unfortunately...i wasn't ready. i thought i was, but i had no idea of what was about to happen. about a month ago i was called to be a primary teacher for the 5 year olds. it would be an understatement to say that i was apprehensive. jake is a newborn and sometimes a little demanding (should i say high needs), but they assured me that i would have a co-teacher. a couple of days before the first sunday, the co-teacher called and said that she would be unable to be there for the next two weeks. i girded up my loins and although there were some rough spots, we survived. the next week, she was there and i realized how nice it was to have help when i am trying to take care of a newborn and six or so 5 year olds. fast forward to sunday. i was in charge of the lesson and matt was going to be set apart for the new elder's quorum presidency. i planned in my mind to leave primary for 5 minutes or so to attend matt's setting apart, leaving the kids in the capable hands of my co-teacher. well...no co-teacher. i am not sure what happened. maybe one of her kiddos were sick. anyway, after sitting through 1 hour of sacrament meeting and then one hour of sharing time, it was time to have them and jake all to myself and change their lives with an inspirational lesson. a good friend offered to take a somewhat fussy jake (thank you mandi), we had two little visitors (who were cousins) and four of my regular kiddos. the visitors were maybe the best behaved. two of my regular kiddos refused to sit on chairs and instead laid on the ground. my cute little guy wanted to sit on a stack of 4 adult chairs and play with his indiana jones lego guy (complete with whip and hat that kept falling off) - not to mention his desire to run away every time a door opened. my other girl passed around seashells (a great distraction by the way) and entertained us with stories of zack effron, the jonas brothers and building a fort out of a golden plate, diamonds and sticks that she found with her cousins. a little disclaimer for those who might know anyone mentioned in this story - i do love all these kids so much, but it seems like they are easier to love when i have someone helping me.
anyway, (sorry this story is getting long) someone came to watch my class while i ran to matt's thing (which is a story in and of itself). when i came back she seemed maybe a little appalled by my kiddos. she mentioned that we needed to get some of the chairs out of the room. there were stacks and stacks of adult sized and kid sized chairs, but no table. both of the girls were still on the floor, but now one of them was hiding behind my chair and the other one was laying smack dab in the middle of the room. i tried to continue with the lesson, but no one was listening. i used the line "i will just wait until everyone is ready." that doesn't really work on 5 year olds. my little storyteller found this a great opportunity to tell more stories. she had a quiet audience. i was thinking if anything could be any worse...well i guess it could. the before mentioned child laying in the middle of the floor began vomiting. yep. vomiting. and i started gagging. i ran and got help, but now there needed to be like 6 of us. one to clean up, one to take care of the newborn who was now very hungry, one to catch the lego toting run away tot, one to take the girl to the bathroom (that could still vomit more) and clean her up, one to go and get her parent and one to take care of the rest of the kids. what do you do?? someone sprinkled powder on the vomit and then what? i am supposed to take my kids back in there and do what?? anyway, needless to say, i am thinking of changing religions.
Oh Sara!! It was a tough Sunday. I know how it is to not have your co-teacher with you, it gets tough. Jake is soooooooo cute. I forgot how wiggly newborns are.
ReplyDeleteI am laughing! Sounds like my class of 3 & 4 year olds. Thank goodness we take summers off. I found if you treat it like a Play 'n Learn class it works really well. A strict schedule, complete with hand washing, snack gross motor, you know the drill. They really are young to sit for a whole hour.
ReplyDeleteYes Yes! I agree with Vanessa!
ReplyDeleteRead them a Bible/BOM story. Then it's craft time! They can color a picture that goes along with what you read. Next, it's off the the bathroom to wash hands and pee. By the time you get back to the classroom, you'll have just enough time to hand out gold fish and cereal.
Ba-da-bing Ba-da-boom! Problem solved, and class dis-missed!
Thanks for sharing this story Sara! I hope things get better!
oh geez!!! First of all it is IMPOSSIBLE to teach with a baby. The Sunday before Stake Conference Jared couldn't take Hudson, so I took while I taught and he cried the entire time. SO MUCH FUN! I loved it and I think they really got a lot out of the lesson. Sometimes I wish I could give my 2 weeks notice! But once a year or so, there is a good day. So I guess I'll stick around for that.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a fun time. I liked teaching primary until I had my own kids - then it just felt like babysitting someone else's kids. :) I taught when Kenzie was a newborn and I was by myself too.
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