T - H - I - S !!

I really enjoyed the years that I worked as a substitute teacher.  I spent five wonderful years working with wonderful kids!  I found this memory on my Facebook page this morning.  I thought you'd enjoy reading it as much as I did!

Today, I was working in a kindergarten class where kids were working on the sight word "this".  The kids each had a bag of cut out letters -t, -h, -i, -s that they were to glue into appropriate places on a worksheet.  Ummm.... whey did we hand a bunch of kids those 4 letters?

You Go, Girl!

This is a Throwback Thursday post to 2010.  I originally posted it on my old blog - Mom's View.  I reposted it on here on December 10, 2015.

A couple of weeks ago, I was subbing in a special education classroom.  One of the little guys in the class has shown a troubling tendency to run.  

A runner in school is a bad thing.  These kids run away from the source of their frustration and anger.  Believe me when I say I sympathize with them.  I do understand the need to flee and get away from it all.  The problem is, kids who are prone to running will run out of the building.  They run blind- with no destination in mind, and no purpose other than to escape the school.  The danger of them getting lost or hit by a car is very real.

This little guy had run for the doors by the teacher parking lot before, but he had never left the building.  I can hear you thinking "Then why don't they just lock those doors shut?"  Well, the doors are locked from the outside- so that some random person can't just walk into the school.  However, according to the fire marshal, those doors must remain unlocked from the inside so that the kids can get out in the event of fire.

Anyway, I was in the hall with this stubborn little guy and two other teachers when he decided to make a break for it.  He ran to the far end of the building, hit the doors and kept on running.

I caught him in the parking lot.

Here's the best part.  The other two teachers I was standing with are both 20 years younger than I am.  I got there first, and I got there a good 15 seconds ahead of them.  Even better, they were wheezing and out of breath.  I was just standing there, hugging little one and telling him the story of the Three Little Bears. 

Hmmn.... 40 something year old, overweight, out of shape woman totally beats the 20 something teachers doing the 100 yard dash.

When I got back into the school, one of the volunteers who'd been sitting in the hall reading with a child when everything happened looked at me and smiled.  "You go, girlfriend!  You totally rock!  Beating those young things out the door!  Who-HOOO!" 

Now THAT's a priceless feeling!

One-Upsmanship, Kindergarten Style

A conversation overheard while substitute teaching in kindergarten!

Child #1: My mom is going to have a baby next month!

Child #2: Oh yeah? Well, my Dad is pregnant.  He's going to have twins!

Child #1: I say your Dad this morning, and those babies look like they're going to pop out any day now!

Tales From the Classroom

 Enjoy this blast from the past that I originally posted on May 7, 2015. 

I was a substitute teacher.  My Four Year Mission? To teach in strange new classrooms, in different schools throughout the county.  These are the tales of a substitute teacher.

Assignments of two or more days are unusual for substitutes.  Typically, these assignments go to people well known by the teacher or staff of the school.  Only rarely are they put out on the  SubFinder system for anyone to grab.

I felt particularly blessed this particular spring day.  I had found a 2 day job at a school in the Northern part of the county, just before the beginning of Spring Break.  Even better, the job was for a kindergarten aide!  More than likely, the regular aide would be the teacher, and I would be relieved of the responsibilities of classroom management.

I arrived on the first day to find both the teacher and aide waiting for me in the classroom, in order to explain our very unique situation.

The school was being renovated, one pod at a time.  As each new pod opened, the grade would move into the new classrooms, and then renovations would begin on the old classrooms.  At this point in time, the new kindergarten pod and expansion was completed.  The aide was going to be teaching, I would be helping, and the teacher would be moving things down to her new classroom just as soon as the County Building Inspector gave the go ahead.

We started our morning with a classroom full of children and equipment, and the teacher sitting at her desk, working on the kids' records.

Late that afternoon, the teacher got approval to move into her classroom, and things began to get strange.

The teacher had a large cart.  She would load the cart up with stuff, and then take off down the hall.
When we left school on Thursday afternoon, she had emptied her closets, and had the custodian help her move the tadpoles in their tank down to her new classroom.

