Elementary school memories

[Indigo Blue]

What odd,  random memories do you have of elementary school?

I have a memory (second grade) of not understanding what the teacher wanted me to do when we were making mosaics by cutting up some shapes and gluing them back onto a different piece of paper mosaic style. I looked at all the other ones on display on the wall and couldn’t make sense of it. I remember feeling so frustrated and on the verge of tears. The explanation for this was that my eyesight had gotten really bad, and I couldn’t see. It just looked like shapes that were all one piece to me. 
 

I also remember the 4th grade math teacher frightening the living daylights out of me.

And I remember the girls yelling at me when I wasn’t fast enough when we played steal the bacon. 
 

Yeah, I guess my memories just aren’t that great! I can’t really think of anything good. Well, except we had ice cream brought to us for a morning snack each day. 

[Arcadia]

My classmate took my water bottle during recess in second grade so we fought. She was envious that I had nicer water bottles than her. What was silly is that she knew my neighborhood is much rougher than hers so it is unlikely I won’t fight. I went to a Catholic convent school and my 2nd grade form (homeroom) teacher is a nun. 

I was in choir, band (horn), angklung ensemble (accordion), science club for extra curricular activities because I love being busy. I was also the gardening volunteer for my class (each class had two volunteers for gardening duty). 

My 5th grade teacher didn’t like me. However she doesn’t like anyone. Many of the teachers stayed near my childhood home so I would run into them at the neighborhood stores. 
 

We have a national elementary school leaving exam (not US) in 6th grade so the principal ordered hot dogs for all the 6th graders during exam week so that we could eat during the short break between the first exam and the second exam. The hotdogs were delivered to each class so we had time to grab, eat and go to the restroom if we  need to. Think it was 20mins for break. 

All the nun teachers I had were great in maths and science, and good in English. One of the nuns was from Italy and another was from Germany. 
We have first Friday mass at the next door church with the Catholic boys school and the all girls middle school. More than half of us are agnostics but we enjoyed mass. The church has lovely stained glass windows. 

[Farrar]

When I got to put together the literary magazine in first grade. One of my poems was in it. I remember being in the hallway collating the pages.

The day they stopped school and took us all outside to see an especially nice rainbow. I hated my second grade teacher and she hated me and that was definitely the best day of that year.

The day that my friends and I were there after school and we all sneaked into the old caboose car. We knew we weren't supposed to, but it had been luring us for so long. That was around third grade.

[wisdomandtreasures]

First grade. The teacher got some hardcover blank books for us to write our own stories. I wrote one and illustrated it wonderfully... For a 6-year-old. It was going to be called "The Hungry Bear" but when I was writing the title, I was thinking about something else and accidentally wrote "The Hungry Bean" in huge letters in permanent marker. Yes, these were displayed at back-to-school night and I was so embarrassed! 😄

[maize]

The year were living in a Latin American country that was undergoing significant unrest and they had us run "attempted coup" drills on top of the regular fire drills and earthquake drills. We all filed out of classes and marched across a field out back to a dirt road where we were supposed to wait for our parents to pick us up.

Edited February 4, 2023 by maize

[Harriet Vane]

I had the most wonderful second grade teacher. Mrs. Logan. I felt like the luckiest person ever when I found out I was in her class. It was a split class of half second grade and half third grade, and she handled it like a pro. She was always smiling and gentle. My favorite part was at the end of the day when we pushed the chairs and desks away and all sat in a big circle on the floor. She read us books about "Warm Fuzzies" (literal book characters) and we'd all talk about stuff.

That was the year a boy in our class died of Reye's Disease--he was such a nice boy. He went home from school on Hot Dog Day because he wasn't feeling well. Over the weekend he was hospitalized. I remember sending cards to him in the hospital and growing plants in styrofoam cups for his mom. Mrs. Logan read books to us about death in our circle time and we talked about it there. It was hard to lose this classmate, but I mostly just remember how lovely Mrs. Logan always was. 

