Volunteering in Annalee's Class

At the beginning of the school year I let Annalee's teacher know that I would love to help out in class. I wasn't hoping for too much because my experience last year had been that I got to cut out annoying worksheets, sitting in the back of the class or even going to the teacher's work room to run errands for the teacher. I didn't get to do anything with the students. But Annalee's first grade teacher is amazing. A-freaking-mazing!  I love love love love love her to death! When observed her in class that first day I volunteered, I was left in awe with how efficiently and sweetly she handled the 25 students in her class. She doesn't get overwhelmed by them coming up to her to show her what they've made--ALL 25 of them!--she has enough love for everyone. I love her. Did I mention I love her?

Anyway, she asked if I would like to help out with Sight Words. The kids had 22 lists of 10 words that they were supposed to have memorized by the end of the year. With her own money, the teacher bought ball caps for all the students and googly eyes to glue to them, one for each list mastered. She asked if I could take the students to the back table, one by one, and quiz them on the words. Then, I got to put the hot glue on the hats while the kids picked an eye and stuck it on their hat. It was sooooo fun!  The kids were really excited about it and I got to be part of that energy. Then I thought, why not make this even more fun? So I got some Styrofoam balls and turned them into googly eyes. The kids went nuts. They thought I was wacky and silly and awesome! I stuck the eyes to little hair knots on either side of my head. Eventually I attached them to pipe cleaners and a headband, having them stick float above my head like an alien. I tried other things too.

Whenever I would walk in with a new creation, her teacher would clap her hands in delight and say, "I love it! It just gets better and better!" On Halloween I put a bottle in my hair to make it stand up in a cone and attached the eyes to the top. Checking in at the office got me lots of stares and walking down the halls attracted the attention of other classes. They loved to see "that crazy eye lady". One day I was horrified to realize that I'd arrived at the school without my googly eyes! So I found some black eyeliner in my purse and drew a Cyclops eye in the center of my forehead.

Annalee really liked having me in her class. Because she was already reading at the beginning of the year, she quickly blew through the sight word lists and soon began going back through them working on spelling. By the end of the year, every student (that wasn't special ed) had passed off all the lists. The last little girl, Natalie, had been the only one left for a while. When she passed off that final list it was so rewarding for me and her and the teacher! What a rush!

During Spirit Week my volunteer time fell on Crazy Hair Day. Right up my alley!  It only took me 45 minutes to twist these brown pipe cleaners into my hair. People did double and triple takes over them! Because the pipe cleaners blended so well with my hair color a lot of people (not just kids!) couldn't figure out how I had done it.

We put a bottle in Annalee's hair on crazy hair day but her hair is so straight and slippery that it fell out within in hour. She was a good sport and was satisfied with a pony tail on top of her head instead.

 

On Annalee's birthday she wanted me to bring treats to school to share with her class. I was too lazy to make them, but not too lazy to dress up as a pioneer woman with a white apron and stride in proudly proclaiming how I had baked them myself, from scratch. While I opened the Little Debbie boxes and dumped the plastic-wrapped brownies into the pan, the little kids grinned and protested, ..."No! You bought them! You didn't make them!" while I cheerfully told them how I had cut down the wheat that morning and ground it into flour, harvested the cocoa bean tree, gathered wood for my cook stove, and then carefully wrapped each brownie in an attractive cover. I hope Annalee always remembers this. I know I will!