Thursday was: Eventful

I walked into the room feeling perfectly fine. Then, within 5 minutes, I started to freak out. I had stuff that I really wanted to get prepared, and the Sub just kept gabbing. Maybe this Solo Day wasn't going to be a walk in the park.

Sure enough, as the kids were filing into the room for the day, a mother approached me. She was concerned that the girl with autism was getting rough with her son. Her son is one of the sweetest, kindest, most friendly kids in class, and he tries to help get the girl with autism on task, but, often, he ends up getting hit or pushed - AND, because he is so nice, he doesn't really do anything about it. The boy's mom told me that she has tried to talk to the girl with autism, and mother of the girl with autism, but nothing seems to be helping. I told her that I would keep an eye on them both and, if one should arrise, try to cut a situation off at the pass before it escalates into something physical. A few minutes later, the mom went over and spoke to the para of the girl in the wheelchair [the para is also supposed to look after the girl with autism, when the girl in the wheelchair doesn't need assistance], and then STARTED CRYING. Oh, great, 10 minutes into the day, Miles isn't in the building, and I've got a parent IN TEARS. I walked over to her, put an arm around her, told her again that I understood her concern and that I would keep a sharp eye out. What more could I do?

Miles had said that I didn't have to take the kids up to the computer lab after lunch [in place of Math time]. I thought "Oh, let's be daring" and said that I would love the experience. Well, 4 of the computers wouldn't log on properly, half of them didn't have any sound capabilities, I forgot to tell the kids not to touch the computer screens with their greasy fingers, and I didn't show them how to log out. As I was dismissing students to line up at the door ["You don't remember how to log out? Just leave it..."] I overheard some students saying that one of the boys in class had wet his pants. AND, I looked over and saw that a SECOND boy in class had wet his pants. THAT'S TWO KIDS. I immediately felt kind of bad, like, maybe they were too afraid to ask to go to the bathroom [?]. Then, as I was telling one student that I REALLY meant it when I said "Please line up" I looked over at the door and saw the line of students making their way out the door and into the hallway. Yet, I saw that the Substitute, and the para of the girl in the wheelchair, were both still i the Computer Lab with me. Who was leading the kids back downstair to our classroom? I ran out in the hall and around the corner - the kids were walking down the stair by themselves! "Alright! EVERYONE BACK IN THE LAB! I did NOT tell anyone to start walking back to the room!" Eventually, I got everyone outside to recess, and went to the office to have the secretary [who speaks Spanish] call the mother of one of the boys [I had already called the mother of the other boy] so that she could bring a change of clothing. At one point in the phonecall between the secretary and the mom, the secretary turned to me and said, "Did he ask to use the bathroom?" To which I exclaimed, "His mom doesn't think that he asked to go to the bathroom and I wouldn't let him?!?! Does she!?!?" Sure enough, the Principal walked by just then and asked if everything was alright. "Well, no." [Look of horror on the Principal's face] "I mean... everything's OK. There's really no need for you to worry. It isn't anything horrible."

During Science time we talked about THE PRESENT and I sent the students off to draw a picture of something they did that day. "When you are seated at your tables I'll pass out the small sheets of paper..." ... if I can find them. Yeah, I wasn't prepared. I was supposed to have gotten together some 4x6 sheets - I had already pre-cut a bunch for Tuesday [when we talked about THE PAST], but I couldn't find the leftovers. I ran over to the Substitute and whispered to her, with a nervous smile, "Do you know any songs that you could sing with the kids while I cut some pieces of paper...?" Just as she began to sing, I found the missing stack of paper. Crisis narrowly averted.

Oh, I almost forgot that the African-American girl in class, at one point in the day, turned to her neighbor and said, "I just don't like white people." [Yeah, she had to say it on the day that Miles was gone.]