back to subbing

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend visiting Ehren's brother and family in the Cities.  Just nice, relaxing time and had a lot of fun visiting with everyone at Ehren's aunt Grace's family for a Thanksgiving meal.

We got home last night and I was kind of hoping for a day to myself where I could get stuff done at home, get some Christmas decorations out and stuff.  Plus I was a bit under the weather with a cold coming on so a restful day sounded great.  But, as I was getting the kids some breakfast I got a phone call to sub for a Kindergarten teacher.  Of course I said yes.  A small part of me wanted to say I couldn't but then I've been waiting and waiting to get a call for the Elementary school so I had to go.  And how bad would it be since I already subbed in Kason's class and it went great.

Well, not so much today. :) I know a big part of it was that the kids came back to school after a 4 day weekend but I just wasn't expecting so much wildness.  Most of the class was pretty disruptive, getting into arguments and fights, and the never ending tattle telling.  It doesn't help when I come to the classroom in the morning and there's a 5 page sheet of the instructions for the day which I'm trying to figure out in 10 minutes.  Of course, half of the important assignments according to the sheet I could not find anywhere and had to ask another teacher for help.  So, the day was a bit crazy and chaotic and I just thought how the Kindergarten teachers must be saints for sure.  I was relieved when towards the end of the day we got most of the things on the list accomplished and no kids got hurt. :)

But then the last few minutes of the day were crazy.  I thought I gave the kids enough time to put all their winter gear on but when you have 10+ kids that you need to stand over or else they will not even begin to get dressed it is a nightmare.  There were at least 3 boys that if I didn't physically put their snowpants, boots, coats and mittens on for them they would be still sitting there now.  So, I got them all lined up according to the bus schedule, with the kids that were going to be picked up first, then some staying for afterschool program and so on.  In the meantime the kids kept coming out of their line, push and shove each other so it was a bit crazy.  I walk out of the building with a long line of 5 year olds following me and getting on 10 different buses or so.  When we're half way done, I call out the names of kids for a particular bus and an extra boy is heading that way.  I ask his name and of course, he's one of the kids that should have stayed after school for a booster club.  Phew, I had him hold my hand and back to school we went after all the kids boarded the bus safely.  And, when I got to the classroom I found out another girl got on the bus that should have stayed too. :)  Just things like that you don't realize how much the teachers have to deal with.  This particular teacher had someone die in her family unexpectedly and she took the next 2 days off too.  Which means 2 more days with the same class.  I sure hope I'm able to calm them down better tomorrow.  The one thing that worked was when I would either read a book out loud to them or else we would use the smart board for something so if they're wild again tomorrow I may have to read a lot of books. :) 

But at one point during the day when the kids had their free activity time, some girls were working on writing their letters to Santa.  One girl was finishing up her letter and with a smile she said to me "my mom will know what I wrote." I'm thinking sure, she's going to know because you're bringing these letters home but another girl interrupted my thought saying "her mom is in Heaven".  I was stunned for a moment, mostly because of how calm and peaceful this girl was about her mom being in Heaven.  A little 5 year old girl that might never have that "mom" person in her life.  And so many times her teacher is the closest one to being her mom.  So in the midst of the crazy and chaotic day it really hit me and it sure changes the prospective of a "bad" day. :)

When I got home today, in the middle of making dinner I dug out just one Christmas decoration - an Advent wreath.  I lit the first candle and it was good.  I hope there are many moments like this when  I pause and remember what and who is really important in my life.