I could have subbed the entire first week of the New Year had I
had stamina for Kinders or middle school P.E. classes. Instead, I started the
New Year with two days of 4th graders.
The most common question I get when kids enter the room for the first
time is: “Where is Ms/Mr teacher?” This class was no exception
First girl through the door: “Where is Ms H?”
Me: I’ll answer that question when everyone gets
settled, ok?
Earlier in my short career as a substitute teacher, I’d just tell
them that I don’t know why their teacher had to be away for the day. Sometimes
I DID know, but I didn’t feel that it was my job to give out any details that the
teacher might or might not care to share with the students.
Lately, I’ve gotten a bit more creative, especially around this
age group of kids (8-10).
Me: Your teacher is not here today because
she is on an assignment.
Door girl: Assignment? What’s that?
Me: It is supposed to be a secret, but your
teacher is a CIA agent and “teacher” is just her undercover job. She was sent out
on an important mission for today and tomorrow!
Random Kid: What?
Me: It’s true! She’s a secret agent for the
CIA. That stands for “Candy Interception Agency”. Her secret mission is to track down and stop the smuggling
of illegal “blue lollipops” into the country. She had a tip that a giant box of them was
coming this morning at the airport and had to go investigate.
At this point, they know (at least I hope so) that I was having a
bit of fun but they seemed interested in the “yarn”.
Random Kid: But lollipops aren’t illegal! We have them
lots of times.
Me: Ahhh. But were any of them BLUE?
The room went quiet and I could almost hear them thinking about colors.
Ummm, green, yellow, red, orange …blue?
Confident Kid: But, I’ve had blue ones before!
Me: Really? What flavor was it?
NowNotSoConfident Kid: Ummmmm…
Me: See! Think about it. What flavor IS blue?
Very few people have had a blue lollipop because they are illegal in the United States.
“While you think that over, let’s get to work. The first item on
the lesson plan is a practice spelling test. Get a piece of binder paper and
number it from 1-20 with your name at the top…”.
Now, the standard procedure for spelling tests in elementary
school is for the teacher to:
1.
Clearly
pronounce the word
2.
Use
the word in a sentence
3.
Repeat
the word.
Of course all the sentences used for this spelling test were going to have to incorporate the phrase “blue lollipop” somehow. When I
occasionally failed to come up with a sentence with “blue lollipop”, one or
more of the kids suggested one for me.
…now that I think about it, what flavor IS blue?
8 comments:
usually blue raspberry, or cotton candy..... I might have to try that CIA with some of the bus kids....
What Mr. Bus Driver said!
Cotton Candy? Blue Raspberry? Coconut? Mint? -- Loved the story!
Definitely blue raspberry.
When I was subbing, I would usually tell students that their teacher decided to go to Hawaii, and I told them to be sure to ask all about it when their teacher got back! I got some pretty interesting emails from some teachers whose students really DID ask how the trip to Hawaii was. (Keep in mind, I was subbing in East Central Illinois.)
I once did ten weeks for a teacher and he left me a coded message for the kids to decipher which ended up telling them that he was a famous rapper and had gotten a recording deal in Uzbekistan and that he'd be back once the fame got too much.
Blue lollipops would leave them thinking though... I'm sure you're one sub they never forget.
Yes, blue raspberry. Don't you find that when you make up silly sentences for spelling tests, practice or real, the kids lose focus and have to comment on each one? I've stuck to boring sentences lately because if I use the word in a question, kids will answer it, if I use their name in a sentence, it's chaos.
Rasberry.
Raspberry.
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