I am substitute teaching for about 6 weeks for Ms. J, who was Emma's 1st grade teacher. She is out on maternity leave and since I was so familiar with her teaching methods, where things are located in her classroom, and school procedures, she and our school director asked last May if I would sub for her. She worked like crazy and prepared her lesson plans, had copies made of worksheets, and organized everything before the end of school last year. So it has been super easy for me so far. This week we mainly focused on getting the routine down. 1st grade works a bit differently than Kindergarten and is a different building. There was a lot of repeating over and over and over again of school rules, classroom rules, and how we do things in 1st grade.
Luckily, I already know most of my students from last year when I was Kinder-1st Librarian. So far I only have 3 new students to the school in my class. That may or may not change. 15 kiddos, 8 girls/7 boys! They are so much fun! I have several artists, a couple of hummers, and several great little readers. On our first day together, I had a few that were shy, but have quickly become quite chatty. My biggest challenge so far has been to keep them focused on task instead of visiting with their neighbor during class work time. They have improved, but we still need to work on it. I know that will improve as we go.
I am also very thankful to have some amazing teachers/coworkers that have been extremely supportive and helpful. I already knew that our teachers worked their tails off, but now I REALLY know how much work goes into each and every day. It's been a challenge and I'm sure will continue to be a challenge, but it pushes me to do my best. I know that I can't fill Ms. J's shoes, but I don't want the kids to be behind in their studies because of me. So I'm studying up every night and on this 3 day holiday weekend.
Jason, Henry, and Emma have been my cheerleaders and have really done a great job helping out at home. Jason has taken on the homework monitor roll, so that I can finish up any immediate school business(emails mainly) that I didn't get to the hour after school that we are on campus. He's also cooked dinner a few nights this past week. The kids have done well with the adjustment, but I think that they will be glad to have me back full time.
Ms. J is scheduled to return at the end of this month and then I have to jump back into my roll as Kinder-1st Librarian and am adding on 2nd and 3rd grade too this year. Other than that, my only school co-op activities will be field trips and taking pictures during special events. I'm sure that I may end up doing more, but we will see. We are way ahead on our co-op hours and I need some down time.
I'll update when I can. Keep an eye on the Flickr window, that will be where you'll see what is going on most likely. The kids are growing like crazy, physically and mentally and we are all settling into our new home.
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