New School Year – Days 23,24,25,26

They called them “Walking Tacos.” Each child got a small bag of Frito’s, opened it, and then the teacher or

helper spooned in cooked ground beef with seasoning, sour cream, salsa, and shredded cheese and lettuce. They stirred them with a fork and ate it right out of the bag. I got one too, and it was great – as good as Taco Bell or home!

Best idea of the week: a first grade teacher walks her class to the hall outside the restrooms, and – they each bring a book along! They all sit down on the floor and read until their turn to go in; then they lay their books down near the wall. It also helped me keep track of how many kids were in the restroom (4 at a time, I was told) since I could just count the books. 🙂

Smart aleck award for the week: 5th grader: “WHY am I getting in trouble?” Me (I was a witness): “Because you got out of your seat, walked over to the mirror, did a little dance, distracted several people, completely ignored my instructions and talked.” 5th grader: “I didn’t talk.”   Me: “REEEALLLY?”

Halloween Parade: Kind of fun today to help out with all the kids in the Halloween Parade that went up and down each hallway and through the gym that was full of family members (I was fortunate to find a place to park today!) My favorite costumes (of the hundreds I saw): teacher dressed as a referee carrying a white cane. :), Malificent, several kids dressed as “Minecraft”, a kid with a white t-shirt with a sign attached saying “Error 3003: no costume”. Lots of princesses and super heroes, way too many witches, and a fair assortment of cute animals.

Feeling artistic: Most of the day I wore a beautiful mask that Amy owned. I was at one school monitoring computer lab for the morning and at another being the music teacher for the afternoon. Highlights for me were: the kids were writing spooky stories so I read those that were volunteered, inserting all the drama and expression possible (and far more than they expected). They loved it and so did one of the teachers. I corrected most of the grammatical mistakes as I went along, and in one case, I had to determine where the punctuation went, as the student had not inserted any. My favorite moment was when I got to yell “Boo!” and about ten kids (who were only partially paying attention) jumped in their seats. 🙂 I also received numerous compliments on the sketch I was making while the kids were busy, and in music class I got to sing the national anthem – which, since I sing it with all my heart and great gusto – caused most of the kids to stop singing and listen – so – the second time thru I listened to them sing it. 🙂

Cuteness: I love little kids’ phonetic spelling. “My mom is osom.” 🙂 (This, among others).

Each day went well this week and I really am enjoying being a “Guest Teacher” this year. The best times are when I get to actually teach (part of every day) but just monitoring and running things well is helpful also.