Subbing: the new cardio

Well I survived my first official sub job. It was for my mom and since she is a English as a second language teacher, I just had a few small groups of kids. Better still the 3 and 4th graders were doing some district test so they didn't come at all. So there I sat in my moms room trying to kill an hour. I thought I might be able to catch up on some blogging, but no dice. The district's web filter is pretty tight. I did manage to get a little exercise in. My mom's room and the students' rooms were on opposite sides of the school. Of course, I had to pick up and drop off the kids so I did a lot of walking. I didn't mind, it killed some time and I figure it got the blood pumping.
Sitting in my mom's room did make me miss teaching a little. Well, let me clarify that. I miss the excitement of setting up the room. My mom's room needs help. She has a good start, but it needs the little touches that make a classroom a real learning environment. It took everything in me not to stop and do some teacher shopping on the way home.
A teacher's classroom says a lot about them. I have been in a lot of classrooms and there are some make you want to come and get cozy and others you can't get out fast enough ( I feel sorry for the kids who are stuck in these rooms all day). The classroom should be a haven for learning. Whenever I need my Kindergarten fix, I will google Kindergarten classrooms and check out what other teachers are doing. One thing I've noticed is that the "Dramatic Play" areas are disappearing from classrooms. This is sad. More and more I see Kindergarten turning into first grade. Kids learn through play!! They have the rest of their lives to be chained to a desk. I think it is funny, but a lot of top companies ENCOURAGE their employees to play because it sparks creativity. Oh well, I just hope by the time I go back to the classroom the pendulum will have swung back towards balanced and child based instruction.
Tomorrow I'm back at the fair. I'm there from 10-5 all by myself. I'm bringing Ben's DS to help me stay awake. If you're at the Fair, stop by and say hi I'm in the 4H Pavilion. Yee Ha :0)