Second Grade Shenanigans

Once again, an early morning call for an extended day in second grade.  I've been in this class before, I recognize the faces as they wait for me in the gymnasium.  I haven't seen them since just before January, but still they greet me with a smile, a wave, and a "Good morning Ms. Pleasant!"  I've been told before by many other teachers that this is the most difficult class at the school.  Why would they say that to a substitute teacher?  And why would they want to classify students that way to someone who enters the classroom with no preconceived generalizations.  In my time substituting this year, I have yet to find a "bad child" - I've met some children who speak out indiscriminately, some who have difficulty in focusing, some who disrupt and who complain about completing work, but I have not yet encountered a child who is behaving in a way that I would describe as "mean."   On a different note, however, I will say that this second-grade class had the largest percentage of children who pick their noses than any other class I have encountered.  I couldn't count the number of times I had to suggest they help themselves to a tissue and that they wash their hands before returning to the group.  OH MY!
     We began the day with morning work - they worked independently on comparing and contrasting things they might do on a winter school day and on a summer vacation day.  I later recognized that this simple exercise was to put them in the mind set of their ELA work - comparing and contrasting a toad and a frog, and comparing and contrasting the life cycle of a frog and that of a grasshopper. 
   I love that second graders enjoy being read to.  They listen quietly, they ask questions, they LOVE sharing information on their home life and things they've been doing.  Morning share had them telling classmates what they would be doing during April vacation next week.  Once sweet little boy told us he really wouldn't be doing anything, because he would be in Florida next week!  One girl would be going to Hampton Beach (in the April chill!), two would be shopping with their own money, and one young boy said he would be going to Florida and hoped to find his classmate while he was there!  A good way to start the day before they headed off to their art class.
      I had 45 minutes in which to prepare for the rest of the day. In addition to the compare/contrast work on toads, frogs and grasshoppers, we had math work to do.  Some students left the classroom while others took a test.  When finished, we had a rousing round of flash card work to do!  The kids seem to LOVE this quick work - I started them off easy, asking each to take their time and answer the card before we began the "competition" part.  I don't much care for posing one student against the other, but actually, I've seen that every child has an opportunity to shine.  The kids never know which problem will appear and answers may come more quickly to some students than to others. I've seen that all of the students enjoy cheering each other on.  And, it lets them blow off some steam.  When it was time for us to move on to the next subject block, I told them we would move on when someone was able to take the place of the last player ( in effect, if they could beat her to the answer).  This quick thinking, quick calculating student had a pretty good run going.  But, after coming up on the plus side against 9 students, she was suprisingly beat by another little girl - the class erupted with cheers for both girls, the one who answered correctly and the one who didn't answer - and the girls were cheering and laughing and hugging each other for a game well-played.  What a great way to end our math work.
     I love the time at the end of the day, after their afternoon snack and just before they pack up to go home.  They have read aloud time where the techer is reading to them from a chapter book (or at least they've had that while I've been there).   Today they were reading Beezus and Ramona - ONE OF MY FAVORITES!  We don't only read, we stop every now and then and talk about what they are understanding - what certain behaviors may mean or how they would feel if they were in similar situations.  A nice, quiet ending to the day.
     Best words of the day came from little "Ashton", who spent part of the day in the Rest Stop because he had difficulty transitioning to having a substitute teacher.  He stopped me at the end of the day and said " Ms. Pleasant, I went from having a really bad start to my day to having a really good day after all!"  He certainly put a smile on my face as I said goodbye!