Confessions of a First Grade Room Mom

Have you ever sat around wondering "what in the world does Teresa do on Wednesdays?" Of course you haven't. But I'm going to tell you anyway. For the past 9 months I've had the distinct honor of being Mrs. Wahlman's First Grade Room Mom. When I first volunteered, I had the noble intention of being a mom who is involved in her daughter's education and uses her servants heart to minister to her teacher. Secretly though, I deeply desired to acquire the power and prestige that came with the job. The kids were required to call me Mrs. Wood and quickly found out I didn't put up with sassy behavior, back talk or burping in class. As it turns out, I also learned alot. Besides getting a refresher course on the rules of phonics, writing and basic math, most of which I had forgotten or never learned at all, I also became well-versed in laminating artwork, designing bulletin boards and making dogs out of clothespins. Best of all I made a lifelong friend in Mrs. Mary Beth Wahlman. There are simply not enough wonderful words to express how much I admire, respect and love her.

Now, allow me to share with you some of my favorite memories as we tour the places that made up my ZCA First Grade Room Mom Experience:

This is Mrs. Wahlman's desk. It is a metal vintage model, circa 1973. I spent many hours at this desk grading papers (with a red pen of course), assembling artwork, filing tests, logging grades, doing Internet searches for art projects and coloring pages and whipping up my famous "vocab bingo" games. As I sat there I was able to observe prayer time each morning. I loved that on some mornings the pastor from the church would come in and pray a blessing over each child. It was a sweet and often humorous time when each child got to voice a prayer request. One little girl always managed to work the word "Ohio" into her request (because it was her birthplace) while another had the same injury almost every week. One boy prayed every single day of school for a black and white kitten and God rewarded his faithfulness two weeks ago, just in time for Pet Day! Of course, yesterday his prayer was that they could find the kitten a new home because now he wants a hamster.

While we're talking about the desk I must show you this:

This is the evil top drawer of the metal desk which is an instrument of Satan. Mrs. Wahlman warned me my first day that it was a little tricky and if you pulled too hard it would fall out. I learned this lesson a few weeks later right in the middle of her handwriting lesson. I was looking for the scissors and pulled with a little too much force. The drawer and all it's contents (tacks, lifesavers, pennies, pencils, stickers, etc.) crashed and scattered all over the room. I would like to say I only made that mistake once, but I can't. This drawer mocked me several times and I will not miss it.

One of the most important parts of my job was snack time. I was in charge of filling each child's cup and distributing them. Now, I know this doesn't sound all that tough, but you have to factor in that one child has severe food allergies, one is diabetic, some don't like peanut butter on their crackers, some want 3 cookies instead of 2 and some want the cereal without the marshmallows and some want more and won't take no for an answer. And some have really bad manners. See, it's not as easy as it looks.

A fun thing about working on Wednesday's was that it was chapel day. They would have a short service singing songs and hear a Bible lesson. I always ended up with one or two kids on my lap and got to snap my fingers and say "shhhhhh!" a few times. I especially loved when we would separate the boys and make each one sit between two girls, which in First Grade is a fate worse than death. Good times.

This is my friend the laminator. We spent a lot of time together and I grew to enjoy it's warmth and soothing sound. I was a little intimidated by it at first and would always laminate Ocho's work first just in case I melted it or caught in on fire. I'm happy to report I became an expert laminator and ended the year accident free.



This was my sanctuary when the classroom got too wild; The copy room. I spent many hours copying math sheets, vocab tests and devotional pages. It only jammed twice the entire year and ran out of toner only once. It was very good to me. It is a very quiet place and has a wonderful view of the playground. There were, however, a few occasions when the tranquility was interrupted. You will notice the cot on the right hand side. This is where preschoolers came when they had a tummy ache or 4th graders came when they were faking a tummy ache to get out of class. There were times when my copying was interrupted by the sound of a boy puking into the trash can or a kindergartner explaining he was just waiting for his mom to bring him some clean underwear.

This is the ever elusive Teacher's Lounge. I remember it being a place of great mystery and intrigue when I was in school. This year I was allowed inside to hang out with the teachers during our class's art time. There was usually a snack available. Sometimes it was unclaimed Jersey Mike's subs or KFC from lunchtime or homemade cookies from a faculty member. One of my favorite memories of the entire year was the day I had to retrieve something from the fridge at the end of the day. Little Ocho hesitantly followed me inside and looked around with wide eyes and nervousness as if she were about to fall through a trap door. I'm pretty sure she bragged to all her friends the next day about her brief glimpse inside the inner sanctum.

Teachers and kids agree the best part of the day is recess. While the kids played I would sit on the teacher's bench with Mrs. Wahlman and Mrs. Ledbetter (who was Ocho's awesome kindergarten teacher). Inevitably, at least one kid would join us just dying to know what we were talking about. Yesterday it was my buddy Piper. (This just happens to be the bench where she would come and command me to "saaaang summem" for those of you who know the story).

The only place I left off my list was the lunchroom. I did take a picture but quite a few kids jumped into the shot and I don't feel comfortable posting it without their parent's permission. I will just say that lunch was not exactly my favorite time of day. It was very loud, someone was always needing something heated up or cleaned up, the boys would have burping contests, the girls would argue about who is sitting next to who and Mrs. Wahlman would conveniently realize she had left her lunch at home and need to go get it. Crafty move, Mary Beth.

Yesterday was my last day on the job. I never expected to love it as much as I did. It was fun getting to know all of Ocho's friends and proved very helpful in determining which of them she will not be allowed to hang out with in high school. I will admit it was tough some mornings to get motivated but I never regretted it once I was there. I had a blast and will cherish the experience forever.