Another favorite teacher was Mr. Daniels, my sixth-grade teacher. Such a nice guy. Carried a totally different vibe than the other two sixth grade teachers. I was horribly bullied in that school district, and Mr. Daniels tried hard to help me. What I am most grateful for was that he let me sneak back into the school building during recess so I could read books. He knew how awful recess was for me with the teasing from other kids, and he knew reading was the only escape for me. He also knew I wouldn't do anything stupid. It was secret between us. I just wanted to read, and he let me. I was and am so grateful.

[Dmmetler]

I remember my 3rd grade teacher pulling a boy into the cloakroom and paddling him, and the big wood paddles on the wall. That's the only time I remember it being used, but I was absolutely terrified that I'd do something wrong. 

 

3rd grade was also the single year I was in a regular Ed room most, because I'd "graduated" from the special Ed class (in actuality, the teacher left and the district didn't hire a new one, so I got mainstreamed). I had a 3-5 year neuromuscular delay, so my motor skills were on a 3-5 yr old level, and I ended up in a room with a super old school teacher who wanted everything written in composition books, in cursive. I couldn't keep up, and got a lot of cutting comments. The fact that when I get emotional, I literally can't talk (dyspraxia) made it worse, because she never understood that I went silent because I literally could not get words out. She also complained about my being behind and "it's not fair you get to leave (for PT, OT, Speech and adaptive PE) when you're always behind. I was sick a lot and cried a lot. It was bad enough that when I got assigned to teach 3rd grade and was supposed to teach cursive, I had panic attacks. Fortunately, the 2nd grade teacher hated teaching math, so she taught my kids cursive and did spelling while I took over her math class. 

 

The following year, gifted started and I spent most of my time with the GT teacher. I also got a typewriter and my OT taught me to type, and in 5th grade, I finally developed legible cursive with this new thing my OT had learned about at a conference and brought back with a handful of purple printed ditto sheets. When I found Handwriting Without Tears, years later, I realized that it was how I'd finally learned :).

 

In GT, I remember making puppets, lots of computer stuff, building dioramas and learning Spanish, putting on a radio play, and a lot of cool stuff. It was basically all short courses and kids were allowed to sign up for X number, but because I qualified for a lot of hours, so I ended up doing GT at three schools. 

 

In 7th grade, we had this super cool class called SSCA-taught by a history teacher and a communications arts teacher. It was basically all "learn about this period of history and present on it in some way", with a ton of public speaking. Honestly, I credit that class, and later, my 10th grade English teacher pushing me into forensics as to why I can teach now and speak in public. Most of my teachers had taken the part of my IEP that said I needed prior notice and a chance to prepare any spoken class content as "don't call on her or make her read out loud". Both the communications teacher and my 10th grade English teacher (and forensics coach) instead gave me lots of prior notice so I could work with my speech therapist, and were supportive of my struggles. In many ways, it helped undo the damage. 

 

 

[saraha]

In kindergarten I cried and cried because I turned 6 right after Christmas break and assumed that meant I could go to first grade. Even my argument that  I could READ didn’t sway that mean woman one bit. 😆

In third grade it was cold that day and I didn’t want to go outside because it was cold, so I wrote a note to the teacher to keep me inside from “launch” recess and tried to sign my moms new last name, Kiershke. Somehow my teacher new it was forged and as punishment… kept me in from recess 😆. And called my mom, who laughed because I couldn’t spell her new last name right. I have no idea how the teacher knew 😆

[ArteHaus]

3rd grade: Regurgitating a chicken sandwich onto the floor beside my desk🤢 It was embarrassing and really cramped my style:)

[SKL]

I tend to remember the bad stuff too.  I don't believe it was all bad, and I wonder about psychology and why we tend to notice and remember bad stuff more than good stuff.  (And I hear there are people who do the opposite ... we call them Pollyannas ... but I'm not sure I know anyone like that.)

I have pretty clear memories of the past, so I could go on and on about elementary school memories.  How to pick ...

