I had hoped the days wouldn't run together but they seem to. It has been non-stop playing or watching sumpin on TV. His favorite is Wonder Pets. His mom hates Wonder Pets she told me yesterday. Karyn, do you remember all those times you told me you hated me? Revenge can be sweet. (I kinda of like Wonder Pets, the tunes are getting annoying though)
James has been pretty compliant about putting his toys back in the clubhouse when he is done with them. He doesn't really like staying in the clubhouse but he likes getting his toys out of there and putting them back. He makes me smile with his sweet voice and the lilt he has at the end of his sentences when he is hoping I'll do something with him. Being called Grandma, grandma, grandma at the beginning of each sentence is wearing thin, though.
This boys wakes up at 5:30 every morning! Sunday morning he was at the table playing with playdoh. I told him it wasn't happening for me until I had coffee! He ate cereal for breakfast but I didn't have enough kid kinds, we mixed 3 different kinds up. One box had cereal with strawberried on it. He had to have strawberries. Karyn had given me some strawberries for his snack in the car. With some careful carving I found enough that was still good. Cereal went down like a charm.
His Sunday shirt was wrinkled. I have a little iron and little ironing board set up. While I ironed his shirt he "ironed" his pants. He was a fancy looking boy by the time we left.
No arguments about church and Sunday School. I forgot to put together the Sunday back of water, treats, books, and colors. Church had the colors and the Handy Dandy Notebook (from Blues Clues.) He drew a rocket ship and sent it flying toward the sky, he almost put out Ggma's eye with that one. She didn't snap. I was proud of her and moved James on the other side of me. He was kind of wiggly but kept fairly quiet. He raced up to hear Pastor's Children message and did a great job sitting still up there.
After church, he got his treat in the fellowship hall. He raced out to play on the playground, finished his snack and WE went to Sunday School. I stayed with him. He did a pretty good job there, too, but I know the Sunday School teacher who was a sub for the class was glad I was there. Tough class, 3 kids but ages 3, 5, and 6. James kept up with some help and letting him do his own thing with the instructions. Choose your battles.
In the afternoon, we went to Boppa's work and took him a picnic. Boppa's work is the property we bought outside of town. The quonset hut has a half court basketball court in it. James has remembered this and wanted to play basketball. Boppa put up a basket that was about his height so he was making some nice shots. Then he wanted to sit on the ATV, go into the camper, drive the boat, sit on the tractor, dig dirt, poop in the dirt (he actually did that part very well - I however, was scrambling for wiping material) cover the poop with the dirt, watched Charlie play with a mouse, and have a picnic.
With all of that, naptime wasn't too much of a battle. After naptime, the Legos came out. He built a race car, I just played and let the Legos decide what they wanted to be. It was kind of fun. Spaghetti for supper, watching sumpin, and bedtime in there eventually.
No snuggles Monday morning but he stayed in bed until 6:07. He wanted to watch sumpin'. I found Thomas the Train - the Best of James. He DID not want to watch this but soon he was and ate all the marshmallows out of his Star Wars cereal that we bought yesterday. He soon wanted to play but I did the first you have to eat your cereal then I will play routine. He was being stubborn but no melt downs. While he was playing without me, I had some quiet time, and got a few things started. I don't think I'll ever get much done completely while he is around. Eventually he went back and ate his cereal. He cannot wait until he is 4! 4 means he gets to take Tae Kwon Doh. So I started with eat 3 bites because you are 3. Eat 4 bites because then you can take Tae Kwon Doh. I found something special for each age - 5 - Kindergarten, 6 - baseball, 7 - basketball, 8 - riding his bike, 9 - plays the piano, 10 - stay with Uncle Dave all by himself. He loved this and played it until his cereal was eaten up.
During my time of quiet, I made a batch of brownies and we took them over to Ggma's for a coffee break. I brought his Legos and race cars. We had a brownie, coffee or chocolate milk, entertained Ggma for awhile. Ggma and James tooks the trash to the dumpster. We stayed about two hours.
More fun and games, another nap, playground, bath and shampoo (which went better) and off to bed. Yawn! And that's where I'm headed too because 5:30 is awfully early. I think his mother is starting to miss him.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Saturday, May 21, 2016
When is it James' Turn?
