I have some fabulous root beer drinking reindeer things to share with you – but first . . .

Unhappy Classroom Visitor

I’ve been sick. Had to leave early on my prep PLC day Thursday {prep time? what prep time? Do you guys do PLC instead of prep nowadays?}. I HATE LEAVING EARLY ON DAYS WHEN I CAN FINALLY GET A FEW THINGS DONE. But seriously, I couldn’t hold my head up. So Friday I was out.

So this morning I walked in and said hi to my co-workers and got “Oh, thank goodness you’re here. That sub! Oh. She was something.”

I opened the door to greet my kiddos… “Yay. You’re here!” {Ah. So sweet.}

In the classroom I noticed the behavior chart was heavy in the lower end of things. Not good. The kids were going on and on about their horrible Friday. “The sub made Ana cry!” Oh no. Sweet Ana?

“And everyone who had received a warning had to sit out at recess.” That was like 15 of you. “WE KNOW!”

“She was so mean. Why did you make her be the substitute?”

I didn’t. We can no longer pick our subs. I have several absolute favorite subs that I haven’t seen in years. Due to the economy and all the layoffs in our district, we are assigned a sub according to the list of RIF’d teachers. {I couldn’t even pick my long-term sub last year when I was out for MONTHS. The one they sent worked out fine, but seriously? There are several subs that we’ve worked with for years and completely know the routine in our 1st grade rooms…. it would have been so much easier. Whatever.}

A few of these teachers subbing now are not particularly fond of ancy… oh.my.goodness.its.almost.Christmas 5-8 year olds (YEP… had one turn 8 today!) These kiddos are chatty. A couple of them can NEVER stay in their seat. They can drive me absolutely batty. But seriously – their day sounded like torture. The mama bear in me was all riled up. The kids were so sad. I had a collection of pictures, cut-outs and cards from those kiddos expressing their deep sadness that I had taken ill. They were traumatized. I always tell my kids being a sub is the hardest job because every day you have to work somewhere else, with all new kids, different grade levels and different rules… so be EXTRA nice and don’t tell them what to do. Of course, I really appreciate how hard being a sub can be. I was a sub. It’s tough. All I have to say is, don’t accept a job working with wee ones if you aren’t too fond of them. That’s all.

Grrrr!

Reindeer Games

Ok. So beer drinkin’ reindeer. Have you all bought this yet?

Sweet Sarah over at First Grader at Last recently added it to her blog and TPT store. SO DANG CUTE. If you haven’t purchased it yet go grab it while you can still use it this month!

I Hate Beer

My absolute favorite part is the “If you Give a Reindeer a Root Beer” book activity. We read If You Take a Mouse to the Movies…

…and then I passed out the little root beer drinking reindeer mini-book. As soon as I set it down in front of Little-Angel-Who-Usually-Makes-My-Day she says, “EW BEER! I hate beer!”
Ah, no. “Honey, it’s root beer. It’s like soda.”

That got me nowhere. She leans over to her neighbor. “That’s gross! I hate beer.”

He just looks at her. “Root beer is yummy.”

I continue passing papers wondering why in the world I didn’t remember to pick up root beer on my way to work this morning. DUH. Well, she just couldn’t get over it and really didn’t want to color root beer in her glass on the reindeer project. “Can’t I just do lemonade?” Honey, the book he is holding in his other hand/hoove is called “If You Give a Reindeer a Root Beer”. It won’t make sense if you color it like lemonade. “But I hate beer.” IT’S NOT BEER… IT’S ROOT BEER chorused most of the class.

“Honey,” I reminded her, “It’s a kind of soda”. She wasn’t buying it. It was kinda hilarious.

Root Beer Drinking Reindeer

Anyway. The project turned out so cute. The kids loved it. I made the reproducibles so I could just photocopy the body parts and have the kids cut them out. Sarah said she wouldn’t mind if I shared them with you. So if you’re interested, {here} they are.

Seriously, if you haven’t grabbed the Reindeer Games pack from First Grader at Last, you’ve gotta do it. There’s all kinds of adorable reindeer stuff in there and this activity was quick, required them to use some prediction skills, and loads of fun.

So, do you go “All Mama Bear” when adults are mean to your kiddos? What’s the sub situation like in your district?