My first day of school, KG, age 4, my teacher (whose name was Mrs. Claus, rhymed with blouse, and she resembled the pictures of Santa's wife) ... she asked me my name.  I was flustered because I didn't know whether to tell her my legal name or my nickname.  Nobody ever called me my legal name unless I was in trouble.  The teacher got annoyed at my hesitation, so I was off on the wrong foot from the first second of KG.  😛

I had to sit in the thinking chair once that year because I allegedly spoke loudly and then lied about it.  I didn't think I was lying.  I felt so humiliated.  But at least I didn't get hit with a ping-pong paddle like some kids.  I got told off because I didn't feel like doing the wooden puzzles which I found babyish.  And I used to get in trouble because the teacher didn't like the design of the hats my mom sent me in.  You know how girls' winter hats used to tie under the chin?  Not like shoelaces, but with one single loop that you tied ... I don't know what it's called.  Mrs. Claus couldn't figure out how to tie them, so she demanded that the loop be cut in the middle.  But in general KG was fine ... I was a pretty good reader.  One day Mrs. Claus thought she'd boost my ego by giving me a book (to keep) and asking me to read it to the class.  I was horrified to be in the spotlight and I tried to politely decline, but she wasn't having it.  UGH but I am sure she meant well!  I remember the girl who used to puke often and how the teacher would make the boys clean it up.

First grade I managed to get paddled because I was playing with a girl the teacher disliked.  The teacher wrote a note in cursive which I couldn't read.  I was terrified to show it to my mom.  I only found out years later that my mom thought it was a bit ridiculous.  Another time I had to wear a paper donkey tail ("Tattle Tail") all day because I reported something to the teacher (I never quite figured out when they wanted me to tell the teacher vs. fight my own battles).  I also remember the first page of our first grade social studies book.  It was a picture of a boy surrounded by babyish things, and the point was to discuss how first graders are past all that.  I remember Miss Chuck bringing her bird Snowball to class some days, and how the bird would scold us if we got too noisy.  I went to my first birthday party for a classmate that year, and I was surprised and embarrassed that the girl got undies as one of her gifts.

I loved my 2nd grade teacher.  He was the nicest guy, but I managed to get in trouble with him once, when I made a noise upon being told we had to finish some work before going out to recess.  I lost my recess that day and felt so sad about disappointing my teacher.  I remember when the room mothers threw a mini baby shower for him & his wife.  I never told my mom about it.  She caught me trying to take some (used) toddler silverware to school and asked me why.  She was upset that I didn't tell her about the shower in time for her to buy something, but my logic was that we never had money for such things.

I got various paddlings in 3rd and 4th grade, usually for dumb reasons.  I think it made me all the more rebellious, as I had to save face after the humiliation of having things done to my rear end in school.  In 3rd I used to get in trouble for not having glasses and being legally blind.  In 4th I wrote a cheeky poem about my teacher, which she read, and she took me out in the hall and literally hissed at me.  (It was the first of many poems I wrote about teachers.)  I remember my ugly Salvation Army shoes that clacked loudly and drew undue attention to themselves.  Not sure when it started, but by 3rd grade I was a regular target for unkindness from my fellow students.  Name calling and mean-girl stuff like "how can you wear that??"  Also at least one boy used to put his hands where they weren't wanted.

5th - 8th were more like middle school I guess, with changing of classes etc.  Plenty of classmate meanness, teacher ridiculousness, but also recognition and respect from the better teachers.

Anyhoo, it's funny what our brains choose to remember.

[maize]

34 minutes ago, Dmmetler said:

The fact that when I get emotional, I literally can't talk (dyspraxia) made it worse

I didn't know there was a name for this!

I have it to some degree, and some of my siblings and kids have a stronger version. My throat closes up and it is painful.

[Innisfree]

I remember looking forward to second grade because I had heard we’d start to study “Language” then; I was so disappointed when Language turned out to just be about the English language, not the foreign languages I had been expecting.

[stephanier.1765]

My memory for every elementary year was of being the fastest in my class. I got the blue ribbon on every field day. Boy what a shocker it was when we got to the middle school years and the boys were outstripping me. Huge blow to the ego.

[Pawz4me]

I think I mostly remember bad stuff. Being simultaneously bored and anxiety ridden almost all the time. The time I threw up in class. The one time I got hit on the hand with a ruler for something I didn't do. Saying something truly ugly to my fourth grade teacher. Trying to figure out social things by carefully observing the cool kids. The fifth grade teacher who said I was her pinch hitter, and being confused because I didn't know what that meant, and if it was good or bad.

