Working Girl...and it was tough!!

I have just spent 4 days as a substitute teacher in a Kindergarten class at Koko Head School (only in Hawaii)!! I finally completed all the friggin' paperwork that it took just to be a sub and within a day or two I was called for my first job. I worked last Weds., Thurs., Fri., and today (monday) and it was a challenge, but a lot of fun!

The schools here are so different than the ones on the "mainland", as everyone here calls the continental U.S. As you can see in the picture above, all the classrooms are in long buildings that open up to the outside with big double doors...that is the only way in and out of the classroom...there are no hallways, more like sidewalks! Two things really shocked me...I had 24 kindergarteners and NO aide!! That is totally against the law in every other state (Georgia's K max w/out an aide is 18, I think). Yep, it was just me and 24 5 year olds, so I thought! I learned on Thursday that the cut off date for entering kindergarten is December 1st here, so actually I had 16 five year olds and 8 FOUR year olds. One of those had a #2 accident today that WAS NOT pretty!! This is why I never taught kindergarten!!

The other big shocker is that there is NO air conditioning in the entire school (yes, this is Hawaii!). I had to come in every morning and use a 6 foot window opening pole to pry open all those slatted windows that you see in the picture...and the ones covering the whole back wall!! Seriously, the window opening AND closing every afternoon, was a job in itself! It is so hot during the day that the kids are lethargic and whiny and they get to bring their own waterbottle in each day, which is a management nightmare! Did I mention that there are no screens on the windows and we keep the doors open all day too for ventilation...do you see where this is going? Most of you probably know of my bird "phobia". A bird( and there are plenty around) could have just swooped in to the classroom at any moment. This was always in the back of my mind. Luckily, none flew in, although a few hopped in the door looking for crumbs...but the kids scared them away for me.

The kids really were good for me though and it was fun working with children and in a school again. The class was an amazing "melting pot"...kids from all, over the world. It took me untill today to get most of the names right! Speaking of names...In Hawaiian culture most kids call adult women that are close to them "Auntie" (an-tee). So instead of Mrs. Hogan, which I was excited to try on for size, I was called Auntie and just plain "teacher" most of the time...lovely. Another funny thing...ALL the kids and teachers (awesome!) wear flip-flops everyday. BUT, here they call them SLIPPERS!! The kids all take them off and leave and lose them everywhere! Everytime I said, "whose flip-flops are these?", all the kids would laugh at me and be sure to correct me...it's like they've never heard the words flip flops!!

Overall, it was a good experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again...after I take some days off to recooperate!! Below is a cute pic. of Jayden, Kalani and Sunny giving the Aloha sign. Please note that Kalani's T-shirt gives simple instructions to all of us...and I agree: LISTEN TO BOB MARLEY!!
~Elizabeth (obviously!)