Friday was surreal.  We started with a classroom full of students and a fully decorated classroom.
As the day wore on, the items in the classroom slowly started to disappear.  Entire bulletin boards, learning centers, play areas, books, just *pouf* gone.  The kids were mostly game, as they thought this was a grand adventure.

When we came back from lunch, all of the tables and chairs were gone.  It was me, the aide, 18 children, a rocking chair with some books, and a CD player.

We improvised for a while.  Took the kids out for an extra recess.  Went to specials.  Went over to another kindergarten classroom to watch a movie, and then... we ended up back in our classroom.  Everything was gone at this point.  We sat in a circle on the floor in an empty classroom and the aide said "I know!  Let's play Duck, Duck, Goose!"

I know, you're sitting there thinking "an empty classroom, a nice, simple little group game.  Great idea!  What a great way to wait for the buses to be called!"

I sat in the circle on the floor as first one little guy, and then another took turns going around the circle "ducking" the other kids.  I kept a close eye on the clock.  We had 10 minutes left until dismissal began when disaster struck.

The little man who goosed his friend took off at a pretty quick clip around the circle with his friend in hot pursuit. Little man tangled his feet up in each other and crashed to the floor.  As we watched in horror, little man then rolled across the empty floor and smacked *slam* into the closet door.  When he sat up, we noticed in horror that the pattern of the lattice work from the bottom of the door was imprinted upon his head.

I grabbed little man and ran him down to the nurse, before he even had a chance to realize what was going on.

The nurse pulled out an ice pack and called his parents while I ran back for his backpack, because, guess what?  Bus Dismissal was getting ready to begin.

As I turned the corner into the nurses' office, instead of the expected tears, I saw the great big grin on Little Man's face.

"What are you smiling about?" I asked.

"That was awesome!  Did you SEE that barrel roll?  And how hard did I hit that door?  Is the metal still in?  I was trying to knock it out!  Did you see my head?  Look at these cool lines!  And now?  I AM GOING TO BE THE FIRST PERSON TO GET ON MY BUS!!!"

*sigh*

Several Comedies of Error

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog. It originally appeared on May 24, 2012.  Oh, the woes of a substitute teacher!  Those were the days!

  
I've been subbing a lot the past few weeks.  Jobs have been plentiful... and the motivation that says "You won't get a paycheck for June, July, or August" has kept me moving pretty quickly on taking up the jobs.  Today is a rare day off, so I thought I would share my comedy of errors over the last few weeks.

I normally only substitute in K-3rd grade, because that is my area of certification, and it is the age group I am best at teaching.  Unfortunately, several of the jobs I took over the past couple of weeks were "supplementary", which is the grab bag of the substitute world.  I didn't know what I was getting into until I walked in the door of the building that morning.  Surprise!!

I spent one particularly memorable afternoon in 5th grade.  The teacher had left us with a DVD to watch, and had trained the kids how to turn it on and get it to go.  Her final words to me before she left "You don't touch anything.  Only she does." (pointing to a child in the class)  Okie Dokie!  We finished up the lessons she had left, and then we attempted to start the movie.  Nothing happened.  The girl tried again, and nothing happened.  The kids became very, very helpful.  (overly helpful) Yet still, nothing happened.  I called down to the main office, and they sent an Assistant Principal down to "show us" how to fix it.  He ended up calling the media specialist, who then ended up calling the technology guy from the county who was in the building working on the network. So, while all of the great minds were working on getting the DVD to run, what were the kids doing?  We started playing "Simon Says".  Twenty minutes later, the crew of four adults looked at me and said "It's not working."  (Insert evil teacher/mom glare here.)  I asked, "so what do I do?"  "Oh, said the AP, you follow the plans she left you."  I handed him the plans that said in clear letters: "Watch movie.  The kids know how to turn it on.  Dismissal begins at 3:15".  Thank heavens, the teacher next door poked her head around the corner at that moment and said "We're just getting ready to start the movie.  Why don't you bring them in here?" 

I spent one day with an assistant teacher who couldn't remember my last name.  She kept calling me Mrs. Jones, no matter how many times I corrected her.  Finally, I gave up and let her call me Mrs. Jones for the rest of the day.  I found out yesterday that she calls every sub in her room Mrs. Jones. 

