Last ride along

I rode with my dad for the last time. Kind of weird to know if I ever ride with a cop again, it won't be him :(
And it was kind of a slow day too. Somewhat exciting for me but boring for him lol. We had a parking violation sto start it off with. Car parked at least 3 weeks in the same spot. Lady that lives there is a hoarder you can tell. Hoarders fascinate me (I swear it could happen to me easy...maybe a teacher thing? Lol) and I love watching the show.
Next was a car that pulled out on a 3-way stop and they almost caused an accident. No license either....that's 2 things on a ticket then.
Last one was an arrest for a dude that had a warrant out on him. That was exciting lol. My dad called for cover as we didn't have a cage in his vehicle.

And on a teacher note lol, I subbed for a sub :) She is subbing for a teacher out on maternity and she had an emergency today. Lovely wild active group lol. Plus there was a dance assembly and it was double specials! 8 more days left til summer!

0

Aww my dad...

My Dad just announced yesterday that he is retiring from the police department, effective July 1, this year. He told as many people in person as he could. Even people not working that day called my dad and said they heard the word hehehe. News spreads like wildfire there apparently! He's worked at the PD for 29 years.  So looks like we have 2 retirement parties. They do one at the PD, which my mom and I won't really have to worry about. But then we will do our own, and that's what I'll have to help plan.
I think we've got it narrowed down to 2 locations. One spot it would be us doing mostly everything, the other it would be them doing mostly everything, but more expensive. We'll have to weigh the pros and cons. I don't even know where to begin! I know there are lots of people to invite. I mean, my dad is like friends with everyone, especially after 29 years! Any good tips out there? Thanks!

0

I've lost my marbles!

Hehehe no, well maybe....just kidding :) The 'in' thing right now in 4th and 5th grade is to have marbles. All the schools seem to be like this. The bad part is they want to play it all the time in class. My rule as a sub (and generally the teacher's rule too) is that they can have them as long as they only play with them at recess. If it happens in class, then I get to 'have' them. I just have a baggy and collect them and put them in the teacher's desk and write the student's name on it. 

Well it didn't take too long for me to get a collection going...and all from one kid lol. You think after he lost his best marble to me he'd learn. It's called a cookie because of the bits of glass in it looks like crumbs. I also happen to have one and took a pic

The only times I normally see marbles are when teachers use marbles as a visual (and audio) reminder for class reward. The teacher has a jar and if the class is on task, adds a marble or 2...the plink makes a nice reminder. And if a teacher so choose, if the class is 'bad' then they take out a marble and makes noise. Once the jar is full there is a party or reward. You could also make it into a math lesson by having them estimate how many marbles they think are in the jar. You could even graph out how many blue marbles, clear marbles, cookie marbles etc are in the jar.  Even make a writing project out of it and have students get a marble and write a story about it with a prompt about how one day they were walking along and found it on the ground. Who do they think it belongs to? Where did it come from?  That way it's about a topic that they like and are more interested in it.

2

Skies are gray.....

But everyone's smiles are bright as the end of the year heads our way! Well most everyone is smiling, some teachers are super stressed right now.

Nasty nasty weather today. No tornadoes like the Midwest, but we had rain/hail/thunder

That lovely picture, is the beginning of it and I was in a portable classroom today and it was kind of scary. Kids were already gone as it was early release.

Oh and it was 5th grade puberty talk...oh the joys (insert sarcasm lol). Boys to one class, girls to the music room. Boys were done in 1/2 hour, girls took an hour. And boy was it awkward when they first came back together. Lots of giggles, lol.

So knowing that they were kind of crazy, I handed out a Sudoku puzzle. They are absolutely fabulous and the kids love them. I love this website because you can choose the level of hardness and they have tons of other cool free worksheets. Check them out at http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/

0

It's nice to be wanted

As a sub, it can be hard fitting in at a school. You're somewhat an outsider at first. This is my 4th year as a sub so I have an establishment now and I get requested for jobs, which I greatly appreciate. In fact, I've mostly been at one tiny school this year. This week makes 7 solid weeks of work woohoo! In fact, I had 2 teachers request me tomorrow, but 2 different schools. One school I've only been at 3 times this year. The other one is the one of I've been at mostly.

Now I let that fall into account. The other one is also 1/2 day while the one at my 'regular' school, NM, is a full day job. It's a tough class, but it's also early release tomorrow, and I'll have lunch and specials thrown in, so I know I can handle it. I have to also consider that with this summer, any extra money helps so that also takes into account.

NM just makes me feel like I'm part of their family. I get invited to events, school functions, and got personally invited to retirement parties last year and this year. The staff knows me, my likes, about my family, just as I know about them and their lives.  I can tell you for a fact the teacher I'm subbing for is not sick lol.

We had a new sub in the building. I took her under my wing and showed her the ropes. Today was her second day here ever, and she seems pretty comfortable now.

If you have a new sub in the building, a friendly smile or hello is most welcome. I tell you that from experience and it can really make a difference in the day :)

2

Red Rover, Red Rover, send Ms. T right over!

Today and Tuesday and Thursday I'm what's called a roving sub, aka rover. I get sent from class to class. Now this can be bad or good. Bad if you like to stay in one place but good if you have a less than pleasant class.

Well today was 2nd and 4th grade. The 2nd class I was placed in was because it is tough and the secretaries know I can handle the class. Plus there were a lot of newer subs. The 4th grade teacher ran to the office and screamed, "I WANT MS. T!!!!!!!!!" so they put me down for her class lol :)  It feels nice to be wanted!

Tomorrow is 3rd and 5th grade. Then Thursday K and 1.  I'm excited because I'm subbing June 6th (same school) for the librarian and it's the kid's talent show that day. Yay!