Last summer, Boppa and Grandma gave each of the older grandboys a turn to spend with just us. Karyn used to call that being "just one kid" and she only had a brother. Must be important. James was two almost 3 and all of us figured he probably wouldn't last more than a day. Since Karyn's family lives 6 hours away, it was a cosideration. Yet, on one of the exchanges, James asked in all of his adorable two year old speech, "When is James' turn?" Yesterday arrived and is James' turn. Karyn, Abigal, James and Grandma met in Sutherland, NE and Grandma picked up a traveling companion.
Karyn told me that James took his nap on the way over. He was trying to talk to me from the back seat but with road noise, I couldn't quite hear him. We stopped in Ogallala to get a movie at Walmart. I did think to bring my computer for such a time as this but couldn't find any kid friendly movies at home. James wanted to the Minion one. I tried to talk him into others but that is the one he wanted. It was $5 - away we went. As we were leaving the store, James used his super powers to open the door. It Worked! The movie DVD didn't though; for $5 I paid for about 4 commercials and 3 very, very, very short Minion movies. The cover called them Mini movies - should've been called nanosecond movies. We stopped in Oshkosh and they were having a rental movie sale. I found Shaun the Sheep for $10 and kepts on going.
James kept asking when we would get to grandma's house. I told him we'd be there before dark. Storm clouds were gathering on the horizon and darkening the sun. He was getting impatient and concerned! Still and all he was a good little traveler. He was pretty excited when we got to grandma's house. He ran up to the front door and rang the door bell. Boppa answered with Charlie right behind him. I think James greeted Charlie first, after all Charlie is eye level, then Boppa.
James headed right to the club house under the stairs and looked for the blower. We also bought balloons in Walmart. He saw the kit - balloons and a blower. I bought the balloons and told him I had the blower. We finally found it. That clubhouse is too short for me but grandmas do crazy things for grandsons. The next hour was spent blowing up balloons, playing baseball with balloons, letting balloons be rockets. Then off to the park, then dinner. Macaroni and cheese.....from a box....don't judge me. He ate 2 bowls and saved a little for Boppa and me.
Bathtime came next. He knows the routine but doesn't like getting his head shampooed. Did it anyway. He got over it. Changed into his Superman shirt and then I set up a cot for him by our bed. I figured he wouldn't sleep by himself upstairs and I'm getting used to the downstairs bed. He liked the astronaut sleeping bag and we were down for the count. Only we weren't. Snuggles, down for the count, put him back into bed. Only he still wasn't asleep. He wanted to sleep upstairs. He wanted a light on, not that light, the night light on the table, now turn on the fan, sleep upstairs. I almost gave up but he finally, really, did fall asleep and I put him back in the cot. By that time I was ready for bed, too.
5:30 am. He was staring at me from the cot when I happened to wake up enough to look at the time. Morning cuddles, then it was "let's go play!" Yawn. We woke up the balloons on the couch, we woke up the fire truck and the race car. We played with puzzles. "I did it!" He crowed. Breakfast was pancakes. He wanted to be the poor helper. Took me a second......he wanted to be pour helper and a Mickey Mouse pancake, and a baby Micky Mouse pancake, with chocolate chips. He ate it all and a few more besides plus apple slices and banana bread and strawberries.
He watched some TV, played with the barn. Said some darling cute things that I wanted to write down and should have. He loves me, he loves my house but he won't give me kisses! What's up with that? And he keeps blowing up balloons. I think we have 20 now and he can count them all.
Playdough was the next quiet activity. We had to make it. This time when he wanted to be my pour helper, I knew what he wanted. I got some toys out of the toy box that I thought would make some fun designs. He was using the pieces from a counting puzzle. When he pushed down on it in the playdough, it made pegs. Pretty soon he was adding his pegs. Then he was subtracting his pegs so we could make the numbers in the playdough. I kind of wished I had the wisdom when I was a young mother to play better with my children and just enjoy the discovering they do. I think I was too worried about having the perfect children that I forgot to enjoy them. At least I get to do this with my granchildren. So much fun. James helped me spell his name with playdough and Grama with playdough. Enough of that - let go play at the park!
The new skill level at the park is to climb the rope ladder. He has that down pat. He doesn't have going poop before he goes to the park down pat though. We raced back.
