First Day of School

At 8:10 am Friday morning I received a call from the Substitute Coordinator for BSD (Bellingham School District). She was calling me to tell me that I was qualified to sub and that she need me to cover a 4th grade class. I said yes, how do I get there???????

Mind you I did not bring a car so I had to figure it out on my bike. Luckily Sunday Robby and I found a trail that took me to that side of town so I generally knew how to get there with out having to sidewalk it on major roads. Once I got past the previously ridden trail then I had to hop on the side walk but luckily the next road I had to turn on had a bike lane :). So I am riding and then all of a sudden there was a hill, no a mountain that I had to climb up. Okay it was not that bad but it reminded me a lot of the climb on Futral Road just a little bit longer.

So, by 9:00am after getting ready and riding over I made it to Northern Heights Elementary. Brand new school (or at least only a couple of years old.) About 430 students. I felt like I was in a whirlwind. I was late and class had already started. Today was Friday, Economy hour day (which the kids were soooooo excited and obsessed about), and talkative. Later that day when I talked to the other 4th grade teachers they made comments that the class I just subbed for was verrrrrrryyyyyyy challenging! By the end of the day I felt like I had better control of them but at first I felt lost and even questioned what in the world I was doing there.

So, some differences I noticed.
1. Recycle bins everywhere.
2. Lunch - I just dropped them off at the lunch room and then I had from 12:30 - 1:05 to do whatever, eat, work....
3. Recess - The bell rung at 10:00 and kids just went outside, to the gym, or stayed in the room with me for the 15 minutes. Don't worry they hire monitors for that time to watch the playground.
4. Computers - the teacher had 8 in her room and then there was a lab that we went to at the end of the day.
5. Technology was abundant. The teacher had a projector that was connected to an overhead camera that was used to put things on the whiteboard.
6. Specials was about the same. I would have liked to stay but the teacher left me a project to do while they were at PE. (The gym was nice though.)

By the end of the day I was exhausted but I knew it was all down hill on the way home. I have homework to do though. I need to map out routes to all of the elementary schools.

I have sub orientation Nov. 14th. I think they were desperate for subs on Friday that is why I got a call yesterday before I had even filled out the final paper work and gone through orientation. Someone at the school told me that is a good thing if they are calling me. :)