Substitute

Today my teacher wasn't there so we had a substitute teacher. She was really nice and I got to learn about more about substitute teaching. For the longest time I thought that subs were only retired teachers or people who could only work "part-time" I honestly had no idea that being a sub could be your actually job. She told me about how she works and apparently there's this thing called permanent substitute teachers where they are hired by a school to work everyday to replace the teachers who are taking a personal day, which i think is a pretty cool idea, but unfortunately most schools cant afford this. There was an assembly before I showed up so the kids were a little wound up and we were behind all day. I was told to do some testing with the kids but I didn't know what to do or how to test them so I looked for another first grade teacher but for some reason they disappeared and I just had to do my best guess. The highlight of my day came when, on account of it raining, the kids had their second indoor recess. Another one of the 1st grade teachers came in and invited all the kids to play a game with them in the gym so all the kids in my class left, except one. So she and I just sat on the floor and colored. It was the most fun I had all week.

Little Zombies

I really love the kids in my classroom, but their hugs are starting to get a little out of hand. I feel like I'm disrupting the class because every time i walk into the room and leave most of the kids are crowding around me like a bunch of little zombies. Someones going to get hurt, classroom management is something I am going to have to work at, but how do I tell them no. Today I learned about this technique my teacher uses  when the kids are getting a little jumpy. She just plays a song, usually relevant (like today is was nouns) to what they're learning and has them dance for a bit to get them to relax, which is something really cool. I hadn't thought about doing it that way before. I also did the first part of my interview with my teacher which was a lot funner than I expected it to be.

Songs

Have I mentioned yet just how much I love some of the techniques used to help the kids with reading and writing. They have little songs and hand motions for just about everything its pretty great. Every letter of the alphabet, sounds letters make together like "ck" and "sh", its pretty amazing. When they go through them all the kids are really engaged having fun and learning. The day itself was pretty standard. The kids got their picture taken for the 50th day of school and I got to be in one of them. I helped some kids with their math when they were doing a worksheet. They also had computer lab which is always an experience the kids have to login to the computers and to this website and it always takes a while. The site they use is really cool to, they do problems at their own pace kinda like Khan Academy. Its cool to see how technology is being used in the classroom.  I got my assessment but unfortunately the day is just too busy so we weren't able to start on the interview. Every time I go there she and I are working practically the whole time so I have no idea just how we're going to be able to squeeze the time in. But the rest of my day was spent helping out around the classroom and grading papers. I did go outside to watch the kids for  recess with the other teachers, it was very cold.

Halloween!

This week was Halloween so there was very little learning going on. I got to my classroom and since there was a two hour delay that day I got to see how the beginning of a day went and despite the fact that all teh kids were wearing crazy costumes it was close to what I expected. The principal came on the speaker and gave announcements and them the Pledge of Allegiance. I really hate that pledge there's something really creepy about making little kids mindlessly recite a promise to no matter what serve our country before they even understand what it means. Afterwards we immediately went on a bus to a local nursing home where the kid were to put on a little show for the seniors there, I think it went pretty well. They were all singing cute Halloween songs, and while we were on the bus I was able to talk to some of the kids and get to know them a little better. After that there was lunch and some basic learning going on while I graded papers. My teacher gave me a bag (and recipe) for the caramel puffs she made for the students, it was really cool. There was indoor recess today because it was raining and for the first part of it my teacher and I were out of the room. While she was making lesson plans with the other teachers I was folding and organizing Time Kids magazines. When we got back she was complimented by another teacher about how good the kids were behaving and she told all the kids good job, which I think was really sweet. Next the kids had free time while  parents trickled in for the Halloween party. I was helping a girl get through a particularly hard book about Americas history, and right before the party started I had to leave. I cannot express my sadness about having to leave right before the best part. It really shocks me sometimes how much my teacher trusts the kids to be alone. She basically just tells me to come with her and we're gone. I know there's some kind of staff member who kinda keeps an eye on the kids but its still pretty amazing.