Day 5: Kindergarten and 3rd grade (again)

The kindergarteners are really getting the hang of things. They know what to do when they get to the classroom in the morning.

I don't have a lot of new stuff to talk about today. However, one of the kiddos got hurt on the playground today.... to the point where his lip was bleeding. After an ice pack and some clean clothes dropped off by Mom (his other ones were covered in blood), he returned to class and finished the day.

It amazes me how much variance there is in how much these kids do or don't know. We are working on letter recognition. Some kids recognize all their letters and can spell their names. Others don't know any of their letters.

I'm still tying *way* too many shoes every day! And as the kids are getting more comfortable, we are seeing more behavioral issues: lots of talking and touching other kids and their stuff. It's been a long week for both kids and teachers :).

I again subbed for an hour in 3rd grade (same class as yesterday). That class is reading a book called Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots. Yesterday, the kids decided I was a vampire because I didn't have polka dots on. It became something of a joke. Today, it was a bigger joke! Some kids even dubbed me "Vampire Teacher." I played along. My job with them today was easy: monitor the room while they did silent reading.

Because of a new math curriculum in kindergarten this year, I've spent part of every day cutting out materials that have been copied. Today, we worked on matching pictures of socks: sorting them into plan, striped, and dotted piles. The kids did great!

Tomorrow is my last day helping out in kindergarten. For this year, I've asked to work M/W/F at one of four schools. I'll be assigned 24 hours ahead of time, which seems like a better system than they had last year. The school I've been at so far this year is the biggest of the elems I've asked to work at, so I suspect I'll be there a lot.

Oh! Two kids drew pictures for me today. Unfortunately, I left them on the desk at school. I'll bring them home tomorrow and scan them to show you all.