Tuesday I was in the same district, but got to sleep almost an hour later.  I headed the same way in the morning, but turned off at the middle school corner to continue on northward to hometown-district’s northernmost school.  I checked in and headed to class.  The big difference in subbing for elementary versus middle school, besides the size of the students, is the lesson plans.  Most of the time in middle school I teach some or all lessons more than once, occasionally six times.  In elementary school however it is one class so there are a lot more plans.  Lucky me (not) I arrived on the no-specials day.  At least, no specials that gave me a break.  This was their computer lab day, so that at least was an hour I didn’t teach, but I still had to be there to help.  They learned about a website with books online, and when I say that I mean thousands of books- current and fully illustrated, in dozens of languages, accessible like a library.  Some even had audio tracks so they could listen as the stories were read to them.

Trying to remember the rest of the day- I worked in elementary again Thursday in hometown district and have fresher memories…  Ah yes, the math lesson was fun.  They had a test for half the period, and then I taught part of the next lesson.  What was fun was teaching them about standard units of measure.  We started off with a non-standard unit- how many 2nd-graders long is the room, then how many of one second-grader.  The answers were slightly different- 8 second graders, but only 7 2/3 of the one student.  I reminded them that if I chose the shortest student to measure the room, the number would have been higher and if we measured using a teacher, it would have been lower.  So then I introduced the yard by covering the last few inches of the meterstick (most metersticks have inches printed on the other side, and a meter is longer than a yard) and they estimated the the length of the room in yards before we ran out of time.

If I can recall any more good moments this day I will add them, but for the most part is was really a standard day otherwise with guided reading groups, social studies, silent reading, lunch…

No, not that kind of meeting.  I mean meeting three students from my church.  I should add that none of them were in my class but rather I sort of just ran into them.  Two of them approached me, and for the other I recognized his name and approached him.  It started with graduatin rehearsal the other day.  They were going through the names and I heard his.  I recognized it immediately.  After all, I was his AWANA leader one year in addition to the 4th/5th grade ministry.  Okay, that doesn’t entirely mean anything as I didn’t remember another such student right away who is one year younger than him and helps out in the ministry.  Anyway, once I heard it I looked out for him and he was sitting in one of my (well, the teacher I was subbing for anyway) rows.  I talked to him a little.  I asked about his sister too who is two years younger.  Now, sad to say I don’t remember a lot of the girls but his sister… let’s just say I had a reason to remember her.  Something she will grow out of if she hasn’t already.

The next meeting was the next day when I subbed for a librarian, who also helped out in the computer lab.  There were four classes to come in that day, pared down to three when one of the teachers canceled.  I sorted books when I wasn’t helping students at the computers.  Now aren’t you glad I didn’t actually write about this assignment yesterday?  The three of you who still read this blog would have gone down to zero!  😀  So, in the afternoon a third grader asked me if I played the doctor in the drama at church.  Of course I told her I did, and not only that, but I would see her in fourth grade this weekend, even though she will still be in third grade for another week at school.

Finally, just today I ran into yet another one.  She was in one of the four fifth grade classes I was not subbing in (five total at that school! 😮 ).  She saw me in the hall and asked if I worked in 4th/5th grade at my church.  When I said yes, I of course told her I wouldn’t be seeing her there this weekend since she is no longer a fifth grader there, but a part of the junior high ministry.  She was a little disappointed in this- I know I would, knowing I would have to attend regular worship from then on!  True, now I willingly go and enjoy the service but I know at age eleven I wouldn’t and didn’t when I served as an acolyte once in awhile at the church I grew up in.  And that was only an hour-long service.  At my church now the service is half again as long.

