The next day when the students entered Jackie's classroom, they did their morning work as usual while she took attendance. She let them work for about fifteen minutes and then she wanted their attention.
"One, two, three, eyes on." She said.
"You" the kids all said to her as they dropped their pencils and looked at her, just like they were suppose too.
"Good job." She said with a smile at them, usually when she did that she had to wait for a couple of them to actually look at her because they didn't catch on right away.
"Everyone today we will have a special visitor." She started.
"Is it Nick and Jasmine?" One of the kids asked.
"Is it Santa Klaus?" Another shouted out.
Jackie put her finger to her lips and then sat down, she knew that if she didn't she would just be bombarded with more questions.
"She's waiting for us guys." One of the students finally said.
They finally quieted down and waited for her to continue. "Our visitor is a good friend of mine, she's in high school and she wants to become a teacher so she is going to come into our classroom a couple times a week and watch me so she knows what it is like to be a teacher. She is very nice you will all really like her, she can help you with your work too. I expect you to listen to her just like you listen to me, if she asks you to do something you need to do it."
"And like we listen to Mrs. Anderson right Mrs. Stokes?" One of the kids asked.
"Right."
"And Ms. Masters?" Another student added.
"Yes." Jackie said.
"And Mrs. Carson?" Someone else chimed in.
"Yes."
"And like Mrs. Caldwell?"
"Just like all the other teachers and staff in the school, that's right." Jackie interrupted, knowing that if she didn't all the teachers and staff at the entire school would be listed.
A few minutes later Cassie walked in, twenty four sets of little eyes turned to her.
Jackie smiled.
"Boys and girls, this is Ms. McBride."
"Hi." The kids all said with a smile.
"Hi." Cassie said as she smiled back.
"Let's do this, Ms. McBride, you come to the front of the room and we will all take turns introducing ourselves." Jackie said.
She led Cassie to the front of the room.
"Ok boys and girls, so what you are going to do when it is your turn is you are going to stand up and tell Ms. McBride your name and then tell her one thing about you. I'll go first to show you." Jackie instructed.
Jackie paused to think for a second and then said "Hi, I'm Mrs. Stokes and…"
"And she has a boyfriend." One of the kids finished for her.
Jackie looked at Cassie and smiled "I'm sure Nick would be thrilled about that." She whispered in Cassie's ear with a grin.
Cassie laughed.
"She doesn't have a boyfriend, she has a husband." A little girl corrected.
"What is the difference?" The first student asked defensively.
"He put a ring on it." The little girl said.
Jackie's mouth nearly dropped open.
"Ok boys and girls, is it polite to interrupt someone?" She scolded, trying to regain control.
"No." They all said.
"That's right, now let me start again. I am Mrs. Stokes and I love being your teacher."
Cassie and the kids all took their turn.
When they were finished Jackie got the children's attention again.
"And guess what Ms. McBride did yesterday after you guys went home?" Jackie said once all the kids were looking at her.
"What?" The kids asked excitedly.
"She sharpened all the pencils." Jackie said with a smile.
"YAY" all the kids cheered happily.
Jackie looked over at Cassie and smiled giving her a told ya look.
The kids went back to working on their worksheet and on any corrections they had to make on the worksheet from the day before, while they were doing that Jackie sat and talked to Cassie in the back of the room.
"Mrs. Stokes McCoy is crying." A little girl told Jackie.
Jackie looked over and sure enough the little boy was sobbing as he was sitting at his desk.
"What's wrong bud?" Jackie asked as she went over to him and put her arm around him.
"You counted my answer wrong on my worksheet but it's right Mrs. Stokes." He told her.
"Ok, let's see." Jackie said.
It wouldn't surprise her if she made a mistake, it happens when you have twenty four papers to grade, sometimes more if there were multiple papers.
"See, three plus two is five and you said it was wrong." The little boy said as Jackie looked at his worksheet.
Jackie looked at the only problem that had a big red circle around it, indicating it was wrong.
"Well bud, you're right, three plus two is five, but what is this sign?" Jackie said as she pointed to the minus sign.
"Takeaway." The little boy replied with a sheepish grin.
"Yep, so what is 3 takeaway two?" Jackie asked.
"One, it's one." The little boy said confidently as he feverishly erased the wrong answer.
He fixed it and then grinned at Jackie.
"Good job." Jackie said.
"That is the only mistake I made on this whole paper." He told Jackie, obviously quite proud of himself.
"Very good! You just have to watch those signs, that way they won't trick ya." Jackie said as she gave him a smile and a high five.
"Can I put a smiley face stamp on it and then put it in my mailbox so I can take it home and show my mom and dad?"
"You sure can!" she said.
"YAY." The little boy said happily as he got up out of his seat and went to Jackie's stamp bucket in the back of the room.
He found the stamp he wanted and then returned to his seat, put a stamp on his paper, put the stamp back, and then stuck the paper in his mailbox.
"Mrs. Stokes, what do we do when we are done with everything?" McCoy asked.
"Are you done with your worksheet from today?" She asked, thinking that he probably hadn't finished.
"Yep, it's on the back table already." He replied as he pointed to the back table.
"Wow, ok, well today I will be really nice and say you can either read or draw when you are done."
"Cool, thanks Mrs. Stokes." He said happily he said as he went to get a piece of paper to draw on.
Usually Jackie had them read when they were done with their work so they got as much experience with reading as they could but today she thought she'd give the kids a break and let them have some fun.
A few minutes later another little boy came up to talk to Jackie.
"Mrs. Stokes, I'm done with everything, can I read out in the hall with her?" He asked as he pointed at Cassie.
"It's ok with me as long as she wants to." Jackie said looking at Cassie.
Cassie smiled and nodded.
"Yay." The little boy said happily.
"But you have to promise to read, not just talk to her." Jackie said.
The little boy (named Paul) was a very sweet child, always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone but Jackie also knew that if you let him he would talk for hours on end to any adult he could find that would listen.
"Ok, I promise." He said eagerly as he chose a book and then grabbed Cassie's hand.
Cassie smiled, the kids were all so sweet.
Pretty soon it was time for the kids to go to lunch.
After Jackie had walked the kids to the lunch room she came back into the room, "so what did you think?" She asked Cassie.
"I loved it, the kids are so nice, it was so much fun."
"Good, I'm glad you liked the first day, you'll be back on Thursday right?"
"Yep."
"Good, the kids will like that. Oh and I meant to ask you if Paul actually read to you or did he just talk your ear off in the hall?"
Cassie laughed "He mostly read, but he did get a couple stories in there too."
Jackie laughed "Only a couple stories, I'm surprised."
Cassie chuckled.
"I'll see you Thursday Jackie, thanks so much again for letting me do this."
"Sure, my pleasure, see you Thursday."
Jackie was glad Cassie had liked her first day, from what Jackie had seen today Cassie would make a great teacher, the kids bonded with her right away, which was important for teachers.
Jackie hoped Cassie would go ahead with her plan to pursue a teaching degree in college.
The End!