This Week At School

Where has the week gone?!?

-  I booked my first substitute (for the end of the month)... actually the principal booked the sub for me.
-  I helped out with cross country club
-  I THINK I taught my students how to count to 10 in French (we will continue to practice this at calendar time)
-  I took my grade 4's outside one morning to search for habitats
-  I signed up for my first conference as a full time teacher (the best part is... it' within walking distance from my house... no 40 minute car ride for this girl that one day!)
-  I did not take any photos (I barely have time to eat people, I PROMISE I'll take pictures for next week!)

I have 2 classrooms and to be honest, they are maybe still a bit of an embarrasssment.  I need to figure out a bulletin board for my habitats and communities science unit.  The teacher left stuff for one behind... I just don't know how to make it.  I think I want my students involved in it somehow.  I do have student work up in both rooms now which is a major plus.

I've come up with of somewhat of a plan so that I can still have a life outside of school.  My plan is to only do marking outside of school on Tuesday's, Thursday's, and weekends.  This way I know I won't be as busy on Monday's and Wednesday's and maybe I'll be able to get together with people again.    On Tuesday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's I plan to be leaving the school by 4:30.  I have a prep last period every day which means I'll have an hour and a half at the end of the day to get any prepping, marking, or decorating done.  Decorating I'll save for Friday's... I just feel like it will maybe be a good way to end the week.  And finally, over the weekends I plan to organize my next weeks worth of lessons.  Write it all down into my daybook so that I know what I need to photocopy and am not rushing around the morning of (hopefully eventually I'll also be able to get my photocopying for the week done ahead of time too).

French Music

In one of the school divisions that I regularly sub for I once somehow labelled myself as the go to girl for a French Music sub. I'm not quite sure how I did it. I guess I accepted one too many subbing jobs for that area. But yes, I Christine, became a hot commodity when it came to not only a music sub but a French one at that.

Now there is something you should know about this. At this point in my subbing career I had yet to take any French classes (other than from when I was in grade 9 which was my last year of French). I've also never been particularly great at music (I was in band until grade 12 - but let's face it, I knew enough to get great grades and was in it for the trips to Valley Fair and Canada's Wonderland).

So, what does the substitute that has little knowledge of French and music do when she goes subbing in that exact class?

We play games.

There is this one janitor game that the kids love. basically everyone stands still and the janitor tries to catch the 'statues' moving.

Bingo with prizes is always a hit.

Then someone always suggest I just play the piano and they will move to the music.

Errm... I cannot play the piano beyond "Hot Cross Buns" and that chopsticks song... and by song I mean I just know the part where you play with your knuckles.

Luckily, the kids always like it when I pick a well behaved boy or girl from the crowd (at this point they are probably more like a mob shouting "we want you to play the piano, play it now or we will light pitch forks on fire, do it, Do It, DO IT!!" it's a scary situation). Anyways, I pick a boy or girl from the crowd hand them a tambourine and tell them to go to town.

The angry mob dies down and we have a pretty successful French music class where not a lick of French was spoken (unless it's by the students OR the students as me if I even know French which is when I pull our my favourite saying "un petite peu" translation: a little bit - learn that phrase if you are going to be doing French.

Sidenote: Never, and I repeat NEVER, resort to pulling out the recorders unless you have a good pair of ear plugs.

Teaching Certifcate

I'm sure this doesn't happen too often...

But can you believe it has happened to me?!?

The student in question wasn't quite so demanding... in fact he was just trying to figure out my first name.  What he did know was that I was required to carry my certificate (which is actually more like a card - think birth certificate) and that if asked to show it I was required to show it (although I'm pretty sure this doesn't apply to having show it to my students).  

Anywho, I showed it to the student.

Told him to see with his eyes and not with his hands

And covered up my name with my finger.

Also, I found the cartoon here

This Week at School

- Things have been A LOT hectic (please keep in mind that I only got the job last Thursday and visited the school for the first time the following Friday)

- I'm learning my students names (I'm having a really hard time with this... I see 4 different classes throughout the cycle though.  I'm not at all sure how gym and music teachers manage!  If you have suggestions I would love to hear them)

- I put up some posters!.. honestly I was just tired of looking at boring classroom walls with nothing on them.

- I also stuck up some student work!

- I volunteered my services to help with a running club.  Looks like I'll be getting my first sub in the classroom before the end of the month.

- Ok, this doesn't happen at school but it happens on the drive home... I started listening to The Outsiders on my drive home... it will be my students first novel study (hopefully in about a month) so I decided I would use my 40 minute drive home wisely.  I started it today and got through the first chapter.

Things have almost been too crazy to take pictures.  But I quickly snapped some after school today (next week I'll get a picture of my actual "hut"/Grade 8 classroom)

On the 2nd day of school I got my first present from a student.  German chocolate (and mints)!

I have limited wall space in my Grade 8 classroom but managed to get myself a bookshelf (not all the books fit on it... I figured I would switch them out in a couple months)

I made 3 hand in bins for the class' that meet in the hut.  This way I just have to grab the bin and bring it home.  The really low table is leaving my room and we are getting computers over there instead of the shelf so I'll have to find somewhere else to put the hand in bins.

Friday after school I started looking through the collection of posters and just putting stuff up.  And by stuff I mean one poster... It's a start!

I put one classes All About Me posters in here.  I thought they were a little personal and therefore will not be putting a photo of them on my blog.

When I walked into my grade 4 classroom after school I somehow almost missed this.