0

Fill the Bucket

Relay for Life is coming up next month. It's part of the American Cancer Society. I've been involved the last few years in several ways. For awhile I was just on a team. A few years ago I was on the Entertainment Committee. This year I'm just on a team this year but one of our fundraisers is Fill the Bucket.

Basically I stand on a street corner (all legally done through the city) and for 3 hours beg for coins. But I usually dress up crazy to get more attention. I had these huge funny sunglasses and a purple lei and Mardi Gras beads on. Glasse like this but in pink:

3 hours and only 3 volunteers later, we made $286! Not bad at all. Though I did get sunburned...with a funny line from the glasses lol. But all for a good cause! And a few of the students I sub for saw me...so I hope to inspire them :)

0

I survived!

I promised I'd let you all (well whoever reads this blog...some one I hope!) know how it went. We walked 1.5 miles to the high school.

The play was cute. Little corny but the kids seemed to enjoy it. Indiana Jones like except it was Illinois Jane.A fight scene between mimes and pirates...got to love it.  My horrible, rotten active children loved that they could ask the actors questions and then got to high five them at the end.

And what I loved most was that they used math while walking back the 1.5 miles. I heard "I am wondering if we are 1/2 way yet? Maybe even 3/4 of the way?" And the reply "I'd be happy if we were 7/8 of the way there." Too cute! I also heard how hot it was, how their feet hurt, their legs hurt, they were tired, they were thirsty, and they were sweaty. But miraculously when we got back to the class and still had 40 minutes, they all wanted to go outside and play.

I put a kabosh on that and we managed to draw the state of Oregon for the Oregon Trail part of Social Studies.

0

Smiles and sun

Yay for sunny weather! No I mean seriously, 2 days in a row of sun and a possible high of 76! That rocks for Oregon. We are so  used to the rain. So with the sun out, out come the smiles. And the kids are SO feeling the end of the year.

The class I had today was 5th grade. Yikes! I had this one kids who had a slight moustache and a high pitched voice and was tall...talk about puberty!  At this age they are confused with the changes and they think they're cool stuff as they're almost middle schoolers. So they tend to act out. But they still are good or have the need to be given praise.

Today 5 kids went to 1st grade to help out. Two of them came back and were happy because the principal praised them for helping a 1st grader who's arm got broken (by another kid shoving her I think). So the principal gave them a Timberwolf ticket (PBS ticket for the school) and they were so happy yet concerned for the little kiddo. A little bit of praise can go a long way!

As nice as this was, I'm still glad it was only a 1/2 day...though it means I'm closer to tomorrow, the day of doom of walking 1.5 miles to the high school with 32 kids (8 on IEPs), sit for 2 hours, and walk 1.5 miles back. Eek! I'll need good teacher vibes sent my way for sure (though I don't know if anyone knows this blog exists besides me lol)!

0

It's a circus in the class!

Well, almost literally. Today was Circus Day for spirit week. Although I didn't know it was spirit week there and I drive in the parking lot and see a resource teacher all dressed up like a clown lol.

Then some of my kiddos were dressed up like clowns so I could truly say the class was full of clowns and that it was a circus around here! :-)

Speaking of circus, there was a terrific bulletin board at another school that ties in perfect. It has a box of popcorn (Pop open a good book ) and says "Get your mind poppin'".  And  a ticket says 'Your ticket to read".

The balloons say something about soaring to new heights with books.

Yes it would fit perfectly with today lol. One teacher made popcorn for the whole school and the kids were ecstatic. They were also very delighted that I gave thema  paper to fill out after reading a book. It simply had them list the author, the title, write a quick summary, draw their favorite scene, and then write a caption for their picture, basically what character it is. They were so happy to do this. I love teaching moments such as these!

0

To sing or not to sing....

Today I subbed for a music teacher. She had me play videos that they were watching in the last class.

3rd grade was watching a movie that was like Beauty and the Beast (got to watch the same part twice for 2 classes).2nd grade was watching Tubby the Tuba (watched once thankfully!). 5th grade was watching Stomp Out Loud (watched 2 times).
Kinder was cancelled due to the 1st graders having a rehearsal and the music teacher came back.

And then I found my calling (not really lol)......I got to be the DJ and switch out the cds for the rehearsal. One kid whispered "Ms. T, that's so cool, you are totally like a DJ!"I do admit I rocked it and didn't mess up...a lot of switching of cds was done and I had a rough draft list of the order of songs.

I love that the kiddos were singing and then dancing. One class danced to Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) by Shakira and their dance was so beautiful. Another class danced an African song.

Tomorrow I have nothing yet....but I dread Friday when I have the worst class in that school AND I am taking them to a play at the highschool, which we are walking to. The play is "Illinois Jane and the Pyramid of Peril". Hope it's good!

0

Experience

So this is my first blog and I thought I'd start documenting my life as a substitute. It's my 4th year and I am SO ready for my own classroom.

The economy this year is awful and schools are shutting down and teachers getting the pink slips, so I am trying not to get my hopes up.

I had an interview and got the call today that I did not get the 2nd grade position I applied for. Seemed like the perfect school and perfect fit for me so I am utterly disappointed.

Thankfully they called after school so the kids were gone but the teachers were there and I ran to one of the teachers that wrote a recommendation for me. She was crying, I was crying and there were lots of hugs. I love that school and I would love to work there, but the district is moving teachers around instead of hiring, which is sad as their 2nd grade teacher is retiring and wants me to take her spot.

As the other teachers told me, no matter how much this hurts, there IS something better out there for me. But I want it now! Lol.

~Miss T.

2