Hallelujah! Spring Break!

Fifth grade today. There was a two hour delay because of the snow. It's the last day of school before spring break.

Can you picture it in your mind?

4 hours, 2 referrals.

Yeah, I'm awesome like that.

TGISB (thank God it's spring break) - Ms. J

2nd, 3/21

Today I did a half day in 2nd grade. They were a fun little group of 15 (I know, right?).

As they were getting ready to go out to recess, one of the girls was explaining to another girl why she needed a coat.

"it's cold outside, and if you don't wear a coat, you will get ammonia"

Hahahahahahahahaha! Love it.

Spring break is next week! -Ms. J

After school fire drill

Fifteen minutes ago, the school had a fire drill. This happened ten minutes after school was out for the day. So I trudged out to the field, along with one student of mine who hadn't been picked up yet.

I thought about taking roll, but decided it wasn't necessary.

Ms. J, the tired one (spring break is next week - hallelujah!)

Happy Pi Day!

Today, we celebrate a very important day for mathematics. Pi Day!

Yes, I admit to being a total nerd. Let's get that out of the way right now.

I volunteered in my mentor's classroom for today. She teaches 6th grade math and science. We had a lot of fun planning for today. Thanks to a generous donation, we were able to serve all 130 students pie. We also had fun t-shirts that my mom helped me make! They say Team Pi, and we wore them all day. Some of the kids were jealous... Who wouldn't be? We looked fabulous!!!!

(this would be where I would put an awesome picture of the shirts, but I can't upload pictures via my iPad... Ahhh technology)

Just use your imagination.

Ms. J (aka princess Pi)

3rd, 3/12-13

I had a really great third grade class yesterday and today. They are really awesome kids.
Today was a two hour delay (yeah - snow in march) and I was expecting them to all be super crazy, but they were really good.

One of the kids (see previous post) has been asking me repeatedly about if I'm going to be a teacher next year (apparently, subs aren't teachers lol). He asked again yesterday. I told him, "I don't know, it depends on if I get a job next year." he told me "just be a teacher assistant like you were last year" (aka student teacher).

Yeah. Cuz I want to work for free again? Ha!

Ugh

Ickiest cold ever. I don't know which of the 500 kids I taught last week to blame it on...

4/5 Friday

Today I learned a very important lesson about attendance. Don't let it leave your sight for a minute, or someone (like a naughty kid) might take attendance for you, and then everything will be totally confused, and parents will be freaking out because their kid is marked absent when they are really at school.

Yeah. Nuff said.

By the way, these white chocolate m&ms are really good

Ms. J

6th grade, math/science

Yesterday I subbed for a dear friend of mine who teaches 6th grade math and science at a middle school. I sub for her often, and she has some awesome students. There's always a funny story to share after a day with those kids.

During science, she left me a video to show the kids (I just hit play and don't watch). It was about current and static electricity, and is narrated by a girl that was probably 12 at the time of the recording (I'm guessing this video is at least 10 years old). Anyway, after second period, one of the kids stayed after to tell me "that girl in the video is very attractive." I wish you could have seen this kids face. It was absolutely priceless. I tried so hard not to die laughing.

In fourth period, one of the boys took his shoes off to try to get static electricity to work for him by shuffling his feet on the carpet. The other kids at his table group were not happy - they were like, "ms. J his feet stink so bad!" I walked over and told him to put his shoes back on, and cracked a window. The temptation to bust out laughing was strong, but you'll be happy to know I was stronger than the temptation!

I sent a disruptive kid out to the hall for a minute, then went out to talk to him. I explained why his behavior was unacceptable, and he looked like he was paying attention, etc. when I finished what I was saying, he looked at me and said "Ms. J, did you know one eye is greener than the other, and the other eye is bluer than the other?" So apparently, my little talk did nothing for him except help him figure out I have goofy-colored eyes. Sigh. Such is life...

These stories are just part of why I absolutely love sixth grade - they are such fun! I told my dad I need a soundproof side room that I can just walk into for a second, laugh my head off, then come right back to class... Ahh, that would be nice.

Today I subbed for a teacher who has a student teacher from Portland State right now. So guess what I did? Not a whole lot! The student teacher did most of the teaching, I was just there for crowd control and helping out, etc. Pretty sweet deal... Though I did miss actually teaching.

-Ms. J

Music, 3/6

So I was called at 7:45 yesterday to sub for a music teacher. School starts at 8:30 and I barely made it as the bell rang. My first class was at 8:40, and this was the first time I have ever subbed where there were no plans of any kind, and no time to figure out what to do.

I know lots of the kids at that school, and I taught some of their siblings in sixth grade last year. It was fun to see all of them - even if it was a crazy day!

I asked one of the kids "hows your brother doing?" (taught his older brother last year in sixth grade)
this 3rd grader's response? "He's failing."
"WHAT?"
"Yeah, he's getting Bs" (love it)

I still have a headache from the first grade classes where I made the mistake of letting them play with the cowbells and cymbals...

I got one of the best compliments ever yesterday! A third grader asked me "Ms. J, are you going to teach fourth grade next year??" aww.....

-Ms. J

2nd, 3/1-2

Whew. I did a two day stint in a second grade classroom. I sub in this classroom a lot, and I am always amazed at how crazy second grade can be.

Yesterday, a little girl was having a rough day, and I finally asked her "what can we do to make sure you have a good rest of the day?" she looked at me and said "let me take a nap?" poor thing.

Today was the 100th day of school, Dr. Seuss day, and picture day! Wow... I'm sure you can imagine how crazy that was.

L and I have a student that we both see regularly. On Wednesday, I subbed in this girl's school, and taught her class for social studies rotation. They were super talky during that time, so I had to give some of the kids yellow cards. When Leah saw her on Thursday, she told L "Ms. J is a mean teacher."

Hahahahaha I have arrived, ladies and gentlemen!

The mean one, Ms. J

5th grade, 2/29

I spent yesterday with 5th graders. Love this class - really wish the teacher would give the class to me - I would almost work for free!

We were reading about an explorer who kept a journal, and they had to answer some questions from the book. One of the questions was "do you think it's a good idea to keep a journal?" one of the boys responded to that question with this answer:

"yes,it's good to keep a journal so you can sell it someday for a lot of money."

:) Ms. J