Lunch - he ate peanut butter and jelly with a side of beans. Another TV show and off for a nap. He didn't want to do that but I stayed with him. I had pulled down the shades. He got on his cot, then kept looking over to me and carefully pushed the shades back up. He thought he was being so sneaky. He finally crawled onto bed with me and we both napped ... his was longer.
We took a trip to GGma's for root beer floats. As soon as we pulled in, James knew where we were. He recognized her twirly ballon. He remembered the piano room, and playing Sorry the last time we were there. We went to the piano room and he played Rocket ship on the piano for me. I played a song. We found a 60 piece puzzle and went back to Ggma's apartment. Oh, the root beer floats were enjoyed by all. James went to the bathroom and discovered Ggma's hand mirror. He said, "I don't look fancy" He found a comb and made himself fancy. He took the mirror to Ggma and the comb and made her fancy, too. He tried to make me fancy. No luck.
We are at home. Blowing up more balloons, eating more mac and cheese, figuring out puzzles and having a glorious time. It hasn't been too hard other than I have been his all day playmate and it makes me wonder how a mother of four gets anything done!
Karyn told me that James took his nap on the way over. He was trying to talk to me from the back seat but with road noise, I couldn't quite hear him. We stopped in Ogallala to get a movie at Walmart. I did think to bring my computer for such a time as this but couldn't find any kid friendly movies at home. James wanted to the Minion one. I tried to talk him into others but that is the one he wanted. It was $5 - away we went. As we were leaving the store, James used his super powers to open the door. It Worked! The movie DVD didn't though; for $5 I paid for about 4 commercials and 3 very, very, very short Minion movies. The cover called them Mini movies - should've been called nanosecond movies. We stopped in Oshkosh and they were having a rental movie sale. I found Shaun the Sheep for $10 and kepts on going.
James kept asking when we would get to grandma's house. I told him we'd be there before dark. Storm clouds were gathering on the horizon and darkening the sun. He was getting impatient and concerned! Still and all he was a good little traveler. He was pretty excited when we got to grandma's house. He ran up to the front door and rang the door bell. Boppa answered with Charlie right behind him. I think James greeted Charlie first, after all Charlie is eye level, then Boppa.
James headed right to the club house under the stairs and looked for the blower. We also bought balloons in Walmart. He saw the kit - balloons and a blower. I bought the balloons and told him I had the blower. We finally found it. That clubhouse is too short for me but grandmas do crazy things for grandsons. The next hour was spent blowing up balloons, playing baseball with balloons, letting balloons be rockets. Then off to the park, then dinner. Macaroni and cheese.....from a box....don't judge me. He ate 2 bowls and saved a little for Boppa and me.
Bathtime came next. He knows the routine but doesn't like getting his head shampooed. Did it anyway. He got over it. Changed into his Superman shirt and then I set up a cot for him by our bed. I figured he wouldn't sleep by himself upstairs and I'm getting used to the downstairs bed. He liked the astronaut sleeping bag and we were down for the count. Only we weren't. Snuggles, down for the count, put him back into bed. Only he still wasn't asleep. He wanted to sleep upstairs. He wanted a light on, not that light, the night light on the table, now turn on the fan, sleep upstairs. I almost gave up but he finally, really, did fall asleep and I put him back in the cot. By that time I was ready for bed, too.
5:30 am. He was staring at me from the cot when I happened to wake up enough to look at the time. Morning cuddles, then it was "let's go play!" Yawn. We woke up the balloons on the couch, we woke up the fire truck and the race car. We played with puzzles. "I did it!" He crowed. Breakfast was pancakes. He wanted to be the poor helper. Took me a second......he wanted to be pour helper and a Mickey Mouse pancake, and a baby Micky Mouse pancake, with chocolate chips. He ate it all and a few more besides plus apple slices and banana bread and strawberries.
He watched some TV, played with the barn. Said some darling cute things that I wanted to write down and should have. He loves me, he loves my house but he won't give me kisses! What's up with that? And he keeps blowing up balloons. I think we have 20 now and he can count them all.
