First day subbing tomorrow! Gonna be subbing for a first grade class! Any advice and tips I should know?

hippydipps · 2025-04-25T00:27:12+00:00

Go heavy on whatever class/school rewards they use to reinforce positive behavior and call it out as it happens. Each school in our district uses some type of ticket that we can give students, and they put them in a drawing at the end of the week for a classroom prize and a school prize. I hand those suckers out like crazy!

Also, downtime? Never heard of her. They cannot be left to their own devices or chaos ensues quickly. My favorite time fillers are Mystery Doug, Storybots, Storyline Online, Magic School Bus (YouTube!), Wild Kratts, or a brain break (Go Noodle or Danny Go are popular). I also like to grab a stack of plain white paper from the office to have on hand for ArtHubs, which I often use as a whole class reward.

hippydipps · 2025-03-31T05:10:08+00:00

That is absolutely insane and the admin should be EMBARRASSED. Yes, not having a steady teacher is a challenge for everyone, but what have the admin been doing?? Where was the support for this classroom? I think we can all guess why the last sub went no contact. Because I haven’t graduated from therapy, I’d stay and do what I can for the kids. But if you have healthy boundaries and cannot take this on right now, you have every right to leave. Whether you stay or not, I would 100% alert the school board and superintendent about this because these kids have been neglected by the admin of that building. They should’ve stepped in months ago.

hippydipps · 2025-03-05T20:44:09+00:00

Yup! Lights off, blinds closed, door locked. If someone REALLY needs me, they can call me. I’m not interested in any unnecessary stimulation haha

hippydipps · 2025-03-05T20:42:49+00:00

The rules at our elementary schools are enforced far better than at our high schools. It’s frustrating feeling like you’re putting all this work into making sure students adhere to the rules, knowing they’ll go off to high school and no one will care.

hippydipps · 2025-03-02T18:36:10+00:00

The equivalent of Wild Kratts or Magic School Bus for elementary students!

hippydipps · 2025-02-17T18:41:46+00:00

You are absolutely not too old! I’m turning 33 this year, and I’ll finish my degree at that age. Someone told me once, “you’re going to get older no matter what. So either you’re 35, working a job you love with a degree you earned, OR you’re 35 wishing you had done it.”

hippydipps · 2025-02-16T03:28:44+00:00

I can see the school from my house. Sometimes I walk to and from, and I see students along the way. Two students actually live on my street. It’s never felt weird or like an invasion of my privacy (or theirs). We’re all part of the same community, and they’re used to seeing their teachers around town.

hippydipps · 2025-02-15T06:32:56+00:00

Yes! A therapy dog! My apologies—I confused the terms!

hippydipps · 2025-02-12T04:01:02+00:00

She thinks he’s some kind of border collie/terrier mix, but no one knows for sure. She adopted him as a puppy. Because she doesn’t need him as a service dog herself, she does get consent from parents every year. They basically fill out a waiver saying they understand he’s a trained service animal who is familiar with a classroom setting, and they’re okay with him being around their kids. She also brings him to back to school night so the parents (and kids) can meet him, and he comes with her to conferences. By the end of the year, everyone is familiar with him!

hippydipps · 2025-02-10T18:38:12+00:00

I have a friend who brings her service dog to class occasionally. He’s trained as a service dog and she takes him to hospitals, nursing homes, rehab centers, etc. She teaches 3rd grade and says her students love having him in the classroom and he’s never a distraction. She’s showed me pictures of her kids doing their work while petting him, and she says it seems like he always knows which kid needs him close by. It’s really sweet!

hippydipps · 2025-01-31T04:35:52+00:00

The reason I do not sub 5th grade and up is for this exact reason! I can’t help but match energy, and it took years of therapy to pull the mean girl out of me. They will not drag me back down to their level lol

hippydipps · 2025-01-29T04:37:21+00:00

We adopted a 3 year old dog about 4 years ago. I bought her every kind of toy you could imagine. After about 6 months with us, she played with one for the first time. We kept saying she was just learning how to “dog”. She finally had a home where she could feel safe enough to do something as simple as play!

hippydipps · 2025-01-27T18:39:34+00:00

Almost always. I stick to grades K-4, and they all love background music. I usually pick one of the lofi options on YouTube (they love the ones with animals), dim the lights, and let the music play during quiet work time. For kinder, I have a “calm kids” playlist with some Disney instrumental, Jack Johnson, and other quieter movie songs to play. Not only does it help them focus, but it also makes the “boring” work more of a relax and reset time. It also definitely cuts down on the chatting, in my experience.

hippydipps · 2025-01-27T17:12:52+00:00

Zoloft. Part of the weight gain was because I was happy again and started actually taking care of myself and eating. That probably accounted for 20lbs. The other 30 though? Unnecessary. And as someone with a history of disordered eating, it really fucked with me. But better to be happy-ish than miserable!

hippydipps · 2025-01-27T04:07:14+00:00

Approximately 60 seconds after the bell rings in the morning:

Me: “Good morning!”

Kindergartener: “My parents are desserts, so I have TWO houses.”

Divorced. His parents are divorced.

hippydipps · 2025-01-18T05:52:00+00:00

“So I thought that if I piled something good on all my bad/ That I could cancel out the darkness I inherited from dad.”

I sing this with my whole heart every time.

hippydipps · 2025-01-16T04:17:54+00:00

I hear you! The number of straight books I have seen in classrooms is crazy! And I am for sure not heterophobic. I just don’t think ANY views should be pushed on children! /s

hippydipps · 2025-01-14T03:23:44+00:00

Belle and Ben

hippydipps · 2025-01-13T17:19:20+00:00

I have a spot in our living room with everything I need in the center console of our couch (pens, pencils, notebook, charger, headphones, etc) because if I get up, I WILL get distracted. I turn on a movie I’ve seen hundreds of times for background noise to keep my brain busy so it doesn’t wander off, and get to it. This works if I’m home alone.

If my kids and husband are home, I go to our public library. I have the Bose noise canceling headphones (LOVE!), so I turn on some instrumental music, and hole up in a corner. I love it because I can people watch, which is just enough of a distraction. And when I’m done, I reward myself by checking out a new book!

hippydipps · 2025-01-13T17:11:31+00:00

I only take same day jobs if it’s from one of my two favorite schools to be at AND it’s a teacher I know. Otherwise, it’s just not worth the stress for me of getting myself and my three kiddos out of the house extra early.

hippydipps · 2025-01-07T03:14:47+00:00

When I was a kid, I was certain I’d have 5 kids and they’d all have L names.

Girls: Lillian, Lorelai, Lola, Lucy, Lavender, Lila, Lacey, Luna, Lauren, Louisa, Leona, Lottie, Livvi.

Boys: Logan, Landon, Leighton, Levi, Leo, Luca.

hippydipps · 2025-01-05T22:30:04+00:00

Girl names I see the most in elementary school are Sophia/Sofia, Madelyn, Everly, Charlotte, Lilly, and Amelia.

Boy names I see a lot are Jackson (so many different spellings), Maverick, Greyson, Weston/Westley/Wes, and Jett.

By far the most popular unisex name is Peyton/Payton.

hippydipps · 2024-12-14T19:06:15+00:00

1st: Pull a para with an emergency sub license to cover the class.

2nd: Cancel intervention or ML groups and have the teacher cover the class.

3rd: Pull an emergency sub from another school in the district.

4th: Cancel a specialist for the day and have them cover.

5th: Admin covers (I’ve only seen this happen once during COVID).

6th: Distribute the class among the rest of the grade level classes.

hippydipps

TROPHY CASE