Kinder Friday Blues

I love being a substitute...which would be fine if they paid benefits and a bit more to the check, but some days...well, I think I earn the weekend.

Yesterday, I had my delightful 1st grade class. Today was a kinder class. They weren't bad, but the directions were awful. Or maybe the teacher was unprepared. There were supposed to be several items available for the kids to do, but they turned out to be non-existent. The reading was out of a teacher's manual, which turns out to be so scripted as to make a normal person gag. I prefer to get the gist of what it says and wing it. Even the kids catch on to how bad it is. They get bored and the best way to keep their attention is to do it how I do it...at least in my experience. There may be teachers out there so well versed in reading a script for the first time that they do it perfectly. I am not. I got through it with a minimum of pain, though.

The para kind of took over at the end, which was fine with me, since she seemed to have the finer points down with no problem.

She left and I was alone for math...except for a teenage helper from the high school who came in during math time to apparently tear out the sheets I needed for math. When I looked to her in askance of whether she knew where any math sheets might be, she registered confusion. I then improvised and using my massive intellect began to teach the kids how to add numbers that added up to be "teen numbers." Glad they weren't 5th graders! The "helpful" student helper left after doing whatever she was supposed to do. I wandered over and noticed a stack of math sheets that had not been there before...I suspect her job was to take these out of books. Why she did not inform me that she was working on such a thing was beyond me, but I lost no time handing out the paper...my pathetic, though artful, attempts to teach mathematics died under the dry erase eraser.

They weren't a bad class. I think because of the plans, though, they were a higher maintenance class than they had to be.

After school, I made a bee line for the nearest Safeway for a six pack...of wine. I also got a pizza for dinner...vegetarian with Chicken and Bacon. despite your comments, it is the only way to get enough vegetables on your pizza.

We have a birthday party to attend tomorrow! My first nephew turns four tomorrow! It should be fun! I can't wait to see what my sister has planned. I know it will be fun.