Playdough was the next quiet activity. We had to make it. This time when he wanted to be my pour helper, I knew what he wanted. I got some toys out of the toy box that I thought would make some fun designs. He was using the pieces from a counting puzzle. When he pushed down on it in the playdough, it made pegs. Pretty soon he was adding his pegs. Then he was subtracting his pegs so we could make the numbers in the playdough. I kind of wished I had the wisdom when I was a young mother to play better with my children and just enjoy the discovering they do. I think I was too worried about having the perfect children that I forgot to enjoy them. At least I get to do this with my granchildren. So much fun. James helped me spell his name with playdough and Grama with playdough. Enough of that - let go play at the park!
The new skill level at the park is to climb the rope ladder. He has that down pat. He doesn't have going poop before he goes to the park down pat though. We raced back.
Lunch - he ate peanut butter and jelly with a side of beans. Another TV show and off for a nap. He didn't want to do that but I stayed with him. I had pulled down the shades. He got on his cot, then kept looking over to me and carefully pushed the shades back up. He thought he was being so sneaky. He finally crawled onto bed with me and we both napped ... his was longer.
We took a trip to GGma's for root beer floats. As soon as we pulled in, James knew where we were. He recognized her twirly ballon. He remembered the piano room, and playing Sorry the last time we were there. We went to the piano room and he played Rocket ship on the piano for me. I played a song. We found a 60 piece puzzle and went back to Ggma's apartment. Oh, the root beer floats were enjoyed by all. James went to the bathroom and discovered Ggma's hand mirror. He said, "I don't look fancy" He found a comb and made himself fancy. He took the mirror to Ggma and the comb and made her fancy, too. He tried to make me fancy. No luck.
We are at home. Blowing up more balloons, eating more mac and cheese, figuring out puzzles and having a glorious time. It hasn't been too hard other than I have been his all day playmate and it makes me wonder how a mother of four gets anything done!
Saturday, March 19, 2016
March Madness
It is my fifth year subbing. I like the special ed classes, reading classes, and elementary grades. Each year I seem to form a bond with one of the schools more than the others. It all just rotates around. Recently, I've been showing up at the K-2 school. I can look for sub jobs and plan my month a bit with a program called Aesop. I looked a few weeks ago and saw Kindergarten was open. It was a 4 day job but taught by a man (MA) who has good control on the class. I thought about it. I kept watching and nobody was picking it up. I wrote an email and told him I could do 2 maybe 3 days but I was pretty sure I didn't have the stamina to do 3.
After sending MA the note, I was in his building again. He found me and told me, he would consider my request but was really hoping for the same sub. Then MA told me he had a full-time Paraprofessional (teacher's aide - TA) which made the class so much more fun. MA also indicated that I could assist and let TA do most of the hard teaching. I indicated that I liked his classes because he usually had great control over his classroom but that meant, he was often given the toughest kids. MA smiled, nodded and indicated that is why TA was a full-time aide in his room. TA smiled and indicated she'd happily teach anything I was uncomfortable with. So they won, and I signed up.
Monday was a dream. What a great class - even with a new student! TA did the teaching while I assisted and learned the procedures. MA's class doesn't vary too much, it was easy to follow the routine. I had a good time and thought maybe kindergarten was my new favorite class. Tuesday came along and I did a little bit more on the teaching side of things. There was a bit of discipline breakdown - kids will push buttons, but it wasn't too bad. There is one student who cries whenever things don't go his way exactly. He mostly got ignored. One student whose speech is hard to understand but generally pretty well behaved. One student that needs the TA to remind him how to handle himself in the classroom and else where. One very pretty girl, who also has speech problems and is hard to understand. 18 kids in all and by Tuesday, I already knew who would fly with the concepts and those who would struggle.
TA had some special projects she wanted to try. One coincided with the shapes they were learning. I love doing this kind of teaching and was ready to follow her lead. We were going to have shapes all cut out and ready to go (their time is pretty limited for these activities). Then they could chose any color and number of shapes to glue a picture on paper. TA's eyes suddenly lit up and she wondered if the pictures wouldn't look better on black paper. Yes! We told the kids to play with the shapes for a bit and arrange them on the paper anyway they wanted to. They could make anything they wanted. I found it interesting that the lower learners were very good at this and made some beautiful designs. Most looked like stained glass windows when they were done gluing. This ended up being a two day project but they worked diligently. Yay, us!