I was reading a book aloud to a group of students, sitting in the rocking chair when *CRASH* the entire rocking chair broke apart underneath me!  There I was, one shocked woman, sitting amidst the remains of a rocking chair!  (Once I finally caught my breath and figured out how I ended up on the floor, we called the story finished and went outside for a quick extra recess.)

On my way out of the building yesterday, I was accosted by a teacher that I subbed for last week.
"Did you hear the news?"  she asked.  "No, what?"  I replied.
"Seven kids in my class have lice.  They found them the day after you subbed for me.  You need to get checked before you leave today."

What a wonderful, wonderful couple of weeks it's been!

It's a Sub Job. What Can Go Wrong?

I originally published this in 2013.  As I recall, this particular incident happened towards the end of the school year, but I didn't get around to writing it down until the summer of 2013.  Enjoy the look back!

When I sub, I normally only sub in grades K-3.  I'm certified to teach K-3, and when I was teaching, I taught K-3.  It's the group that I am most comfortable with, and am the best at teaching.  However, as the year comes to a close, I stop being so picky and take just about any job I can find.  I think it's that motivation that says "You won't be getting a paycheck in June, July, and August" that makes me be less picky.

One day in late May, I took a job entitled "Supplementary".  These jobs are the grab bag of the substitute world.  You don't know what you're getting into until you walk in the door of the building that morning.  Surprise!!

This particular day, I was assigned to 2nd grade in the morning and 5th grade in the afternoon.  The 2nd grade class was a hoot, and I spent a wonderful time with a great class of kids, and had an awesome set of lesson plans to follow.  I enjoyed myself no end.

The afternoon with 5th grade was particularly memorable.  The teacher had left us with a DVD to watch, and had trained one child how to turn it on and get it to go.  The movie was in her laptop, and it was to be projected from her laptop onto the white board in front of the room.  Her final words to me before she left were "YOU don't touch anything.  Only SHE does."  (Pointing to a child in the class.)  Okie Dokie!

We finished up the lesson she had left, and then SHE attempted to start the movie. Nothing happened.  The girl tried, again, and nothing happened.  The kids became very, very helpful.  (Overly helpful, even.)  Yet still, nothing happened.  I called down to the main office, and they sent an Assistant Principal down to "show us" how to make it work.  He ended up calling the media specialist, who then ended up calling the technology guy from the county who was in the building working on the network. 

So, while all of the great minds were working on getting the DVD to run, what were the kids doing?  We started playing "Simon Says".  Twenty minutes later, the crew of four adults looked at me and said "It's not working."  (Insert evil teacher/mom glare here.)  I asked, "So, what do I do?" 

"Oh," said the Assistant Principal, "You follow the plans she left you."  I handed them the plans that said: "Watch the movie.  The kids know how to turn it on.  YOU don't touch the laptop.  Only the trained student may start the DVD.   Dismissal begins at 3:15."  He gave me a blank stare, and you could see the same panic I was feeling beginning to build behind his eyes.

Thankfully, at that minute, the teacher next door stuck her head around the corner and said "Hey, do you want to join us?  I'm just about to start the movie.  The kids are welcome to come over and sit on the floor!"

At least I didn't touch the laptop!!

Tales From the Classroom

More and more, I find myself missing my classroom days.  I miss working with the little guys, and I miss the constant change and ebb and flow of days and schedules.  I've been rethinking a couple of decisions and choices that I've made over the last two years. 

Anyway, this is a repost of an earlier article about the kids.  I'd subbed several days in a row, and there were three very particularly memorable stories I wanted to share.

1) "That's Wrong!"

I was subbing for a Special Ed. assistant, and was sitting through a second grade math lesson with one of my favorite guys.  The teacher was going through a subtraction lesson with the kids.

(The key part to remember to this story is... 2nd grade.  Remember, at that time, they still made us move the big number to the front and then subtract the smaller number.)

The teacher had the problem 3-5=___  written on the board. 

"Now, how do we solve this?"  She asked.

My little friend promptly raised his hand and said "It's negative 2!"

"No, it's not," the teacher replied, "Can someone else help me?"

"No!!!"  He shouted.  "It's negative two!!"

"No, it's not," she replied, looking at me for help.

"Actually, it is," I answered, and turning to my little friend I said "In 2nd grade, most of the kids haven't learned negative numbers yet.  She's trying to get you to set the problem up the 2nd grade way, and put the big number first."

