fun days for the sub!

First Student Teacher of the Year

Today I subbed in the morning in a 5th grade ESL classroom. At least that's what the sub office called it - technically it was one component of a bilingual program at a school in central Salem. There are 2 bilingual classes for 5th graders - one class is all in English and one is all in Spanish and the kids switch from one to the other half-way through each day. The class I was in was the English class. Both classes of kids were very sweet, funny kids - and both were amazingly small - 17 kids in each class. So that was nice. Also, the class I was in had a student teacher (ST from now on) - a fellow Corbanite even! She seemed familiar to me right away, and later she told me I looked familiar too - asked me if I was on SEA (Student Educator Association is what it stood for I believe). I said that no, I wasn't, but I was a part of the group that "rapped" at the Celebrate Teaching event at the beginning of her freshman year - yeah, she remembered that! That just cracked me up that that crazy stunt is still remembered!

Anyways, the day was incredibly easy for me, although that did make it a little boring. The kids did journal writing in the morning, then went to music, then came back and the ST read them a book then they switched classes. Then the other class did journals, then had lunch, then listened to ST read the book, then did some math, then both classes got together for "Fun Friday" which was when I left since I was only hired for a half-day. The kids were staying for another 30 minutes before dismissal at 12:45 (apparently they have early dismissal every Friday and they don't want to pay for subs for a whole day so the counselor or principal or someone just covers the class for the last half hour). In my case the ST and the teacher next door were there to watch the class.

So neither of us actually did much teaching. The ST was eager to ask me how I thought she was doing, and I said I though she was doing well - although I would like to see her some other time when she was actually having to teach something - I think she'd do a good job of that as well. Apparently this teacher is going to be gone on Monday as well, but when the sub office called they didn't ask for me on Monday as well, so as of right now I'm not doing that. I kinda wish that I was now though since the kids were enjoyable (and such a small group!) and the ST was pleasant. Who knows, maybe they'll call me for that on Monday. Either way, I'm glad it's finally the weekend! Even though I only worked 3.5 days this week I'm still beat! Ready for a day off that I KNOW is a day off! :)