There were a few fill in spots with nothing planned. So I brought out good ole' "Where is Thumbkin?" Some of the kids knew this, the new kid knew it and changed the words from "How are you today, Sir?" to "How are you today, Friend?" I liked that better - it could be generic. Of course, when we got to Tall man (middle finger) a few students piped up and said, "That's a bad finger!" I ignored them. Kindergartners shouldn't know that. It was a big hit, especially with Pinky and All of them. Right on cue, after we were done with "Here we are!" "Here we are!" The school counselor came in and did an activity about being mindful.
This exercise included a glass of water. We sat in a circle and we were told to be mindful-to really think about the water in the glass. We should pass the glass to our neighbor and if we were mindful, we could do it without spilling. We could and did! Then she told us to close our eyes, but that we should still be able to do this without spilling or talking. We did it! Then she told us that she'd tell us to reverse so we'd have to change directions. They did great (and I did, too). Finally we passed two glasses of water. They were quiet for half an hour, it was wonderful!
Wednesday, was a little crazier. More talking, less listening. More team teaching between TA and I. We had some trouble with the Smart Board - it might be smart but we weren't. TA really wanted to to use the digital pen to help the kids with their math homework. We finally pulled in a teacher from next door and she got a pen to work. TA picked a pen and it wrote orange, eventhough it was red, same with green - it was orange, blue wasn't going to be left out, it was orange, too. Black joined the game and put his orange on also. Then she picked up the digital eraser to make it all go away. Nope - orange smears all over the board. The kids laughed at us, we shrugged our shoulders and carried on.
There was an unplanned naptime on Wednesday - chatty kids, breaking rules, not listening. I was ready for a time out, but TA was gone so I couldn't go to my pouting corner. I made everyone go to their seats and put their heads down. I cooled down, they rested, and we began anew. Because of this they missed their center time. I would feel really bad about this but they seemed a bit bored with the centers I was told to let them do. Except for Leggos. Leggos are always a hit. And the day ended and I went home and took a wee nap before going to church for Lenten services.
I was warned by TA before I left school on Wednesday that MA would be in early on March 17th and would reign havoc on his room. The Leprechauns, you know? He would also hide gold for the kids to find. I arrived and checked in. The secretary told me I would need a key to get into the classroom because there had been a break in. It took me a minute - I thought she meant a real break in. I knew TA was planning on footprinting Leprechaun footprints all over the room and I thought a few buckets of toys would be strewn around. TA was in the foyer area, looking like a Leprechaun and talking with an Irish accent -her accent sounded pretty good to me, but would probably make a true Irishman cringe. She was smiling from ear to ear. "I hear there was a wee bit of mischief happenin' in our room, lassie!" she says with a glimmer in her eyes.
I thought I was prepared. I wasn't. I unlocked the door and it was a mess!!! Tables were overturned. Chairs were spread everywhere. Every bin that contained some sort of item was strewn across the floor. The big rug was made to look like a tent. Books were topsy turvy. Little leprechaun feet were everywhere along with "gold dust". One student had made a leprechaun trap. The leprechauns made short work of it. That snooty leprechaun took the gold pieces (chocolate candy) and pulled the wrapper off, took a wee bite and left it on the floor. The trap was pulled apart, too. Needless to say, the trap didn't work. Some teachers peeked in. The best part of the day was that the teachers felt sorry for me all day long!
The children were delighted! I told them that the leprechauns probably hid some gold somewhere and they should look for it while they cleaned up. They looked for it, and slid on toys. I was afraid someone was going to slide right into a table and have stitches, so the toys got picked up first. Table were put to rights and chairs put in place. The rug was put down properly and they finally found the gold as I played "hot and cold" with them. Each student received a $1 gold coin. They were happy. Happily for me, they did settle down pretty quickly and weren't much of a handful the rest of the day. A snack bribe of chocolate mint oreos in the afternoon was a great tool. Thanks, MA. Whew! We even took some time to finish their shape-stained glass window AND write a story about those pesky leprechauns.
It ended up being a fun day and fun week. I had asked everyone I knew to pray for me as I have grown acccustomed to living the life Riley and wasn't sure I could get through a whole week. God was gracious in giving me a yes answer to that.
