Subs and 2-Hour Delays

More firsts this week!

As yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there was no school. Last night, I got an email from my CT (classroom teacher) and he and his son are both sick, so he was letting me know that I would be in the classroom with a sub today. On top of that, the school district declared a 2-hour delay this morning because wind chills were in the negatives. I definitely had no complaints with starting school at 10:30 instead of 8:30! Having a sub, though, made me a little nervous. I wasn't sure that I could handle taking over the entire day--this week I was only supposed to take over the chunks of time through 12:20, right before lunch. But, I am happy to report that it went okay! The sub was extremely nice and was very willing to do whatever; we talked in the morning and decided that I would try teaching everything and that if a lesson went to hell (haha), she'd step in. I'm very happy to report that that did not happen! 

I'm thinking a lot about teaching math, lately. I can do it, but the kids are SO bored, and I just don't feel like I'm doing it right. Math has never been my strong point, and the day simply does not give me enough time for math. Because of the recent push for literacy and improved reading/writing scores, all of the other subjects are pushed to the side. At least math gets its own time slot, though! We usually have to throw social studies and science into the 90 minute reading block somehow, which is hard to figure out at times. But math...we usually have between 30 and 45 minutes for math. That seems like a lot of time until you actually get started. 15 minutes flies by faster than you can blink and then the math period of over before you know it. So now I'm struggling with exciting and engaging ways to teach math with a limited amount of time. Within the next couple weeks, all of the lesson planning, including math, will be handed over to me, so I need to figure this out! 

I still love the kids in this class. They continue to amaze me with their intelligence level and their good behavior. I feel very lucky to have been placed at this school. 
Tomorrow the 3rd grade teachers have a professional development thing all day. We'll all be in the building but not in our classrooms. I'm working on sub plans now, hoping that I don't mess anything up! I'm interested to see how the meeting goes tomorrow; I'm not sure what we'll be talking about but hopefully it's helpful!