Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive

Well, I survived another day with out a "real" teacher in the room.  Mrs. J took one of her sons on a college visit, leaving me in charge of the classroom (under the supervision of a sub).  Yesterday, when she told our 4th graders they would have a sub because she was going to be gone, one of the girls commented, "But why do we need a sub? Miss Heintz is a good enough teacher."  Then we had to explain that the rules say only people who are finished with school can be in charge in a classroom.

The day was going fine until lunch.  My voice was doing all right, the students were listening to me, we were staying on schedule... then a student stopped me before I walked into the lunch room, "Miss Heintz, there's a hat in the toilet." 
"What? How did it get there?" 
"Well, _______ threw it in."  So I waited outside the bathroom for this particular student.  When he came out, I confronted him, "I hear something interesting happened in the bathroom just now. Can you tell me about it?" 
The student said, "Well, we were just playing and I put his hat on his head and when he leaned over, it fell in the toilet." 
"Okay, so then what happened?" 
"Well I said sorry and helped him dry it off."  So I sent him off to lunch and waited for the student who owned the hat.  The stories didn't match.  This student said that the first student grabbed his hat and thew it in the toilet on purpose.  A few questions later, I sent him in to eat lunch.  Oh what a day for Mrs. J to be gone!

I talked to the other 4th grade teacher who said I should keep him in from recess and have him write an apology letter.  So I went out and asked the student to meet me in the classroom after lunch.  I found him waiting outside our classroom.  We went in, sat down, had a chat about what happened.  He denied it.  I asked him to write an apology letter.  After five minutes, he was finished and (after I approved his words) I let him out for recess. 

But this was not the end!  School was out for the day and I stood in the hallway surveying my students gearing up for the outdoors.  A little girl walked up to me with the sub and told me that a boy in my class had pushed her older sister down and called her the f-word.  It just so happened to be the same student I'd reprimanded earlier.  Wonderful.  And he disappeared before anyone could talk to him.  So now I have that to deal with before school tomorrow. 

On a lighter note, my science lesson went very well today.  I had been showing them pictures of a ruminant animal's stomach (a cow) and some 4th graders were getting a bit squeamish.  I told them they could put their heads down on their desks if they needed to.  These pictures actually had the opposite effect on other students.  One boy shouted out, "Looking at these pictures makes me kind of hungry!"  I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.