[HomeAgain]

I remember our reading lessons, and thinking that it was stupid that we had to trace "a" one way, but our writing practice had us make 'a' differently.

I also remember my 2nd grade teacher's hugs at the end of the day, and every teacher from K-5th making time to read to us every day.  Some of my favorite books are connected to that 10-15 minute block after lunch, where we got to rest from recess and let our imagination run loose.

[teachermom2834]

My K class had baby chicks hatch. We didn’t have pets and I was never really around animals and I lost my mind over these baby chicks. Totally obsessed. My family only had one car and my dad took it to work so my mom was home without a car all day so we rode the bus and then were just stuck at home all the rest of the time. My mom actually found someone to give us a ride to the school during the afternoon one day so she could get a picture of me holding a baby chick. This is actually more a memory of my mom because while she was a devoted stay at home mom, she was not warm in any way and she never would ask for a ride or to borrow a car. But she obviously was determined to get a picture of me with that baby chick. Funny memory as I am totally not an animal person now and that just seems so out of character for my mom. 

[TexasProud]

I do not remember much:

Kindergarten:  Good memory- some kind of dance to "Step in Time" for a school program
                        Bad memory- kids circling around me and pushing down their nose ( I was born with cleft lip palate,  and deviated septum that made my nose lopsided

1st grade- weird memory...my teacher got her hand caught in a lawn mower and it chopped off the tips of her fingers

4th grade- This teacher yelled at me constantly: by drawer was too messy or my work was too messy. Other teachers called my mom to say they could hear her yelling at me from across the mod. I heard later that she was expecting some kind of child with birth defects, so I guess she was taking out her anger on me. Don't know.  I ran away from home 3 or 4 times that year.

5th grade- Aerobics was the new craze and we did an aerobic routine to "Stayin Alive" for the PTA

[TravelingChris]

I have so many memories, both bad and good.  Kg was ,pretty good as,I learned to speak English, I think.  By 1st grade, I was in the highest reading group. My second grade teacher was Jewish and I loved her- she let me quietly read books when I finished my work. She also taught us about things like Hanukkah, Dreidle song, Hava Nagilah, etc, etc. 

I remember being bumped up to the next grade class to do a wonderful, long project- read "Thd Children of the Covered Wagon" and turn it into a play, study how accurate it was, etc.

I remember doing a moronic test where there were misspelled, so called idiomatic language, and I was supposed to understand. That was just part of the test.

I remember our class going to the White House to see President Nixon meet w an African President.

I remember having Chinese communist party visitors dressed in the black pj  type cloths come to my school during the whole start of US /China relations.

I remember having a music teacher who was a hippiesh type - into some Eastern religion, not sure which,  but who was teaching us great Christian songs (among many others) like Micheal, Row Your Boat Ashore. And a really great African carol- Sing Noel.

I remember being in 3rd or 4th grade and learning more than I wanted to about hookers, strippers, sex practices in Thailand ,  etc, etc because a stupid teacher thought it was a good way for 2 boys (both sons of pilots) to behave.  Yeah, they weren't loud, just super obnoxious.

[lmrich]

I had a great elementary school.  We had an 1 1/2 hour lunch break and walked home. In grades 1  -2 we had morning and afternooon recess (K was just a 1/2 day). 

I remember in my K class had so many sets of  twins that the newspaper came out  to do a story on it. 

In 1st grade, I remember we had to color everything that began with -sh  - I used a white crayon to color a sheep and the teacher marked it wrong. I remember being brave to point it out, and she was so nice  about it. 

In 2nd grade, I remember we had a big kit in the coat room  that read 'laboratory kit" But I thought it said "lavatory kit" and I wondered how they could fit a bathroom in there... 

We had a lovely library in the school, the  most amazing school productions, Halloween parade.. we sold gernamimum for  a fund raiser and I recall going up to school with my wagon to pick up the flowers. The gym was filled with flowers; it took my breath away. 

