Mrs. Holck is my mom's name!

We have now earned one dime, one nickel and two pennies in my first grade class. That's right, 17 days of being a Teacher's Aid! Here's a day in the life:

I'm sitting in my apartment right now. I just had a salad with roasted red pepper vinaigrette. I'm listening to this random CD that Emily left in the cd player. The sliding door is open and I can hear wind/cars on Wilshire which is less than a block away. Outside my door, I can see three other apartment windows where lights are on (from across the alley).

Today, I went to school at 8:30 (after stopping by Vons to get two LA times). I got the kid's homework out of their folders and stapled the directions of the new homework together. They have to fill out a story chart with setting, character, problem and solution. Then the other first grade aid came in the room and pointed out that they directions say Tuesday instead of Wednesday. My teacher did them a day early and messed up. I feel lame bc I didn't catch the mistake and begin to unstaple all the homework. Go make copies of the new directions ('Instructions for Wednesday's Homework"), and add another staple to each page. I check their reading logs and their homework. Then I cut out the laminated pages of this book they made "At Calvary Christian School...." A girl wrote 'you can't sneak out'. A boy wrote 'you can't litter because it will make the school stink.'

More TA stuff, snack, math centers (Weather books), lunch, recess, then the adventure begins. I was a sub in the afternoon for in kindergarten. Well, yesterday I subbed in the afternoon for my 1st grade class and it didn't go too well. It was my very first time ever having a class all to myself where I wasn't just reading a book. And the kids really worked it. Finally I made one change his card. The crying began. We were running late. So, I did the unthinkable and said I'd change his card back. I still feel terrible for breaking every teacher code ever created and giving the kid what he wanted. But, lesson learned.

So, all the kindergarteners were sitting on the green rug. "Raise your had if you've never had a substitute teacher before." 1/2 of the kiddos raise their hands! Yikes! I'm their first sub EVER! We have a very serious talk about if they behave, they will get 'surf cards' (20 = prize from the office) and each student will get a star (5 = five goldfish crackers!). It goes really well! We talked about how a plant grows, what the parts of a plant are, and what a stem does. Then we started our experiment : dying celery. I'm not sure if I did it right, but they kids where pretty well behaved. When one of the smallest boys was falling behind, he said, ' will I get an F?" and I said, "You're doing a great job, keep writing!", then he said, "So, then I'll get an 'A'!!" "...just keep writing."

Next was my "Newspaper" after-school-program. That was decent, there's 11 2-5 graders and we're making a paper. I think the best story we'll have this time around will be an interview with a teacher who made up a song about beavers.

Tomorrow is Friday, and now I too, like the rest of the world, can say this on Thursday evening: "I'm so excited for the weekend!"

There you have it!