"Well that's just stupid."  He replied.  "The answer is negative two, and she's just making the problem harder for everyone to solve by making them switch it around.  If they're going to switch the numbers, they should switch the signs."

The teacher and I both sat stunned, staring at him for a moment.  The teacher recovered first and said "You guys are right.  BUT, we since we're in 2nd grade, we will do this the 2nd grade way."

"It's still stupid" said my little friend. 

2) The Voice of an Angel

Subbing again in special education, in a different classroom, I was with a friend in kindergarten.  He was working on a cut and paste number identification sheet.

While he was cutting, he broke out into a SPOT ON rendition of "Oh Danny Boy".

He knew all of the words, hit every single note, and sang in the most beautiful child soprano anyone has ever heard.  It brought tears to my eyes, and the classroom to a halt.

When he finished, the teacher whispered to me "I never make him stop singing.  He has the voice of an angel, and I feel like we are blessed every time we hear it."

 

3) Those Letters Spell WHAT??

I was subbing in a kindergarten class where kids were working on the sight word "this".  The kids each had a bag of cut out letters:  t, h, i, s, that they were to glue into appropriate places on a worksheet.

The first group comes up and glues the letters into place, with no comment whatsoever.

The second group comes up, and one little guy starts playing with the letters, rearranging them, moving them around, and finally comes up with an entirely new word and I hear him say "Oh, wow!  Look at what I can spell!"  (Take one guess what that word was...)


You know, there are some bad days when I'm subbing.  There are days when everything goes wrong.  But then, things like this happen that make me laugh, and I realize just how fortunate I am to be able to work in a profession where I get to see the world through the eyes of children.

You Go, Girlfriend!

I'm down and out with a very sore throat and headache, so no writing today.  Instead,  enjoy this post from 5 years ago when I was subbing. Originally posted on my now defunct "Mom's View Blog".

A couple of weeks ago, I was subbing in a special education classroom.  One of the little guys in the class has shown a troubling tendency to run.  

A runner in school is a bad thing.  These kids run away from the source of their frustration and anger.  Believe me when I say I sympathize with them.  I do understand the need to flee and get away from it all.  The problem is, kids who are prone to running will run out of the building.  They run blind- with no destination in mind, and no purpose other than to escape the school.  The danger of them getting lost or hit by a car is very real.

This little guy had run for the doors by the teacher parking lot before, but he had never left the building.  I can hear you thinking "Then why don't they just lock those doors shut?"  Well, the doors are locked from the outside- so that some random person can't just walk into the school.  However, according to the fire marshal, those doors must remain unlocked from the inside so that the kids can get out in the event of fire.

Anyway, I was in the hall with this stubborn little guy and two other teachers when he decided to make a break for it.  He ran to the far end of the building, hit the doors and kept on running.

I caught him in the parking lot.

Here's the best part.  The other two teachers I was standing with are both 20 years younger than I am.  I got there first, and I got there a good 15 seconds ahead of them.  Even better, they were wheezing and out of breath.  I was just standing there, hugging little one and telling him the story of the Three Little Bears. 

Hmmn.... 40 something year old, overweight, out of shape woman totally beats the 20 something teachers doing the 100 yard dash.

When I got back into the school, one of the volunteers who'd been sitting in the hall reading with a child when everything happened looked at me and smiled.  "You go, girlfriend!  You totally rock!  Beating those young things out the door!  Who-HOOO!" 

Now THAT's a priceless feeling!

Subbing in Kindergarten

I originally published this post in my now defunct blog, "A Mom's View".  Every once in a while, I stumble across something from the years I spent subbing, and it makes me laugh out loud.  This post was one of those memories.  Enjoy!  I must say, I enjoy my job now, but I don't get as many belly laughs as I did when I was subbing!

I've spent the past few days subbing in kindergarten, and have a few stories that I'd like to share:

Recess:
It was 90* here on Monday.  We brought the kids back from PE, and the sweat was dripping off of one little guy.  We had the kids pack up their backpacks to go home and then lined them up to go out for a quick 10 minute recess before it was time to go home.  The little guy who was dripping sweat proceeded to put his hooded sweat shirt on.  "Honey, you don't need your coat outside, it's 90* today.  It's hot."

