A Full Cup

Last night, I got a call to substitute for a full day today. I immediately took the job for several reasons:
1. The school/teachers at the school prefer to use the same subs over and over because they learn the routine and the students and the students get to know the sub. Basically - the better sub you are, the more exclusively they call you.
2. The teacher calling has a pretty varied day and only works with small groups of children in Kindergarten and 5th grade - good variety.
3. Better pay day the more sub jobs I take.
4. It's the Friday before Valentine's Day and it's known that there is almost always a party - hello candy and treats!

So I got up early and got ready for the day ahead. The morning started off really easy. I had about 4 kids in a reading group and I really felt like a teacher. I used multiple strategies to try to teach the kids about autobiographies and biographies. I had a good handle on behavior despite the fact that the kids were very excited about their upcoming party. Next, I had a group of 8 or so for math. We talked about patterns and I really think I taught them something! It was a really good feeling.

After math, I went to a Kindergarten classroom. We colored and passed out Valentines. I watched 2 of the cutest little girls in the world read a story to me. They were almost reading better than some of the 5th graders I had earlier that morning. Some of the little ones gave me little valentines treats and sweet little hugs. 5th grade science came after Kindergarten. I just had to walk around and check their notes to make sure they were able to study them for their test on Tuesday. More candy and treats were passed out - yum!

My day ended at 11:30 when the big kids went to lunch. Their holiday party was after lunch and then they go to special area - neither of which I had to be present for. Sweet - still got paid the full day.I took advantage of the free afternoon and made my way over to the elementary school where I'm doing my 80 hours of observation. I made it just in time for them to pass out their Valentines and have their party. I helped the 2nd graders decorate cupcakes and passed out the other party treats. This class is just about the best behaved group of kids I have ever seen. They were so polite to each other and so excited about all their goodies. We played heads up 7-up and 4 corners to get some of their sugar-energy out and then my day there was over. I didn't log those hours as observation because it wasn't really academically informational. I mostly just wanted to see how a good teacher runs her class on a holiday.

I headed home to have a late lunch with Ryan before he headed off to work. We played our computer game for an hour and then I took a nap after he left. At 6:30 I had to go to work at Target. boo. It wasn't terrible though for a change. I was in a good mood from my sub job and observation. I felt well-rested after my nap.
I absolutely cannot wait to become a teacher and have my own classroom. For now, I'll settle for the mini-highs of teaching as a substitute and observing a great teacher in action. Overall, today was busy but very fulfilling.