I did have some fun with MA - the teacher I subbed for. I wrote him a long note about the sorry mess his room was in when I arrived. I stated that the rumors were that it was he, himself, who had done the damage. I was pretty sure however, that a minimilist and neat and tidy man such as himself wouldn't dare do such thing so I was squealching the rumors whenever I heard them. However, his class was pretty sure it was the leprechauns and he should stick with their story because they would be his best defenders. I also stated that it appeared the topsy turvy room caused no undue psychological damage, but he might want to be sensitive to PTSD for a few days. And while I left the room after school to return some items I had borrowed from others in the school, those pesky leprechauns were back! They had cleared nearly every item off his desk. Most items were gone! I think I interrupted them before they managed to lift the computers, though. Good luck filing the police report. (Yes, it was me, I hid everything I thought I could.) I happened to be there when he returned to school. He asked how it went. I just shook my finger at him. He had the audacity to laugh! Then he read my note and laughed some more! I think I got the last laugh. He told me in an email that he found his pencil/pen holder right away but his teacher's manuals, stapler, tape, leader stickers and the remote to run the smart board took him a bit longer.
All in fun. I'll probably sub for him again if asked.
After sending MA the note, I was in his building again. He found me and told me, he would consider my request but was really hoping for the same sub. Then MA told me he had a full-time Paraprofessional (teacher's aide - TA) which made the class so much more fun. MA also indicated that I could assist and let TA do most of the hard teaching. I indicated that I liked his classes because he usually had great control over his classroom but that meant, he was often given the toughest kids. MA smiled, nodded and indicated that is why TA was a full-time aide in his room. TA smiled and indicated she'd happily teach anything I was uncomfortable with. So they won, and I signed up.
Monday was a dream. What a great class - even with a new student! TA did the teaching while I assisted and learned the procedures. MA's class doesn't vary too much, it was easy to follow the routine. I had a good time and thought maybe kindergarten was my new favorite class. Tuesday came along and I did a little bit more on the teaching side of things. There was a bit of discipline breakdown - kids will push buttons, but it wasn't too bad. There is one student who cries whenever things don't go his way exactly. He mostly got ignored. One student whose speech is hard to understand but generally pretty well behaved. One student that needs the TA to remind him how to handle himself in the classroom and else where. One very pretty girl, who also has speech problems and is hard to understand. 18 kids in all and by Tuesday, I already knew who would fly with the concepts and those who would struggle.
TA had some special projects she wanted to try. One coincided with the shapes they were learning. I love doing this kind of teaching and was ready to follow her lead. We were going to have shapes all cut out and ready to go (their time is pretty limited for these activities). Then they could chose any color and number of shapes to glue a picture on paper. TA's eyes suddenly lit up and she wondered if the pictures wouldn't look better on black paper. Yes! We told the kids to play with the shapes for a bit and arrange them on the paper anyway they wanted to. They could make anything they wanted. I found it interesting that the lower learners were very good at this and made some beautiful designs. Most looked like stained glass windows when they were done gluing. This ended up being a two day project but they worked diligently. Yay, us!
There were a few fill in spots with nothing planned. So I brought out good ole' "Where is Thumbkin?" Some of the kids knew this, the new kid knew it and changed the words from "How are you today, Sir?" to "How are you today, Friend?" I liked that better - it could be generic. Of course, when we got to Tall man (middle finger) a few students piped up and said, "That's a bad finger!" I ignored them. Kindergartners shouldn't know that. It was a big hit, especially with Pinky and All of them. Right on cue, after we were done with "Here we are!" "Here we are!" The school counselor came in and did an activity about being mindful.
This exercise included a glass of water. We sat in a circle and we were told to be mindful-to really think about the water in the glass. We should pass the glass to our neighbor and if we were mindful, we could do it without spilling. We could and did! Then she told us to close our eyes, but that we should still be able to do this without spilling or talking. We did it! Then she told us that she'd tell us to reverse so we'd have to change directions. They did great (and I did, too). Finally we passed two glasses of water. They were quiet for half an hour, it was wonderful!
