My Day As a Kindergarten Assistant

I've been here before, right?  I've been an assistant in a kindergarten classroom.  Sure, but not in a public school.  Well, today I was.  

I was in a great, small, suburban district. A place I would LOVE to become a full time teacher and live happily ever after.  Since the substitute assistants get paid the same amount as a regular substitute teacher, it makes sense to take this kind of job.  They get to see me more.  They get to come to love me faster.  They want to hire me so that I am always there.  That's the general plan.

I got to spend some of my time interacting with the kindergartners.  I got to lead them through a graphing activity about pets. (these kids have a LOT of pets!)  I got to finish an activity where they were sharing journals they had worked on earlier. I also got to spend time copying, cutting, and stamping. Prep work.  

The real fun of my day came during recess time.  I haven't ever done recess duty at this school, before so I wasn't quite sure of their specific playground rules.  After hearing one of the teachers tell some boys to come out of an area, I watched them go right back into the area.  I called them out of there.  The sweetest looking child proceeded to tell me, "You're not the boss of me." Did I hear you right? Come on over here and we will have a talk about your disrespect little first grader.  I set him straight and sent him on his way.  A little later this same angel and his cohort were jumping from a high wall.  I marched him over to his teacher.  

During lunch recess, I was in a different section of the playground.  Again, there was a section that was a kid magnet.  A section that was, of course, off limits.  Several boys were told several different times to get out of that area by me and another adult.  Right before recess was over, this boy started walking towards this area.  I started walking towards him (since I was too far away and wasn't going to yell) and shook my head no in an exaggerated way.  He saw me and kept walking.  When I got close enough for him to hear me I called him over.  Just as he got to me, someone blew the whistle that signified the end of recess time.  He started to walk away.  I said, "I don't think so.  You need to talk to me."  He got very snippy and started to walk away.  I told him to stop.  He kicked dirt at me. 2nd grade.  2nd.

My kids live for these stories.  They want me to work in Kindergarten so I will come home with entertaining stories for them.  Like the Puddin' Head Story from when I was in Pre-k.  Wait 'till I tell you that one...