"Yes I do!  I'm all sweaty and I don't want to catch a chill!"


Math:
We were working on glyphs in Math.  If you've been out of school for a while, you might not remember glyphs.  It's a picture that you color in with coded colors, and it reads like a map.  Our glyph was a duck in a raincoat.  The children were to put three circle buttons on if they were 5 years old, or 3 triangle buttons if they were 6 years old.  They were to color the coat yellow if they like to watch tv on rainy days, or orange if they like to jump in puddles on rainy days.  The hat was supposed to be blue if they were a boy, and red if they were a girl, and the boots were supposed to be colored black if they had a pet at home, or green if they didn't have any pets at all.

I had gotten through the directions on the hat when I looked over at G., and she was coloring the hat yellow. 

"You're supposed to color the hat red since you're a girl." I said.

"No.  I won't."  She replied.

"But those are the directions,"  I stupidly said.  "Color the hat red if you're a girl.  You are a girl, so the hat is supposed to be red."

"No.  You do not wear red hats with yellow rain coats.  You wear yellow hats with yellow rain coats.  And yellow boots.  Would you wear a red hat with a yellow coat to school?  I don't think so...."


Reading:
We were attempting to introduce the kids to ABC order today.  We had sentence strips, and I was to give them four adjacent letters of the alphabet.  (E, F, H, G) and have them place the letters in order.  I covered up all the letters on the sentence strip except those 4 letters, and asked P.:

"Which letter comes first?"

"A"

"No, of these four letters, which one comes first?"

"A always comes first.  Then B, Then C, then D.  E comes fifth."

Love those kids!!

Tales from the Classroom

I was a substitute teacher.  My Four Year Mission? To teach in strange new classrooms, in different schools throughout the county.  These are the tales of a substitute teacher.

Assignments of two or more days are unusual for substitutes.  Typically, these assignments go to people well known by the teacher or staff of the school.  Only rarely are they put out on the  SubFinder system for anyone to grab.

I felt particularly blessed this particular spring day.  I had found a 2 day job at a school in the Northern part of the county, just before the beginning of Spring Break.  Even better, the job was for a kindergarten aide!  More than likely, the regular aide would be the teacher, and I would be relieved of the responsibilities of classroom management.

I arrived on the first day to find both the teacher and aide waiting for me in the classroom, in order to explain our very unique situation.

The school was being renovated, one pod at a time.  As each new pod opened, the grade would move into the new classrooms, and then renovations would begin on the old classrooms.  At this point in time, the new kindergarten pod and expansion was completed.  The aide was going to be teaching, I would be helping, and the teacher would be moving things down to her new classroom just as soon as the County Building Inspector gave the go ahead.

We started our morning with a classroom full of children and equipment, and the teacher sitting at her desk, working on the kids' records.

Late that afternoon, the teacher got approval to move into her classroom, and things began to get strange.

The teacher had a large cart.  She would load the cart up with stuff, and then take off down the hall.
When we left school on Thursday afternoon, she had emptied her closets, and had the custodian help her move the tadpoles in their tank down to her new classroom.

Friday was surreal.  We started with a classroom full of students and a fully decorated classroom.
As the day wore on, the items in the classroom slowly started to disappear.  Entire bulletin boards, learning centers, play areas, books, just *pouf* gone.  The kids were mostly game, as they thought this was a grand adventure.

When we came back from lunch, all of the tables and chairs were gone.  It was me, the aide, 18 children, a rocking chair with some books, and a CD player.

We improvised for a while.  Took the kids out for an extra recess.  Went to specials.  Went over to another kindergarten classroom to watch a movie, and then... we ended up back in our classroom.  Everything was gone at this point.  We sat in a circle on the floor in an empty classroom and the aide said "I know!  Let's play Duck, Duck, Goose!"

I know, you're sitting there thinking "an empty classroom, a nice, simple little group game.  Great idea!  What a great way to wait for the buses to be called!"

I sat in the circle on the floor as first one little guy, and then another took turns going around the circle "ducking" the other kids.  I kept a close eye on the clock.  We had 10 minutes left until dismissal began when disaster struck. 