Three students in three days- who would have guessed?  Of course this doesn’t beat the three students in one day a month ago, but still.  As for my day today, as I said it was fifth grade.  I corrected work with them, watched over their work on some projects in the morning, did some teaching in the afternoon, etc.  The principal and I watched a few students play Rock Band in music.  They were pretty good.  Then he came and watched me teach science.  About a topic I knew little about (cold/warm fronts, high/low pressure zones).  Sigh.  I hope he wasn’t too disappointed, but then I’m sure he understands a sub will not necessarily be an expert in anything taught during the day.  The students were pretty good.  A few had their minds on other things during silent reading, but hey, summer’s almost here.

If one awards ceremony wasn’t enough, the school I was at today had its own awards show.  Knowing that elementary students are far more impatient than older ones, this ceremony was much shorter fortunately.  And I got to sit down…  Actually, the entire thing was one hour, but the presentations were only about 20 minutes.  The rest of the time was raffling off various prizes.  The entire event was based on reading.  The class I subbed for, a fifth grade class, actually came out on top with more than 1600 books read.  At least I think it was the number of books.  But they also mentioned last month, and that is a huge number for just one month, even among 25 students.  If it was for the entire year, then yes, 1600+ books.  Anyway, the kids also received raffle tickets based on the number of “miles” they went.  Come to think of it, it would have to be books, and therefore over the entire year.  Or, if in a month, then I would guess a book carries a certain number of points like in the accelerated reader program found at many schools.  Yes, that could be it.  Anyway, each student in my class had anywhere from 50 to over a hundred of these miles, earning them two to four tickets.  There were a lot of prizes, so that means a lot of chances to win.  Some kids won more than once.  I was holding a ticket for an absent student.  Unfortunately, she didn’t win at all.

After the assembly, the weather which had been rainy with a tornado watch all day had cleared up and the sun came out and dried the blacktop, so there was a 5th grade versus teachers kickball game.  Yes, I got to play…  🙂   After missing an easy catch, I did manage to score a few runs on our turns up to bat.  So, it was a fun end of the day.

What?  You want to know about the rest of the day, before the awards?  Well, it was supposed to be a field day, meaning play time outside with special events.  Remember the weather I mentioned above?  Yeah, no field day.   🙁   So, they did PE and music at the start of the day (yes! breaktime…) followed by some writing, and finally math games in the computer lab.  I got a chance to try a game they loved called Lemonade Stand.  I used to play a game by this name back when I was in school, only that game was for the Apple ][ instead of Java in the web browser.  Oops, did I just date myself?   😀   So, after that came lunch and free pizza.  Not the best, but I doubt the kids cared.   🙂   Yes, I had some too.  This was supposed to be a part of the field day, but unlike field day they couldn’t postpone the pizzas, so when they have their field day next Monday they will have to do their lunches the ordinary way.

Crazy days at the end of the year, I’ll tell ya.  If I manage to find work next week I’m sure I’ll have some more interesting tales.

EDIT:  Why don’t all the smileys/emoticons render?  Oh, well.  Editing once got one of the four to work in any event.

No, I am not posting about Annie, but rather when FedEx gets over here tomorrow with my new computer. My old one died last year, hard drive failed again making think there is something wrong with the controller as it ended its life in the same way as the one it replaced. Second hard drive worked all the way through. Fortunately I was able to get a final backup of critical data before it stopped working altogether. I have been using someone else’s computer ever since, but it will be good to have my own again. Which reminds me, I will need a wireless router now so I can use the computer anywhere, after all what good is a laptop if I can’t surf the net from the bathroom? 😀 Time to join the new millennium, eh? I’ll probably pick one up on ebay.

Well, second day of second grade. Different school, different class, different experience. I actually got to do some teaching today, though only in math. They seemed to be a few sections behind the other school interestingly enough. Basic multiplication facts. That can kill the joy of math for many… They did get to draw at least rather than just writing numbers. They would draw arrays, like a 4 by 6 array for the problem 4×6=24. Aside from math I went over answers, did some reading aloud about how a movie is made interjecting my own thoughts as well as getting theirs on the process, and, well, that’s about it for the teaching I guess. The rest was more or less babysitting and trying to learn their particular routines. And no specials for this class today by the way. Aside from recess and lunch I was with them constantly, though like the class yesterday they had computer lab time where someone else was at least in charge even if I didn’t get to put my feet up in the lounge.

