Kindergarten Part II

At 6:10am I was starting to wonder when I'd get my call.  By 6:20am I figured it might not happen.  By 6:30am I decided I should just get back to sleep because I wasn't getting a call today.  Thankfully at 6:40am I finally got a call to report as a kindergarten aide (for a different class than last time).  Whew!

Today's kindergarten experience was much different than last week's.  I think I'm going to attribute the difference to the teacher and the kids since it certainly can't just be the teacher.  Today's class was much rowdier, much more disobedient, and less cute.

When I first walked in the teacher was shocked that I was subbing for the aide because the aide is usually never out and almost always calls the teacher to let her know.  She immediately told me about the problem child in their class: a boy who not only hits himself but also others and is an extreme distraction to the class every day.  In my mind all I could think was, "Whoa".  Continuing my streak of luck the boy didn't come to school today so I was spared that source of anxiety.  However, the students in this kindergarten class were always talking over the teacher and moving/shaking/rolling/jumping in their seats.  The teacher had a lot less control over her class and seemed to just let stuff slide a lot.  Perhaps that's just what you need to do with twitchy kindergartners, I don't know.

The day was fine.  They did some math and literacy activities, had morning meeting, and had some free time in class to play.  I took them to lunch and it was madness.  They didn't need as much help as the other class but had a really hard time staying in their seats.  Three of the kids constantly bickered all day long and one of the boys ended up having a tantrum at the end of the day.  I took them up to art class and the teacher had a much better handle on how to control the kids than their regular teacher.  She used a lot of the strategies the other kindergarten teacher (from last week) used and I think the kids respected her more.

I was freaked out that because of my performance with the 7th grade class yesterday I wasn't getting a call but I'm probably over-reacting.  I'm sure I did fine and I definitely didn't cross any lines.