 

[Indigo Blue]

44 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I think I mostly remember bad stuff. Being simultaneously bored and anxiety ridden almost all the time. The time I threw up in class. The one time I got hit on the hand with a ruler for something I didn't do. Saying something truly ugly to my fourth grade teacher. Trying to figure out social things by carefully observing the cool kids. The fifth grade teacher who said I was her pinch hitter, and being confused because I didn't know what that meant, and if it was good or bad.

I’m sorry. 😕 So many sad stories here.
 

As I read yours, it was like a description of my younger son’s 4th grade experience, minus having the guts to say something to the teacher and subtracting out pinch hitter and inserting teacher calling him a loser. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

All of my memories of elementary are pretty bad. It was overall a pretty negative experience. Maybe that is really why I chose to homeschool 😂

[TravelingChris]

1 hour ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

All of my memories of elementary are pretty bad. It was overall a pretty negative experience. Maybe that is really why I chose to homeschool 😂

Oh, even though my school wasn't so bad, I knew I was really learning a lot in other ways and that school was ,waste of time.  I collected old school books, etc so I could learn things like grammar, which was barely taught at all.

My mom got Women's Day magazine at the store and the back had an ad for Calvert School homeschooling and I really wanted to do that.

But I hadn't planned to homeschool kids because I still thought about having a career.  My autoimmune diseases, and moving to CA where the school.was do overcrowded that they were telling other incoming parents at the base that they should just homeschooling till they have an opening for their child.  Plus most of the military moms were having to spend a few hours after school tutoring since school was so weak.

[theelfqueen]

I remember in Kindergarten going on a Leprechaun hunt following a trail and clues all over the school, even in the lunchroom kitchen. 

I remember my Art teacher reading Mrs. PIGGLEWIGGLE books to us while we were making things. 

I remember falling off the high slide and getting a concussion.

I remember going to the GT program at the other school.in town once a week, that was attached to the Jr. High, where my aunt worked and how much I loved that building. 

I remember when we first moved to Colorado and we got stuck at school because there were bears on the school grounds and we couldn't leave the building til they vacated.

I remember when we moved to Colorado - girls where I lived in Kansas City wore dresses and skirts to school. Girls in Colorado wore pants and jeans to school. We moved with a very limited amount of our stuff and I only had one pair of pants and it was awkward and uncomfortable. 

Edited February 4, 2023 by theelfqueen

[athena1277]

I remember lots of things, but I’ll share a good one.  In 3rd grade they chose a boy and a girl to go to a special art class each week.  I have no idea how I got chosen, but it was lots of fun.  We made several things with clay.  One week we made flowers on a square clay tile that we painted.  Each grade did a different flower and they were put together on a wall.  My mom worked at that school for a long time, near that wall.  I liked getting to see it, although I don’t know which one exactly was mine.  The last time I was there was over 10 years ago.  I hope it’s still there.

[Tree Frog]

Early elementary was in a round building. The classes were divided by separators, so we could hear the other classes being taught. One day a hamster got loose in one of the other classes. So many shrieking teachers and lots of kids chasing this little thing meant total chaos! 

In kindergarten, the teacher had drawers for the students to turn in their work. Attached to the drawers was a plastic little bauble of some kind. We were told to take good care of the drawers and we would get the bauble at the end of the year. Mine had a ring on it. We were getting ready to move and I was so sad I wasn't going to get my ring because it wasn't the end of the year yet. The very kind teacher gave it to me anyway. 

In 4th grade, we had a teacher who was Ronald McDonald as a side gig. He was also the teacher who would pound hard on the desk right in front of a misbehaving student and throw the desk if he was really angry. (He told the student to move first.) That was a frightening year.

We moved again in the middle of 4th grade and my new old-school teacher insisted we had to use cursive. No big deal, but she demanded we write our cursive  by holding the end of the pencil up towards the eraser, not down at the point. I had messy handwriting that year. It makes so little sense to me as an adult that I wonder if I'm remembering incorrectly. 

5th grade we had the nicest student teacher who taught us language arts using The Who's opera Tommy. That was a fun year!

6th grade we all went on a camping (?) trip. I don't remember much of what we did, though we definitely learned the "nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms" song. The 6th grade from the 3 feeder elementary schools all went to this camp together, so in hindsight, I wonder if it was an attempt to introduce us all. 

