A World of Learning

 Hello again everyone! I got the opportunity to sub at another school this past week, one that I worked at last school year, but this is the first time this school year. I mostly worked with the Kindergarteners and 1st graders this time. I helped two kids finish up their math papers, where they were learning to count squares with dots in them to differentiate between the squares without dots. For instance, there may be 20 squares, but only nine of them will have dots in them. So the kids need to count the squares with dots to find out what the correct answer is. There was one "problem" that confused me, though. There was an image of a christmas tree with birds inside, and two birds outside. I wasn't sure if the kids were supposed to count the birds inside the tree to get the right answer, or count the birds on the OUTside. So I asked the teacher and she said they had to add up all of them. So it was easy for the kids after that.  Another time, I helped a Kindergarten boy ...

 I was tutoring the three-year-old girl I work with yesterday, and we were going through our usual routine of "games" (so they seem to her) teaching her the letters of the alphabet. I was surprised when, out of the blue, she turned to me and said "I love you." It really surprised me! She is so sweet and innocent! Funny, too. Whenever I come to the door, she runs to it shouting, "tutor Tia's here!" She also usually asks me if I have any "canny" (candy), since I give a piece to my students for work well done, with a good attitude.  I can usually only keep her attention for about half an hour, but yesterday we went for an hour! I added some activities, particularly tracing lines and shapes in a dry-erase picture book. As long as I have each learning activity seem like a game, she'll keep at it. She's even learning how to write her name. I always hold her hand, having her hold the pencil correctly, and explain what we're doing step-by...

 No matter how much a student loves a particular subject, or how accomplished they are at it, they always love to take a break for recess! Since I've been subbing at the elementary schools again, I've had times when I was on watching recess duty. I've noticed that the kids play pretty much the same games that I played when I was in elementary school! Kickball, foursquare, tetherball, and soccer. I was great at tetherball when I was about ten years old. Except for the time I swung at the ball, missed, and got hit - smack on the side of my face by the ball! That one stung for sure! But I can have a sort of "recess" in my tutoring sessions as well. I always have a learning game planned for the day, and I cycle through my list of games so the kids don't get bored with one in particular. They really like the "cup game", where I hide words or math equations inside red Solo cups and they have to get three cups right three times without getting "ZONK!...

 Ruby is a fun little girl to work with! We meet once a week, and have the same basic routine every time. She traces some lines and shapes in a dry erase book , then plays a game with me where we take turns picking a plastic letter out of a box and putting them in order on the sheet with the alphabet on it. Then she gets to draw a picture, and I help her write her name. I use the plastic letters again and mix up the letters in her name. She is getting really good at putting them in the correct order!  I also think it's adorable the way she sings the ABC song ! So I thought I'd share a little video of her with you!

 One of the families that I tutor for has a great calendar for kids hanging up on the wall in their study space! It has clear pockets for changing the month, year, and days, showing the days of the week from Sunday to Saturday. I think it's a really great thing to have! It shows the date numbers on large squares, so they are easily seen. The kids I tutor are learning to keep track of what day of the week it is, what the date is, and any special events that will happen during that month. If (when!) I become an actual teacher, I will definitely have one of these in my classroom if I'm teaching any of the younger grades. 

 I'm not only a reading tutor, I'm also a sub paraeducator for the school district where I live. I subbed 7 times last school year, but today was my first day this year! There are four elementary schools in my town, and I was subbing at the one right next to my church. I've subbed there before, but unlike last year, I didn't know any of the kids until I saw one boy at recess that I used to tutor before he decided he wanted to go to public school instead of homeschool. He smiled at me and I gave him a high five. It was good to see him standing with some other boys and looking happy.  Last school year, I spent a lot of time overseeing recess, lunch, or the bus line. But today I spent the first half of the day with one boy (who didn't want to do anything he was told), then the second half of the day with another boy who just needed someone to keep him focused. He was a fourth grader, and we worked on several different subjects together.  That is what I truly enjoy - wo...