Friday, December 12, 2014

I substitute taught in a fifth grade classroom today. My first time subbing EVER!
It was great! I love them!
I connected with the "mouthy" kids straight from the get go (after reminding them that "Your Momma" jokes are not on their Spelling lists!) and impressed the teacher next door with how quiet we were during reading!
I am not above substitute bribery either, and tiny Halloween-shaped erasers and pencils sharpeners made them inordinately happy.  Also, Anna- Thank you sooo much for those rainbow pens on a string - they were the coveted item today!
Language arts was super easy, they followed their regular routine quite well. Silent reading got a smidge noisy, until I moved a kid (who was actually not really misbehaving, I just remembered his name somehow!) then they were as silent as the dead! (Well, for a few seconds anyway!)
Math in the afternoon was interesting - it has been a loooong time since I multiplied fractions by whole numbers! (At least they are just learning it and today is a Friday, so they will forget it by Monday anyway, so the fact that I said Communicative properties instead of Commutative probably won't matter, right?)
I brought a random supply of back-up activities, and actually used my giant WAR deck to teach them the Target Number game I made up during my pre-student teaching. (The directions in the back of the third grade math book was confusing, so I made up my own game that they loved, for the fifth graders I just opened it up to addition/subtraction/multiplication/division instead of just addition/subtraction. - I am planning on making a blog post about it during Christmas break) Anyway, the fifth graders LOOOOOVED it even more than my Third Graders! (I did not expect that! I think it may just be that it was something new.)
Three kids thanked me for subbing for them, and one girl told me I am "the best sub they have ever had and I don't say that to everyone."



Also, If anyone has partial decks of cards or decks you don't want (even the other half of your Euchre decks - just no hidden or not-hidden "curse words," nudes, alcohol, tobacco references please) I am looking to fluff out my giant deck some more - I did not have enough for 14 pairs of students to play!

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