[HomeAgain]

4 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

All of my memories of elementary are pretty bad. It was overall a pretty negative experience. Maybe that is really why I chose to homeschool 😂

😂 I'm on the other extreme.  My elementary years were so good, I was absolutely appalled at what the local school was offering when my oldest was ready for school.  I hated how little they took into account the needs of small children and taught so badly.

[Spy Car]

In 6th Grade we had a record player that the girls were allowed to use to play music during recess and lunch.

The only problem? They only had one record.

"Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies. Do you know it? If not look for it on YouTube. It's like the 1960s version of being "Rick-rolled."

Despite it all, I still kind of enjoy that bit of bubblegum.

Bill

 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Spy Car

[Spy Car]

A few fond memories of 1st grade. 

One was that we made butter from cream. There was a whole lotta shakin goin on. Only got little flakes, but I thought that was cool. That sort of thing still fascinates me.

Second, we propagated Rosemary plants from cuttings in water. I still do that. Rosemary remains one of my favorite plants (and culinary herbs) and I have many (many) Rosemary plants around my yard--which happen to be blooming with beautiful blue flowers at the moment.

One of the original "donor" Rosemary plants, according to my wife's family lore came from Italy with her great-grandparents. I have my doubts about the "from Italy" part, but it was definitely a plant from Nono and Nona's garden. The original plant finally expired, but I have beautiful "clones" growing in our garden. I like that sort of thing.

Then, and I don't know who raised the topic (perhaps the teacher?) but I remember the concept being introduced that if the distance from Point A (say where you were seated) and a Point B (call it the destination across the room) was halved ad infinitum that "mathematically speaking" you would never quite reach the destination. That sort of blew my mind.

And I found that idea difficult to shake. Is "preoccupied" the right word?

"Billy, Billy, are you with us?"

My mother, who was an elementary school teacher herself, would come in for parent-teacher conferences and would hear, "You know, Billy is obviously a bright boy, but he can be rather day-dreamy." If I had a nickel for everytime....

Oh, and there were also the regular "drop-drills" where we got under of desks to practice saving ourselves from a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. Even at 7, I was smart enough to know that was a futile exercise. By junior high these were changed into "earthquake drills," which at least made some sense.

Bill

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Spy Car

[MercyA]

.

Edited March 11, 2023 by MercyA

[math teacher]

I remember a teacher throwing erasers and another one throwing chalk.

[Indigo Blue]

I remember taking piano lessons in the cafeteria. They were only two dollars each. The teacher was an elderly man, and I remember him pulling out a huge roll of one-dollar bills and sitting there counting his money while he was supposed to be teaching me. 

[Spy Car]

When I was in Kindergarten my mom used to drive me to school in her 1932 Chevrolet, which had a "rumble seat" (which is a seat that folds out from where the rear trunk might be which put one basically outside the vehicle. It was 1963, so it was a bit "eccentric." And my dad drove a 1929 Ford Model A, so a pair of "eccentrics."

Anyway, I can distinctly remember the feeling of jumping out of the rumble seat when she'd pull up at the Kindergarten gate. It felt like freedom.

I had the most wonderful Kindergarten teacher and she did me a great kindness.

In those days, desite Kindergarten being on the short side (were we out at 1?) there was a mandatory nap.

I did not want to nap. For one thing, there were these plastic mats, tan on one side and dark chocolate brown on the other. Well these mats accumulated all the dust from the linoleum floors. And it's not like I was fastidious. I was a dirty boy.

But the smell of these mats. The off-gassing plastic and the dust made me gag. No joke. 

And beside the mat issue--which was huge--I was at school to learn. Not to sleep. Sleeping I could do at home.

So I decided to discuss this with my teacher almost immediately. I did not expect a good outcome. But I had to try.

She was so nice.

Rather than forcing me to nap, she said that during nap time that I could come to her desk and--so long as we didn't take too much noise--we could do things together. I almost cried, I was so happy.

And it was like that the whole year. The class would nap--and no one else seemed to mind--and I'd sit with my teacher and I'd either read, or we would do things together.