The lounge- what a tiny room to be crammed so full of teachers. There was just enough room for three long tables pretty close together with just enough room to walk around them. It wouldn’t ordinarily be so bad as teachers tend to go out for lunch, but today they had a cookout with grilled steaks and chicken, and baked potatoes. I’m not sure who all was invited to the cookout, but I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know about it. So instead of going out, they all got their food and came into the lounge crowding around the tables. I felt sort of like this:

It didn’t help much that half the table space was taken up by three large cakes (someone’s birthday- don’t know what the other two were for) as well as a couple of miscellaneous snacks of which I did partake. 🙂

Well, aside from a 5th grade band concert in the afternoon, it was pretty much a normal day I would say. Good group of kids though a bit talkative and some would move about without permission. And now a long three or four (hoping just three) day weekend. Two districts are off on Tuesday so I may be out of work that day as well as Monday…

By the way, 100th post for me!

Usually I go a long time between seeing kids from my church in their natural daily habitats.  Tuesday was the super day, way out of the ordinary.  Today I ran into another one, apparently whose memory was not as good as the one I ran into on Tuesday.  This time he wasn’t in my class, but he was in a nearby 4th grade classroom.  I passed him in the hall, then turned and did a double take- I actually recognized him.  At the same time, he did his own double take, but he wasn’t as sure.  When I went to pick up my class from fine arts, there were two other classes in the same room, sort of a special fine arts day.  His class was one of them, and his teacher was already leading the class away.  He asked if he knew me, maybe from church.  I just smiled and said, “I’ll see you on Sunday, Brandon!” (okay, I guess first names are okay- I’ve been a bit paranoid on identifying people).  Then he knew.  At the end of the day I gave him a high five.  So on Sunday, I will see two fourth-graders at 11:15 who I encountered this week, maybe three if Daniel (from Tuesday) brings his friend again.

As far as the day went, it was very easy- no teaching at all.  Ordinarily this wouldn’t make me happy, but it’s been a long week and I was ready for some rest.  I even made two errors this morning since I was so tired.  This morning went like this: fine arts (combined classes), math test, fine arts (single class), finish math test, lunch.  That was it.  The afternoon was a little more complex with SSR (silent reading), spelling test, reading test, computer lab.  Yes, they took three tests in one day- not a fun day for them.  I guess I did do more than babysit in the afternoon.  I of course had to give the words and sentences for the spelling test, and additionally I had to proofread and correct papers on the computer before the kids printed.

In any event, I am glad for the weekend.  I enjoy what I do (mostly) but I need the break.  Before I sign off, I should mention that all went well except for a couple of boys.  One was constantly talking, even during the math test in the morning, which he did not have to take since he was in a different math class.  Unlucky for me the teacher didn’t tell me what he should do so I had to find him something to do.  He said he finished the poetry project, didn’t have a book, and wasn’t allowed to read one of the books in the room because they had to be “checked out” and he had lost a book so he couldn’t check out another.  I didn’t think the teacher would mind, as long as he didn’t bring it home, but no dice.  Sigh.  He was actually elsewhere for most of the afternoon, so that time went better.  The other boy was really only a problem while the first one was in the room- they kind of fed off of each other.

Well, that’s it for now.  Time to torture myself by taking out my contacts, then winding down for bed.  Yeah, I know- Friday night.  Well, I still haven’t gone back to the singles group.  They have a movie night tonight, I am David, but I think I have seen it and I just didn’t want to go.  I really need to force myself next time.  Why the torture?  Well I just made my self some salsa, 3½  pasta-sauce-sized jars of it.  Made with habanero, serrano, jalapeño, and other hot peppers, tomatillos, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.  The hot pepper juice of course clings to the skin for several hours, so hot pepper meets eye and…  If I don’t post tomorrow it may be because I’m blind from this.  Anyway, goodnight.