On My Own....

I knew going into today that RM was not going to be there. While I was driving in I had the song "On My Own" from Les Miserables stuck in my head for some reason. I got there at 7:25 and got the room all set up for the day. I went over everything RM had left in the sub plans and made sure all my copies and whatnot were made. School starts at 8:00 and the doors open at 7:50. The sub came in at 7:55- she had gotten lost trying to find the school. She was a pleasant lady who retired from the State of Michigan two years ago and was subbing a couple times a week just to keep herself doing something. I ran the show in the classroom. She didn't know the kids or any routines (and had never taught) plus RM expected me to take care of the lessons.
I am happy to say that everything went well today. We had a couple of Chatty Cathys in the room today but they were respectful and I was able to keep the noise level under control.

In math, the lesson I taught was about base-ten number cubes and single cubes. All the students created their names with strips of 10 cubes (paper) and single cubes. Then I had them fill out a paper with how many blocks it took to create their names. The bulletin board has to be changed monthly and this is going to be the material for the new bulletin board. I started that board this evening- Alex took down the paper that was on it and I put up the new paper. I am working on a paper chain to put around it and tomorrow I will cut out the letters for the board. I'm still not too sure what I want it to say- something catchy about names and numbers-- if you have any suggestions please share!

While I was still at school this evening I heard that RM will probably not be there again tomorrow. I'm sure things will be fine if she has to miss again- but it is nice having her there and not being the most experienced person in the room! This evening I'm going to go over some things and make sure I have everything I would need to take care of another day. I wanted to firm up my math plans and review the ELA material to make sure I cover everything. I also need to look and make sure that I have solid plans for Friday since I have to teach at least one thing that I plan each day. This teaching thing is a lot of work!