Day Twenty-Two...The Greatest Day!

So, I subbed today! I was at a school in Shoreline...2nd grade...they're sooooooo cute! I got to teach spelling, math, and reading. It was so much fun! I've waited a long time for this! AHHHH! I can hardly contain myself! I got there at 8:00 this morning. School started at 9:05. So, I had about an hour to prepare which was nice. I got all my supplies ready, all my lessons ready and sat down and waited for my kids. They showed up at 9:00 and lined up outside...so cute! I let them in. We began with taking attendance. Then the pledge of allegiance. Then announcements. Then greeting time. The teacher told me that they've been learning how to say "good morning" in different languages. So far they've learned English and Spanish. I thought...hmmm...I know another language! I can teach them "good morning" in ASL! So, I did! Then, during the greeting time, the teacher came in (she was there pulling students out for testing) and saw us go around the circle, completely silent, signing "good morning" to each other! It was awesome!

Then, we started reading. I introduced the "Little Bill" series by Bill Cosby. I got to introduce Bill Cosby to them. At first one of the kids said, "Oh, he's in the Fat Albert series, right?" I said, "That's right! He was also in another show. Does anyone know what it is?" Dead silence! I said, "Has anyone heard of The Cosby Show?" Again, dead silence! Great! I just aged myself! So, I thought, how can I bring this home to them? I described the show for them...they had NO idea! So, I asked, "Does anyone watch That's So Raven"...that did it! All of a sudden, all the students talked all at once! It was amazing how animated they were! I explained that Raven was about 4 years old when she was on that show and they finally got it! Then I was able to read the story, talk about vocab, predictions, point of view, all the elements of literature review. It was SO much fun!

Then, after reading, we studied spelling...the silent 'e' factor...changing kit to kite, fin to fine, etc.

Then, it was lunch time. I ate in the teachers' lounge which, for 13 years of my life, I was told "stay out of the teachers' lounge"...I went to school for 3 years, got a piece of paper from the state stating now I can go in the teachers' lounge! It was awesome! Anyway, I was eating lunch in the teachers' lounge when my teacher, Jeanine, came in and sat at the same table at which I was eating. She introduced me to her colleagues, saying, "This is my sub. She's been so good! She's the best sub I've had!" OMG! Right in front of me! AHHHH! So, that made my morning! Then, after lunch, before the kids came back in, she asked me if I had a card with my request in formation on it. I told her they were in the mail, but that I'd leave that info with her at the end of the day. So, again, that made my morning!

Then, the kids came back...we focused on math and Scholastic News. It was all about pumpkins. So much fun! I drew a diagram of a pumpkin on the board and the kids all said, "Oooooooh, she's an artist!" Of course, I'm not, but it felt good to hear them say that! Anyway, we talked about the different parts of a pumpkin: skin, meat, pulp, stem, seeds. Then labeled each part. Then, to expand their learning, I asked what ELSE we could draw a diagram of. Right off, they said, "A GHOST!" So, I drew my best rendition of the Pac-Man ghosts and labeled all the "parts"! Then, I drew a person and they labeled it all! Again, so much fun!

After recess, the kids went to music, then back to my class. We finished up a graph about pumpkin weight. The colored a bar graph. Pretty cool!

After that, we played a spelling game, then it was time to go. The day went by so fast...it was sad to see it end! But, after the kids left, the teacher came back in to see me off. She again made sure I had left her my card information...which I had already done! I finished cleaning up and took off. I checked out of the office and met the secretary there...it's a small world! The secretary is the daughter-in-law of our former land-lord when I was age 3-6 and the wife of the maintenance man in the same house. Her sister-in-law was also my 1st grade teacher! AHHHH! WAY TOO SMALL WORLD!

Anyway, I was supposed to work tomorrow through Friday for half-days, but the teacher cancelled that. I'll see if there's anything else available, but nothing so far.