The little man who goosed his friend took off at a pretty quick clip around the circle with his friend in hot pursuit. Little man tangled his feet up in each other and crashed to the floor.  As we watched in horror, little man then rolled across the empty floor and smacked *slam* into the closet door.  When he sat up, we noticed in horror that the pattern of the lattice work from the bottom of the door was imprinted upon his head.

I grabbed little man and ran him down to the nurse, before he even had a chance to realize what was going on.

The nurse pulled out an ice pack and called his parents while I ran back for his backpack, because, guess what?  Bus Dismissal was getting ready to begin.

As I turned the corner into the nurses' office, instead of the expected tears, I saw the great big grin on Little Man's face.

"What are you smiling about?" I asked?

"That was awesome!  Did you SEE that barrel roll?  And how hard did I hit that door?  Is the metal still in?  I was trying to knock it out!  Did you see my head?  Look at these cool lines!  And now?  I AM GOING TO BE THE FIRST PERSON TO GET ON MY BUS!!!"

*sigh*

That Does It..

I found this in a journal I kept when I was subbing:

I was subbing in a class of kindergarteners yesterday.

We'd had a very interesting morning.  And I don't mean interesting in a good way. 

As we got ready for centers in the afternoon, the kids were all sitting angelically with their hands raised, ready to be chosen first to go to centers. 

I looked at them and said, "You guys know how this goes.  The first people I'm going to choose first are those people who've been trying hard all day, doing their best job, and showing their pride."

I hear one little voice say "That's it, I'm screwed."

A Kindergarten Story

I was subbing in a class of kindergartners yesterday.

We'd had a very interesting morning.  And I don't mean interesting in a good way. 

As we got ready for centers in the afternoon, the kids were all sitting angelically with their hands raised, ready to be chosen first to go to centers. 

I looked at them and said, "You guys know how this goes.  The first people I'm going to choose are those people who've been trying hard all day, doing their best job, and showing their pride."

I hear one little voice say "That's it, I'm screwed."

*This was originally published in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog on5/24/2013.*

Several Comedies of Error

I've been subbing a lot the past few weeks.  Jobs have been plentiful... and the motivation that says "You won't get a paycheck for June, July, or August" has kept me moving pretty quickly on taking up the jobs.  Today is a rare day off, so I thought I would share my comedy of errors over the last few weeks.

I normally only substitute in K-3rd grade, because that is my area of certification, and it is the age group I am best at teaching.  Unfortunately, several of the jobs I took over the past couple of weeks were "supplementary", which is the grab bag of the substitute world.  I didn't know what I was getting into until I walked in the door of the building that morning.  Surprise!!

I spent one particularly memorable afternoon in 5th grade.  The teacher had left us with a DVD to watch, and had trained the kids how to turn it on and get it to go.  Her final words to me before she left "You don't touch anything.  Only she does." (pointing to a child in the class)  Okie Dokie!  We finished up the lessons she had left, and then we attempted to start the movie.  Nothing happened.  The girl tried again, and nothing happened.  The kids became very, very helpful.  (overly helpful) Yet still, nothing happened.  I called down to the main office, and they sent an Assistant Principal down to "show us" how to fix it.  He ended up calling the media specialist, who then ended up calling the technology guy from the county who was in the building working on the network. So, while all of the great minds were working on getting the DVD to run, what were the kids doing?  We started playing "Simon Says".  Twenty minutes later, the crew of four adults looked at me and said "It's not working."  (Insert evil teacher/mom glare here.)  I asked, "so what do I do?"  "Oh, said the AP, you follow the plans she left you."  I handed him the plans that said in clear letters: "Watch movie.  The kids know how to turn it on.  Dismissal begins at 3:15".  Thank heavens, the teacher next door poked her head around the corner at that moment and said "We're just getting ready to start the movie.  Why don't you bring them in here?" 

I spent one day with an assistant teacher who couldn't remember my last name.  She kept calling me Mrs. Jones, no matter how many times I corrected her.  Finally, I gave up and let her call me Mrs. Jones for the rest of the day.  I found out yesterday that she calls every sub in her room Mrs. Jones. 

