Belle Plaine

Last night, I got a text message around 9:30pm (from the MLC graduate who was going to be the long-term sub for Mrs. M before we knew she would be back) asking if I was free to sub in a 5-6th grade classroom at Trinity in Belle Plaine. She was subbing somewhere else and the school had exhausted all other options and were desperate. 

My plan had been to spend the day tidying our house to prep for hosting our church small group (like a bible study, but we talk about Pastor's sermon and then pray for each other), but I can do that after school, plus G could tidy before going to work, so, I said yes. 

Thankfully the principal was still awake and responded quickly to my texts. Arrive at school at 7:30, students arrive at 8, school ends at 3:10. Okie dokie. 

It was a very early morning... It's a 50min drive, and I left home at 6:30am to make sure I was on time. When I arrived at 7:20, the door was locked as I had suspected. I found out later the principal had arranged for another teacher to keep an eye out for me at 7:30, but since I was early she wasn't watching. Thankfully a student saw me and let me in. The school isn't very big, so I found the 5-6th grade room fairly quickly. 

No sub plans on the desk. There was a pile of student worksheets for the day, and after further examination of the room I found their assignment board filled out and the order of subjects written on the board. I figured I could teach based off that. I poked around for the teacher's manuals to familiarize myself with their curriculum. 

A few other teachers popped in to say hello. The kindergarten teacher recognized my last name... her son is the 5-6th grade teacher at Risen Savior, the school attached to our church! The principal found me too; he had additional plans with detailed notes for the day from the 5-6th grade teacher. Nice. That definitely made the day smoother. 

The kids have been good today. I made sure to crack down on anything sketchy right away. A few tried to be sneaky with games on their computers during worktime. There were lots of quizzes, worktime on projects, and studying for upcoming tests. I basically only taught catechism and 6th grade math. 

One cool thing this teacher has is an economic system. He has a set aside class for it on Friday. Along with that, he pays his students 'salaries' for doing their class jobs for the week. They can earn 'money' for doing jobs and write checks to him and to other classmates for various things. One girl sold her classmates Oreos for class cash. And if they misbehave or are irresponsible with items, they receive a fine. At the end of the year they can use their remaining money to buy actual stuff. Pretty neat! It definitely helps them learn money usage!