Another Special Wednesday

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about a special event I got to attend with the class of 2nd graders I sub for on Wednesdays. Last week I got the chance to do another special event.
I remembered hearing that the 2nd grade had a field trip coming up and I even collected money for the trip on my previous sub days. I just never made the connection that the trip was on a Wednesday and that I would get to go! I showed up like any other Wednesday in my warm-ups (the faculty has a "Warm-Up Wednesday" theme for January and February). One of the teachers I saw in the hallway made a comment about being jealous of me that day. I said, "Why?" "Because if the field trip!" she replied. OH SNAP!! All of a sudden I got really nervous (and I really wished I had know so I could have worn the "field trip" attire of jeans and a school shirt!) and ran down to the classroom to look over the teacher's note.
She had it laid out pretty well for me with all the paperwork I needed in a bag with some tissues and hand sanitizer. All I had to do was pick up lunches for 3 students, meds for 2 students and turn in the money for our new student if he brought it in (he did). I found a box to put all the lunches in (we were having lunch at the park after the "event") and read off the buddy list. I had one student absent which meant I was responsible for 21 children that were not my own. After a cursory (but very serious) talk about our expected behavior, we headed out for the bus.
"Where did we go?" you ask! We went to see the Berenstain Bears in Family Matters at the local college auditorium. At first I thought it was performed by the college theater department but later found out that it is a travelling nationwide show. It was so good! It is a musical that takes three of the Berenstain Bears books and combines them into one show. The kids loved it, and so did I. If you get the chance to see it where you live, I highly recommend you take the opportunity. Click the link to find out more about the show.
Afterwards, as we were leaving, I ran into a dilemma. Here I was with 21 students and only 1 parent chaperon! And it was a DAD! So he took my boys to the restroom for me but I had no one to take my girls! After scrambling around and finally "borrowing" some moms from another class, I got 8 of my girls who needed to go off to the restroom. Then the usher lady came over and asked me why I wasn't leaving yet. I told her I had students in the restrooms still. She huffed and left. She came back a few minutes later and asked me if they were back yet. I told her they weren't and she suggested I send my class on with someone else and go wait for my girls in the lobby. Umm, let me think, NO!
"Ma'am, I was standing right here when they left and I will be standing right here when they come back. I am responsible for these children and I take that very seriously." I told her. She left again and tried to get some of the other classes moving along. You see, I wasn't the only one waiting for kids. Now I realize there was another performance and kids to come in and all that, but did she really expect me to just leave and hope my kids could find me wherever I ended up? We did leave just a couple minutes later after my 8 girls returned with their borrowed moms. Then it was off to the park.
I'm not sure who was in charge of the field trip, but the park they chose wasn't the best decision in my opinion. It's a nice enough park and certainly big enough for the 14 classes we had with us. However, the first thing the kids wanted to do was play on the very enticing playground equipment. Unfortunately, the teachers had been instructed NOT to let the classes play on it because with so many kids, there just wasn't enough room. Try explaining that to 21 7 and 8 year olds!! Also, since I was a sub and didn't know better, I hadn't brought any jump ropes or sidewalk chalk or toys like the other teachers had. So we ran a lot of relays and played tag. The kids had a great time and at the end of the day, all 21 of them were safely returned to school. When all is said and done, that's all that really matters.
I continue to enjoy my Wednesdays with my class. This week's Wednesday happens to be the 100th day of school so we have some "100" activities. 2nd grade doesn't make as big a deal of it as 1st grade does though. Clay's class brings in collections of 100 things and has a special snack. Clay is bringing in 100 legos that spell out 100 on a lego board. Only about 75 more days to go!!