Not the day I was expecting...

So...the new school year started here at the beginning of the week after the long summer break. On the first day I sent out my CV to all the local schools offering my services as Cover Teacher but letting them know that I am not available after the 3rd February until the 9th March.I woke this morning just after 8.00 am and as I usually am called much earlier than that I expected another day at home but the phone rang at 8.15 and it was the school just down the road asking me if I could come in.It was for their Year 5/6 class which loosened my bowels slightly but I bit the bullet and said 'Yes'."Is there any planning for the day?""I'm not sure," said the school admin lady. My bowels loosened further.I dashed to get ready and then looked around for something to keep Year 5 and 6 children engaged for a whole day!I grabbed Will's Red Bellied Black Snake skin, an amusing story book by Michael Rosen and my jar of collected Cicada wings and headed down the road.I got there at 8.30.Now the local school here is a small village school and my experience of village schools has only been the one near the Cheese Factory. There they have 28 children in the whole school.I was shocked today to discover that I had 28 children in the class I was taking. My bowels were now screaming 'Run for the hills!' But it was too late.School started at 9.00 and it took from 8.30 until that time for me to have a quick tour and the be told about school routine and a quick rundown on who might be challenging in my class and then they were in.....all 28 of them...and I had no planning and had to wing it.I did the roll first...If it works for Prep surely it was good enough for Year 5 and 6 so I asked them what jobs they were hoping to do when they finished school. There were three builders, a mechanic, two zookeepers, a policewoman, two authors, a vet, an army man, a snake wrangler and someone who grew lettuces among other things."Just lettuces?" I asked."Other vegetables as well," she added.Then I had to read a chapter of a book their class teacher had started which was by David Walliams, not knowing what had happened before or how to pronounce the characters names...so I was glad when that was over.The I brought out the snakeskin and we talked about snakes for while. I told them that before coming to Australia I was worried about snakes and expected to see them everyday but in reality I had hardly seen any."I've only seen two this year" I said."Well, the summer has hardly started" chipped in one bright spark.I wrote the word 'snake' on the board vertically."Ah, we are doing an 'acoustic'" someone said."Not quite" I said."It's an acrostic" someone corrected.I wrote my 'off the cuff' poem to demonstrate...Slithering silentlyNo one knows he's thereAttack is imminentKeep your eyes openExpect death!It was rather dramatic but I was pleased with it.I got them to write their own poems and decorate around them with a colourful patterned snake and then, if they wanted they could come up to the front and share their work and I draped the snake skin around their shoulders while they read their poems. That filled the two hours up until 'Morning Tea' at 11.00."Are you coming for lunch?" asked the Year 3/4 teacher.I get so confused with these break times here but at Morning Tea the children do have their lunch. I went to the staffroom for mine and without me even mentioning snakes the conversation turned to them and I was alarmed at how often the rest of the staff encountered the slithering beasties.""Is this wood or veneer?" I asked touching the table..."Well, I rarely see one."After the break I read 'Little Head Riding Pudd' a silly spoof of  the well known Fairy Tale and then got them to write their own silly versions of well known stories. We had 'Mouldysocks and the Three Hares', 'Mouldy Jocks' (!), 'Break Winderella' and the 'Fringerhead Can' amongst other oddities.They, mostly, all did well and I was impressed with their writing skills. That kept them busy until 1.20 pm when it was the next break time.For the final session the Year 6's had an Italian lesson and the Year 5's went off to the library with a teacher aide so I had a free 30 minutes to mark their Fairy Stories then I had to do a spelling test with the Year 5's and after a quick outside game it was time for them to go home."How did you get on?" Asked the School Admin lady."I'm still alive" I said."Good," she smiled, "Can you do Monday as well, in the same class?"