I was reading a book aloud to a group of students, sitting in the rocking chair when *CRASH* the entire rocking chair broke apart underneath me!  There I was, one shocked woman, sitting amidst the remains of a rocking chair!  (Once I finally caught my breath and figured out how I ended up on the floor, we called the story finished and went outside for a quick extra recess.)

On my way out of the building yesterday, I was accosted by a teacher that I subbed for last week.
"Did you hear the news?"  she asked.  "No, what?"  I replied.
"Seven kids in my class have lice.  They found them the day after you subbed for me.  You need to get checked before you leave today."

What a wonderful, wonderful couple of weeks it's been!

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

I subbed in first grade this week.  One of the little boys, J., is already a die-hard jock at the tender age of six.

On Monday, he burst into tears at lunchtime because it was raining.  Stupid me, I thought it was because we were going to have indoor recess.  (Believe me, the thought of indoor recess made me want to cry!) Nope.  It was because his t-ball game was going to be cancelled.  "You don't understand!"  He told me.  "We're undefeated!  Now we're not!" No amount of explaining would convince him that the game would be rescheduled and that they were still undefeated.

Fast forward to Thursday.  We're reading a book about Lance Armstrong in reading group.  He found out that Lance had cancer, and J. burst into tears.  "Oh no!  How can Lance have cancer?  What kind of cancer does he have?"

"It's okay, J., let's turn the page and find out more!" 
"No, no, no" he said.  "Is he going to be okay? What kind of cancer does he have?"
"J., he's fine. He had cancer, but it was several years ago.  He's fine now."
J. looked up at me, "IF Lance Armstrong can get cancer, anybody can get cancer."

I took a deep breath, and we turned the page and read the rest of the story and found out that Lance did get better.

However, it kept me thinking about Lance Armstrong and cancer for a while.

It is true.  Lance is an amazing athelete.  He has accomplished more in his life than most of us could ever hope to in a lifetime.  And yet, his battle with cancer could have easily been the end of the story for him.  Fortunately, he was screened, caught the cancer early, and was determined enough to follow through with medical treatment and beat the cancer.  His story is a reminder to all of us.

J. was right.  If Lance Armstrong can get cancer, anybody can get cancer.

But it doesn't need to be the end of our story.

Get yourself checked now for cancer. Early detection is the key to survival.

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Lessons From the Kindergarten

've spent the past few days subbing in kindergarten, and have a few stories that I'd like to share:

It was 90* here on Monday.  We brought the kids back from PE, and the sweat was dripping off of one little guy.  We had the kids pack up their backpacks to go home and then lined them up to go out for a quick 10 minute recess before it was time to go home.  The little guy who was dripping sweat proceeded to put his hooded sweat shirt on.  "Honey, you don't need your coat outside, it's 90* today.  It's hot."
"Yes I do!  I'm all sweaty and I don't want to catch a chill!"

We were working on glyphs in Math.  If you've been out of school for a while, you might not remember glyphs.  It's a picture that you color in with coded colors, and it reads like a map.  Our glyph was a duck in a raincoat.  The children were to put three circle buttons on if they were 5 years old, or 3 triangle buttons if they were 6 years old.  They were to color the coat yellow if they like to watch tv on rainy days, or orange if they like to jump in puddles on rainy days.  The hat was supposed to be blue if they were a boy, and red if they were a girl, and the boots were supposed to be colored black if they had a pet at home, or green if they didn't have any pets at all.
I had gotten through the directions on the hat when I looked over at G., and she was coloring the hat yellow. 
"You're supposed to color the hat red since you're a girl." I said.
"No.  I won't."  She replied.
"But those are the directions,"  I stupidly said.  "Color the hat red if you're a girl.  You are a girl, so the hat is supposed to be red."
"No.  You do not wear red hats with yellow rain coats.  You wear yellow hats with yellow rain coats.  And yellow boots.  Would you wear a red hat with a yellow coat to school?  I don't think so...."

We were attempting to introduce the kids to ABC order today.  We had sentence strips, and I was to give them four adjacent letters of the alphabet.  (E, F, H, G) and have them place the letters in order.  I covered up all the letters on the sentence strip except those 4 letters, and asked P.
"Which letter comes first?"
"A"
"No, of these four letters, which one comes first?"
"A always comes first.  Then B, Then C, then D.  E comes fifth."

Love those kids!!