Still grateful for that unexpected--but deeply appreciated--act of kindness nearly 60 years later.

How cool was that?

Bill

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Spy Car

[Kidlit]

I have vague memories of crying so much K-2.   I THINK I crawled under a table in K; I have a faint memory of this (related to crying).  I think what I actually remember more from this phase is extreme anxiety and the feeling of uncontrolled weeping. 😭.
 

Second grade was a turning point for me.  I had a grandmotherly teacher and I had matured somewhat emotionally, I suppose. I remember her writing our lunch menu on the board  in cursive, which I couldn't read yet.  I remember distinctly knowing it said pizza but being amused by the fact that it looked like pigga. 
 

Third grade I remember included a field trip. I was chosen to help transport our sack lunches from the bus to the picnic area. I dropped a lunch bag and stepped on it.  There was a banana inside, which I also stepped on. My memory includes sliding down on the banana, but I don't know if I actually did or if my imagination turned it into a comedy routine.  🤣

Edited February 5, 2023 by Kidlit
Submitted too early on accident

[Indigo Blue]

This is my third story, so I won’t tell anymore. But how could I forget this one? I think I’ve told it here before.

In third grade, a girl brought some of her parent’s blank checks to school. No doubt they were from an old, closed account and given to her for pretend banking or whatever. At the time, though, I was too young to realize this. So I was intrigued by them, and I asked her if I could hold them. I stood up to get them. Another boy….I still remember his name….asked me to let him look at them. I said no because I didn’t think I should give them to him without the girl’s permission because they were real checks and they were not to be passed around. All I said to him was no, though. He stood up and punched me in the stomach so hard, I passed out. cold on the classroom floor. When I came to, lots of classmates were standing over me and I heard Ms. Lucas say to stand back and give her some air. I can’t even remember how/if he was punished. 
 

Fast forward to years later, me in my thirties, and I ran into that guy in a grocery store. My family had moved a town or two over since then, so it was a chance meeting. He saw me and immediately recognized me. He asked if I remembered him. I said,”Yes, ……..you’re….. the one who……punched me in the stomach in third grade.” He apologized for that. He seemed like a nice person and felt genuinely sorry.

[Tree Frog]

I remember the milk cart coming around in kindergarten (?). I was always happy when I had my nickel to buy the carton of milk. It must have been a half day of school as I don't remember eating lunch there.

I remember walking home from school with my sister when I was maybe in 2nd grade. Some teens in a white truck kept driving past us, getting closer and closer. We ran home and told our mom about it and I had to identify them at the police station. I have no idea what happened after that. I was really frightened by them.

[Shoeless]

I remember when they kept us inside for recess while Carter was negotiating the release of the hostages from Iran.  The teachers and aides had tvs set up in the gym and made all of us quietly on the floor while they watched what was going on.  I was SO furious that we had to stay in and sit there silently while they watched the "dumb news".  

I also remember being stuck inside watching a stupid Jiminy Cricket safety cartoon and trying to negotiate with the aide to let me go outside to play instead, because I'd already seen the cartoon the year before. No dice, everyone had to watch it every year because it checked some box with the state about teaching fire safety.  🙄 I griped and argued that I had enough sense to know not to play with matches, and then got grounded from recess for talking back.  

[TravelingChris]

12 hours ago, Spy Car said:

In 6th Grade we had a record player that the girls were allowed to use to play music during recess and lunch.

The only problem? They only had one record.

"Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies. Do you know it? If not look for it on YouTube. It's like the 1960s version of being "Rick-rolled."

Despite it all, I still kind of enjoy that bit of bubblegum.

Bill

Thast was the song we had toi dance to in kindergartern, I think or maybe 1st grade.  We had a lot of dance in our gym classes and at least I enjoyed those parts of gym. 

 

 

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[teachermom2834]

I went to public school K-3 and then moved to Catholic school in 4th. I am sure we went outside and played in public school though I don’t remember it. I do remember being struck by going to Catholic school and having “recess” as an official part of the school day and it was actually called recess and we went outside and played double Dutch jump rope. I remember feeling like I was transported back in time to Little House on the Prairie days or something. Like I thought recess and jump rope games was something out of olden times only on TV shows and old books I read. It was great fun! Got so good at jump rope. That part was fun.