Wednesday, was a little crazier. More talking, less listening. More team teaching between TA and I. We had some trouble with the Smart Board - it might be smart but we weren't. TA really wanted to to use the digital pen to help the kids with their math homework. We finally pulled in a teacher from next door and she got a pen to work. TA picked a pen and it wrote orange, eventhough it was red, same with green - it was orange, blue wasn't going to be left out, it was orange, too. Black joined the game and put his orange on also. Then she picked up the digital eraser to make it all go away. Nope - orange smears all over the board. The kids laughed at us, we shrugged our shoulders and carried on.
There was an unplanned naptime on Wednesday - chatty kids, breaking rules, not listening. I was ready for a time out, but TA was gone so I couldn't go to my pouting corner. I made everyone go to their seats and put their heads down. I cooled down, they rested, and we began anew. Because of this they missed their center time. I would feel really bad about this but they seemed a bit bored with the centers I was told to let them do. Except for Leggos. Leggos are always a hit. And the day ended and I went home and took a wee nap before going to church for Lenten services.
I was warned by TA before I left school on Wednesday that MA would be in early on March 17th and would reign havoc on his room. The Leprechauns, you know? He would also hide gold for the kids to find. I arrived and checked in. The secretary told me I would need a key to get into the classroom because there had been a break in. It took me a minute - I thought she meant a real break in. I knew TA was planning on footprinting Leprechaun footprints all over the room and I thought a few buckets of toys would be strewn around. TA was in the foyer area, looking like a Leprechaun and talking with an Irish accent -her accent sounded pretty good to me, but would probably make a true Irishman cringe. She was smiling from ear to ear. "I hear there was a wee bit of mischief happenin' in our room, lassie!" she says with a glimmer in her eyes.
I thought I was prepared. I wasn't. I unlocked the door and it was a mess!!! Tables were overturned. Chairs were spread everywhere. Every bin that contained some sort of item was strewn across the floor. The big rug was made to look like a tent. Books were topsy turvy. Little leprechaun feet were everywhere along with "gold dust". One student had made a leprechaun trap. The leprechauns made short work of it. That snooty leprechaun took the gold pieces (chocolate candy) and pulled the wrapper off, took a wee bite and left it on the floor. The trap was pulled apart, too. Needless to say, the trap didn't work. Some teachers peeked in. The best part of the day was that the teachers felt sorry for me all day long!
The children were delighted! I told them that the leprechauns probably hid some gold somewhere and they should look for it while they cleaned up. They looked for it, and slid on toys. I was afraid someone was going to slide right into a table and have stitches, so the toys got picked up first. Table were put to rights and chairs put in place. The rug was put down properly and they finally found the gold as I played "hot and cold" with them. Each student received a $1 gold coin. They were happy. Happily for me, they did settle down pretty quickly and weren't much of a handful the rest of the day. A snack bribe of chocolate mint oreos in the afternoon was a great tool. Thanks, MA. Whew! We even took some time to finish their shape-stained glass window AND write a story about those pesky leprechauns.
It ended up being a fun day and fun week. I had asked everyone I knew to pray for me as I have grown acccustomed to living the life Riley and wasn't sure I could get through a whole week. God was gracious in giving me a yes answer to that.
I did have some fun with MA - the teacher I subbed for. I wrote him a long note about the sorry mess his room was in when I arrived. I stated that the rumors were that it was he, himself, who had done the damage. I was pretty sure however, that a minimilist and neat and tidy man such as himself wouldn't dare do such thing so I was squealching the rumors whenever I heard them. However, his class was pretty sure it was the leprechauns and he should stick with their story because they would be his best defenders. I also stated that it appeared the topsy turvy room caused no undue psychological damage, but he might want to be sensitive to PTSD for a few days. And while I left the room after school to return some items I had borrowed from others in the school, those pesky leprechauns were back! They had cleared nearly every item off his desk. Most items were gone! I think I interrupted them before they managed to lift the computers, though. Good luck filing the police report. (Yes, it was me, I hid everything I thought I could.) I happened to be there when he returned to school. He asked how it went. I just shook my finger at him. He had the audacity to laugh! Then he read my note and laughed some more! I think I got the last laugh. He told me in an email that he found his pencil/pen holder right away but his teacher's manuals, stapler, tape, leader stickers and the remote to run the smart board took him a bit longer.
All in fun. I'll probably sub for him again if asked.
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