1986-1989 at a private, Christian school in California
Kindergarten: The coolest thing about Kindergarten was that it was connected via a bathroom to the first grade room. I used to "have to go to the bathroom", just so I could open the adjoining door a crack and spy on the big kids. I was so impressed by them!
I also remember writing on those sheets of paper with big handwriting lines. I would get near the end of the line and start to panic because I wasn't finished writing my word. "No worries!" my teacher would say: "Just write smaller so it will fit!"
Write smaller?? BUT HOW?!? This was a frustrating mystery to me. I almost quit school forever.
First grade: Thankfully I persevered through the Small Writing Dilemma and got to the first grade. The most salient memory I have is standing by my chair and sobbing uncontrollably because my white Elmer's glue had spilled inside my desk and had covered everything. The teacher had to bring my stuff to the sink and clean it all up. While everyone was watching. And I stood there crying.
It was my most embarrassing moment for a long time: I wanted to run away and go to a different school just to save face.
Luckily, my parents let me do just that when we moved to France the following year.
What fun memories do you have of Kindergarten and first grade?
11 comments:
Since I was 3 I attended a hearing impaired classroom and became best friends with Willie. My first black friend and we were best pals. We attended "normal" kindergarten together. We rushed through our work that was much too easy for us and because we had sloppy handwriting (didn't have problems running out of space) both Willie and I had to put our heads down instead of playing with the toy we wanted to play with. I wonder where Willie went?
2nd grade I got in a fight in a tunnel on the playground and in first grade I hung upside down on the monkey bars with my bff (reconnected through the beauty of facebook) singing Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. Still an all time favorite.
And when my family moved to Istanbus..not really. :) Love your stories.
~JO
The one thngs I remember about kindergarten was the day my older brother and I were late. He pushed me up the steps and I fell and scratched my nose. I went to class and was crying in my cubbie. I was too scared to tell on my brother, so the little girl next to me told the teacher. She made me special teacher helper of the day and I got to choose the " BLUE RUG" during free time and nap time!
Everyone wanted to use that rug everyday. LOL !!
I remember being named the "Puzzle Champion" in Kindergarten! I guess I put the most puzzles together that month or something. They gave me a free book that I still have in my classroom library at school. It's getting pretty worn (as you can imagine.) In first grade, my teacher put my name on the board under a picture of "Gabby." Gabby was a bird that talked too much. I think I lost some play time at recess for being "Gabby." Funny what we remember huh?
I went to K and 1 in a 'one-room schoolhouse' basically. It was a house next door to the day care my sister and I went to so it was really convenient. There were K, 1, and 2 kids all in one room with one teacher. Mostly I remember that she brought her chihuahua dog with her everyday.
Eegatz! It's always the glue, isn't it? I don't really remember K and Gr. 1...should I worry about that? I remember napping in K?!
I went to an out-in-the-country one room school house for kindergarten only 50 years ago. We rode a horse and buggy, er, yellow school bus and had to walk to the house in the dead of winter after the bus dropped us off in knee deep snow with no shoes (we wore buckled rubber boots). It was rough. Anyway, I remember the day I was to circle on a worksheet what an answer to the greatest heat source was. I circled a light-bulb instead of the sun. To this day, I am still dumbfounded as to WHY I answered it that way. Boy, it MUST have been the cold feet or poor delivery by the teacher or no computer access or something...
I went to a four-room elementary school. No Kindergarten. It was the same school and teachers my mother had -- heavy burden... I was the only girl in the first and second grades and really made out at Christmas! Unfortunately, my voice carried and I spent a lot of time kneeling next to the teacher's desk... Do they still do that? We actually used chalk and slate in the first grade... Those were the days...
Also California/Also Private School
Preschool: I had brown shoes with red laces. The teacher would call out colors to get off the carpet and line up. I was always last. Telling a little boy it was time to put away toys an having him bite my back. A whole new meaning to back biters.
Kindergarten: Teacher named Ms. Candy. Enough said she was awesome!
A 1st Grade teacher who taught us cursive and had us read from the King James Version of the Bible.
Only memories were that my kindergarten teacher's breath smelled like cigarettes and that I crapped my pants in first grade because the teacher said I couldn't use the bathroom. It was too close to the end of the day. So i pooped, and then we all lined up at the door to go home, and the kid standing next to me said, "It smells like poop in here." Well, yeah. Teacher's fault - not mine. It was a squishy bus ride home that day.
Funny what Kirsten said about the bird, "Gabby!"
I have absolutely NO recollection of first grade but in kindergarten I remember that first day, walking with your grandma to the bus stop with my rug rolled up under my arm and oh so proud to be going to school, just like my siblings!! Also remember the snack time, graham crackers and milk!! Mom
Oh you poor little thing!! I actually don't have any memories before around sixth grade so I can't share any...But I'll keep reading yours because they are too cute!
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