Lunch Counts and Attendance Annoy Me!

Today was just a normal day of subbing. That's not really true. There are no normal days of subbing, but it was at least a day that didn't screw with my head for a week. I was back at the school where I started this year. I subbed in a 3rd grade classroom.

No real problems, but these kids wanted to talk and talk and talk (and probably talk some more after that). I need to think of some more effective ways of controlling the talkers---other than threatening to take away recess or putting a name on the board. I'll gladly accept any suggestions that any of you might have out there.

My gripe with subbing today is attendance and lunch counts. I hate doing it! Attendance isn't really that bad, you just call out a name and listen for a voice to say "here". The only problem with attendance is trying to pronounce several new names. I didn't really notice it last time I was at this school, but there is a very large Muslim population---so it made for lots of names that were new to me, and names with lots of vowels. I also had 3 Mohammeds in a single class.

Lunch count is the thing that causes me more trouble. There are too many options---a student might be absent, a student might pack their lunch, a student might buy an extra lunch. Then there is the complication of free lunches, reduced lunches, and full price lunches. Once you get through that whole mess, you have to try and collect lunch money. Most of the schools I teach at, even the full price students don't have lunch money---I hate this part of the day because I feel that I am interrogating the students about their family's finances. It is none of my damn business.

I read "The Gruffalo" to the class today, and they all loved the story. Definitely one I should add to my regular collection for read alouds.

I'm not sure when my next sub assignment is, but you will hear the story as soon as I return.