It should go without saying....organizing 22 second graders on a Friday in a week that has had a lot of rain requires a great deal of patience and energy.
I recognized the class (my 4th repeat performance) as I walked up to meet them on the playground. "Good morning, Ms. Pleasant" they said as we head in down the hall toward the classroom. Today is stuffed crust pizza day (or tuna salad), although there is still a good number of kids who bring in their own lunch. As I organize attendance and lunch choice, the kids start working on their Morning Work ...We go over it together.
There are complaints as we head to the gym for their first Encore class - few are excited about Tae Kwon Do...I love to watch them put on their black uniforms and tie their belts - white, yellow, and only a few blue. No shoes or socks allowed. This is a busy class and for some reason, they listen attentively to this instructor as he hollers out instructions. They answer in unison, bowing their heads, showing respect for his leadership. Rats! Is that what it takes? I head back down to the classroom and get prepared for their next lesson.
Morning meeting is an important part of the day. If the substitute doesn't have a handle on all of the details, its easy to be derailed by the second-grade students as they tell you what you should be doing. "No, we do the calendar BEFORE we put the stickers on the chart that counts how many days in school. " "No, Raymond had a turn yesterday, the teacher said I could have a turn today." "No, he had his Share Turn yesterday, he doesn't get to go again today." Phew, I usually answer with "I know I do things differently than Ms. X, but that's okay - its just different. If I make a mistake I will apologize, but you need to let me decide how we will do it." They seem to think that's okay. Especially as we're playing Around the World Math Facts and I have to decide which one of them gave the first answer - I asked them to bear with me and they do. One nice thing about second graders is that they don't sass you back as easily as sixth graders will.
There are cheers all around (even from me!) as the intercom announces that it will be OUTSIDE recess today. Too many rain days to keep them inside and they're eager to run in the wet grass and stomp in some puddles. They head off for recess and lunch and I'll see them in 45 minutes. As I pick them up from lunch and we head back to the classroom I can already tell it's going to be a long afternoon. Before we even hit the classroom I'm hearing tales of so-and-so pushing someone down and whats-his-name was spoken to for hitting someone...And then, the yawning begins, a few heads go down on the desks, some students are talking instead of reading, and some students can't seem to sit in their seats. You know its not going to be good when you look into the eyes of a little second-grade student and you notice they are staring off into space. Hard to tell how much productive work will get done. Not much is my bet.
We have great discussions around the frog/toad science story and they share interesting stories of their own experience with frogs. We talk about smooth vs. bumpy skin, we talk about groups of eggs vs. chains of eggs. And yes, some of them SWEAR (even though the book says they're only in South America), that they have seen the bright yellow Golden Poison Frog, the most poisonous frog in the world. They tell me they've seen it in the ponds at their parents/grandparents homes. Ya gotta love second graders.
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