Elementary, My Dear

I saw this meme over at Adventures in Babywearing and I thought it looked like fun to reminisce about Elementary and Middle school.

I think the most memorable thing from Kindergarten was playing the Dukes of Hazard with two other boys in my class. My parents were pretty strict about TV usage but I guess that was an ok show! My Mom used to make all of our Halloween costumes and this year I was Wendy from Peter Pan. She made me a blue dress and a wig of yarn for which I was made fun of on the bus (I wonder now if it was really that bad).

I really loved my first grade teacher she was very kind and gentle and made us eager to learn. I remember making a book of all the different dinosaurs with drawings of each and a paragraph of description below. I came back from Thanksgiving break excited because my baby brother was born and telling all my friends how cute he was! "Show and Tell" was a big favorite of mine. I brought in my baby brother for one and another time my black lab named Spencer who we adopted when he and I were both three. He was the best dog. For field day we'd walk through the woods on a trail that lead to a nearby park and have three-legged races, tug of wars etc.

In second grade our class took a field trip to Teatown and I fell in the lake. Yup, I actually fell in from the dock so I was completely soaked from head to toe! I still have a sneaky suspicion of someone who pushed me but I'm not going to name any names! Luckily one of the women who worked there lived nearby and had a daughter. She loaned me a complete outfit to wear for the ride back to school. I think my Mom chaperoned many a field trip after that!!! I learned to laugh at myself when people would bring up this incident throughout the rest of our school years. I also started taking dance classes after school sometime during second grade. Later, dancing would become a major part of my life.

In third grade I had the dreaded Mr. Plato. He was extremely strict, we had heard stories on the bus of him throwing things across the room and slapping rulers on desks. It was one of my least favorite years for many reasons. The first reason is a friend and I got in trouble for putting Elmer’s glue on our hands, letting it dry and then peeling it off. (I have no clue why we were doing this!) We then had to move our desks to the front of the room next to the teachers for a couple of weeks. I lost a class spelling bee by forgetting the P in raspberry. I vividly remember staying up until 1am to complete a homework project with my parents helping. Luckily we had a two hour delay because of snow the next morning. Thinking back now at who was in the class I know that both our valedictorian and salutatorian were there with me and a good number of other students in the top of our class. Maybe there's something to be said about learning fourth and fifth grade stuff in third grade although I think home schooling might be a less terrifying option!

In fourth grade I had Mr. Storer who was a breeze after Mr. Plato. We read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which was an instant favorite. One boy used to chase me at recess and make fun of my last name saying that my mother must "Fly in the shower." Back then I thought it was an insult but now thinking back I should have turned around and chased him until he could come up with something better.

In fifth grade I had Mr. Whipple (just like the guy in the Charmin commercials my friends told me...that's how little TV I watched.) He must have been the teacher that sparked my interest in science since many of the memories of this year are science related. He brought in a deer heart and liver and other parts all cleaned for us to examine when we were learning about the organs of the body. By this year I had made the group of friends that I would stick with for the rest of my school years and beyond. My best friend and I were in dance together and we were inseparable for many a year. Our families became each other's second families and she would later be in my wedding and always a very good friend.

It has certainly been fun to remember these times in my life embarrassing yes, but fun too. It’s neat to think about the people and wonder where they are now.