A Day in the Life

Not many people understand what I do every afternoon when I become the Extended Care Enrichment Aide at Brentwood Christian School in Austin, TX. Here's a "typical" day (although this might not have all happened on the same day, quite often we have more or less these scenarios, and I'm using situations that really did happen).
I get to work a little before two and collect my thoughts and breath before exiting my car to walk in Building B. Walking down the hallway, I catch snippets of third grade Bible and social studies as I pass their classrooms to get to ours. When I get in, I place my stuff beside the hamster cage and Miss Lilly pokes her head up to look at me before burrowing back under her bedding. Amber says "hi" and Arin says, "Hey, Mrs. Anguish." Even though Arin really is one of our aides, he isn't supposed to be there until 8th period and it's seventh. He's skipping Mr. Anguish's study hall again. I gather supplies and make sure I have everything ready for the K-2nd enrichment activity of the week. Since it's a run-around game outside this week, they're liking it better than the leaf wreath we made last week. I don't get as many "Do we have to?"s. Then, I make sure I have everything for my 3rd-6th grade club. Since it's Tuesday, I'm doing scrapbooking today. This club takes a lot of patience and endurance as it's pure chaos. Someone over the years has donated miscellaneous bits and pieces until we have three boxes full of scrapbooking supplies. The girls in the club are chatterboxes and talk about the Jonas brothers more than they work. Oh well. That's later. I have to get through my "little kids" first.
At 2:23, Kendra and I head over to Building A, the lower elementary. I unlock the door and we split up to each hall. I poke my head in Mrs. Troutman's door to warn her I'll be right back for her curbside kids and then go collect the kids from Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Allen down the hall. "Did you get your jacket?" "Zip your backpack up." "Shh. You need to be quiet in the hallway." We herd our way back down to get Mrs. Troutman's kids and we're out the door. We get up to our curbside corner and I start getting kids in cars while we wait for the 1st and 2nd graders. They're usually out about the same time we are, racing up the hill, knocking people over as they go. The bell rings and I finally see them coming so we can get these impatient parents out of here. "Adelle! Come on! Your mom is right here!" "Please stay off the sidewalk so no one runs you over." "Hello, Mrs. Weed!" At 2:40 the first chaos of the day is over. I take the "leftover" kids and walk to Extended Care in the Family Life Center (FLC).
I walk past the gym part of the FLC to the tables in the cafeteria to help Mr. Allen finish checking kids in. He's usually almost done by the time I get there. I gather my Palm Trees (the Volcanoes had their turn yesterday) and we line up at the back door to go play a game. I bring two long jump ropes to work as our lines and we head down the hill to play beside the gazebo. I place my lines at a pretty good distance and explain the rules of "Run, Rabbit, Run" to the few kindergarterners who have not had a chance to play the game before. Everyone is so excited, I give up on rules and let them line up to play with two being the taggers. After three passes (one skip, one gallop, and one run), all but two have been tagged and are sitting down, so we take the two left and they are the new taggers. Eventually, I don't have any winners who haven't been taggers before, so I start picking kids from the middle until everyone has had a turn. Rats! I have an odd number. I let one kid go twice. Of course, on the last play of the game, two kids collide and Andrew gets a bloody nose. I mean, it's gushing. I hate bloody noses. I send him inside to Mr. Allen while I gather everyone else up ("Stay away from the blood! Come on!") and bring them back inside with the others for a few minutes before snack. I can see the trail of blood as we walk inside and all the kids say "Ew!" as they tiptoe around it, like it's going to attack them!
Mr. Allen has given up on getting Andrew's nose to stop, so I'm starting him across campus to the nurse while he starts the kids on snack. We catch Amber as she comes in to give Cayden his ADHD pill and she has us wait for her. Drip, drip. More red spots on the floor. I feel sorry for the cleaning crew. Amber comes back and looks more closely at Andrew to see that he's still gushing so she picks up this little kindergartener (I swear they start out smaller every year) and we hightail it across campus. The crossing guards wave us across with their yellow flags and everyone who sees us whispers "What happened to him?" We get him to Nancy (our nurse) who knows just what to do, and I head back to help Mr. Allen finish up snack. He's already got them lined up and heading out the door so I tag on at the end, behind Cayden and Keri. I hear what they're saying. "Cayden, you're going to marry me, right?" "Yeah." "Why are you going to marry me, Cayden?" "I don't know." They're in first grade. I hide my laughter as I try to get them to catch up to the rest of the line and get to the playground.
I have a few moments to catch my breath on the playground while I wait for Paige to get out there. I enjoy sitting on the bench with Mr. Allen while the cool fall breeze blows by and I can hear the kids laughing as they swing upside down (I probably shouldn't be letting them do that, but they're short enough they won't graze the ground). Several girls bring their drama over "Jordan took her beads back from Zoe after she promised Zoe could have them." I hear Zoe crying. We always have some kind of drama. Mr. Allen calls it our own little Peyton Place.
Paige comes and I head inside to deal with 3rd-6th graders. I get back to the room in Building B, grab a snack (Animal Crackers, but I'm starving), and get the girls to help me carry the boxes. They plop into the chairs in the teacher's workroom and talk excitedly about the pictures they brought to put in their books today. I pass out the scrapbooks gently as they have stuffed items inside they wanted to use but didn't get to last time inside. "Mrs. Anguish, I need help," Samantha whines. "Claudya, why aren't you working?" I ask. "I don't know what to do." I try to help three girls at once and it isn't easy as scrapbooking is a detailed process. The girls end up leaving part-way through and I only have two left to help clean up at 4:55. They talk about everything they're going to do next time as we go back to the classroom. I spend a few moments straightening up and then it's time to leave.
The best part of the day: meeting Jeremy at the car to go home together.