I also remember in 4th grade at that school the teacher getting mad at the class and keeping the entire class in from recess as punishment except me. I got to go to recess all by myself and sit in the school parking lot because I was well behaved while the rest of the class was punished. How awful. The whole class resents me and I have to sit in the parking lot by myself for recess. Way to help the new kid fit in. 

[sweet2ndchance]

From kindergarten I remember learning about stranger danger and being uncomfortable with the topic of "bad touches" and asking the teacher if I could close my eyes for part of the presentation because it made me uncomfortable which triggered a call home to my parents and having to talk with the teacher and my parent about why it made me uncomfortable. I also remember making little foldable readers to read.

In first grade I remember the power going out and being last in line as we were walking down the hall and being terrified that something was going to just out of the dark hallway and get me. I also remember being part of the advanced readers group in first grade and getting to read Ramona Quimby books and Charlotte's Web. I remember getting to go to the library by myself to check out books back when you had to take the card out of the little pocket in the book and write your name on it and then stamp it with the date stamp that showed when it was due back. I remember going to the teacher's desk one day to tell him I didn't feel good and puking everywhere right in from of his desk.

From second grade I remember my teacher telling us about going scuba diving and putting her finger in a sea urchin. I remember being called in from recess early to watch our classroom chicks hatch. I remember falling off the monkey bars and another child on the monkey bars accidentally kicked me in the eye and I got my first black eye. I remember that we didn't eat lunch in the cafeteria, they brought a cart around to each classroom and if you didn't bring your lunch you got your meal from the cart and we ate lunch at our desks. We had melamine trays and real silverware that they came back with another cart and collected to be washed and reused. That had been true from kindergarten onward but I have distinct memories of the cart and the whole process in second grade. We moved to another state in April of second grade and I remember that I didn't have to finish 2nd grade because they decided I was advanced enough to just promote me to third grade without enrolling in a new school at the end of the year.

From third grade onward I have lots and lots of memories. Some highlights, I remember meeting Romalda Spalding (author of The Writing Road To Reading) when she came to our school when I was in 4th grade. I remember our 6th grade Outdoor Education class camping trip. I remember my 5th grade teacher singing "Pump the Jam" as we were "getting our booties on the bus" lol. I remember getting my first flute in 5th grade beginning band. I remember going to the state and county fair every year with the band and the choir ( I was in choir too). I remember most of the various competitions I competed in with my flute. I remember at 8th grade graduation (elementary school was K-8 where we lived) and playing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin on my flute with a friend as a duet at the ceremony.

 

[Clarita]

I remember my uncle drilling me in spelling before we immigrated. One word I struggled with was the word colour, I was always spelling it color. So my first spelling test in the US I had color as a word, I was so frustrated because I got marked down for spelling it colour.

I mostly liked my school years. It was only rough the first few weeks of school when I just immigrated. There was a strike at the elementary school the first week so, I remember my second week of school my mom having to walk me between a classroom and the office because the teacher insisted I wasn't in her class. Compounded by the fact there were some kids at school who were telling me I should "go home" (back to the country I immigrated from). Only time I begged my mom not to send me to school. We transferred schools since that school didn't have enough space for me and it was much better.

[katilac]

In first grade, there was a little boy who kept crying and making a run for it (kinder wasn't much of a thing, so it was almost everyone's first school experience). 

There were some tall supply cabinets in the classroom, and the teacher swooped him up and placed him on top of one of the cabinets. It didn't stop the crying, but obviously it stopped the running. 

In sixth grade, we had to come up with a product, a mockup of said product, and advertisements for it. Mine was for Rid-a-Kid, which you could point at annoying children to make them disappear. I don't think I specified whether this was permanent or not, but my mockup clearly resembled a rifle, lol. 

It was a multi-step project, and not only was I allowed to do it, nobody so much as asked me about it. My 'marketing' was heavy on the humor, but still, that seems a bit wild even for the 1970s. 

Disclaimer: Rid-a-Kid is for entertainment purposes only. Children will often run when seeing it pointed at them, but it has not been proven to actually make them disappear.