Ms. A/ 'liya

Job # 2 is almost 1 week over. The kids in my class don't call me Ms. XX they call me Ms. ''liya or Ms. A or sometimes even just 'liya. The girl I'm working with introduced me as 'liya, which is okay with me.. but I really do like how Ms. XX sounds. Sometimes it's good to ask people what they prefer but not everyone is so considerate. "Sigh." She's okay, I find her kind of bossy and I don't like her teaching style... oh well what can I do.. I think the kids like me better anyway :)

My class is quite crazy. There are 28 students in it: 3 girls, 1 girl who i thought was a boy for the first 2 days, and 24 boys. 24 BOYS. 24 NOISY BOYS. And, with 24 NOISY BOYS it's hard to think. There's no time to breath. Half of the 24 boys are very cute and innocent looking. The other half are still innocent looking but very bad. It's hard to tell and I have trouble yelling at them because all I really want to do is take them in my arms and hug them. Though if I hear one more "I have to go to the bathroom" I might scream....

It's a grade 2 class at St. Veronica, a rather nice and new school where we were finally supplied with sharp pencils and paper to write on today. The kids are actually grade 1 students who are trying to get ahead for grade 2 next year. It's a good concept pairing math and language arts with fun and games but we have to follow a schedule which is good and bad. We've already been on one trip which was for bowling where the kids had a ball and I felt like a ball hit me in the head. It's funny but out of all the classes and grades, my class was paired with my brother's class to sit with on the bus. He's in the grade 6 class and I thought we'd never be at school at the same time together in my life ever because of our age difference. I've been proven wrong. Another coincedence - my brother's teacher went to Turner! I didn't even know who she was but she said I looked familiar and we started talking and there you go, she's even in my year! Small world.

I like being a teacher on my own. I love having my own classroom. I think the kids like me... the parents seem happy. Because the curriculum is already set for us it's really easy, we just go in, follow the assignments and help the kids. There's no preparartion, only marking, but it's easy marking. Like upper and lower case letters :) Each period is 40 minutes and I start at 8:30 and end at 5:00. Even though my first job payed slightly more, this one still pays pretty well and I like the benefits of such great expereince and such a close location. St. Veronica is a 5 minute drive from my house (It's a brand new school in Mississauga) and I really enjoy waking up at the last possible minute.

Each day basically includes: math, language arts, computer lab, indoor gym, outdoor activity, games room (pool, babyfoot soccer, hockey etc), board games room (Monopoly, Guess Who etc) lunch, the game of the week, snack - unless there's a trip which means either all or half day. It's so incredibly organized and there's always something to do. Tomorrow we're going to Ontario Place. I think it will be a nice change and I'm prepared for being outdoors in the hot sticky weather since job#1 prepared me enough for that.But still, I hope it's not too too hot. Having 28 kids breathing down my neck is hot enough.