Monday Memories: My First School

Hey, y'all! There's a new meme in town and it's all about sharing memories! Y'all know how much I appreciate memories so you can imagine how excited I was to hear of a meme all about writing our memories! I, of course, missed the first one but I'm just going to combine the first and second memories together in this post.

Want to join in? Just click the button and link up to Memory Monday at Retired, Not Tired!

This week's prompt is: My First School

My first school was a very typical elementary school for the time. I did not attend kindergarten- it was not a requirement back in the old days- so I started in first grade and my first teacher was Mrs. Weeks. She wasn't much taller than her students and she was close to retirement. She always reminded me of Mrs.Santa Claus because of her stature- short and a bit pump- and her gray hair. Plus, she wore an apron. Who wouldn't have loved having Mrs. Santa Claus for a teacher?!

I loved her because she was nice and because she let me read books other than Dick and Jane books which I might have told her were stupid. But remember, my dad's mother was our town's librarian and I had been reading way before first grade. And way better books than Dick and Jane.

I do remember the day they were giving us those vaccinations though. My mother didn't tell me about it and I FREAKED out TOTALLY. I remember my cousin, in the room across the hall, was crying too. It was awful.

Here I am in first grade. With two missing front teeth. 

So, below is a picture of the schools (which I found right HERE).

The yellow arrow points to the building that housed the first and second grade classrooms. This was a one story building. I got two spankings, of sorts, in that building. One in first grade, from Mrs. Santa, for pulling the chair out from under Kathy Hinkle. What can I say, I was dared and I wasn't about to not do it. Mrs. Santa always just gave our bottoms a little whack with her hand. The most horrid teacher who has even been in the history of teachers, Ms. Garrett, gave me the ruler to hand treatment in second grade. You can read about that in my post entitled, Second Grade Satan.

Here I am in second grade. In my Brownie uniform. I remember my mother being 'put-out' with me for not telling her it was picture day because my bangs needed a trim.  

The orange arrow points to the building that housed grades 3-5. Nothing too memorable there other than having organized games, such as kickball, during recess. I'm not sure about 6th grade...I have no idea why I don't recall that year but I think it was in the buildings with the dark blue arrow. Those buildings were three stories tall and had those HUGE windows that we kept open when it was hot and hardwood floors that creaked just enough for us to know when the teacher was walking up behind us. My third grade teacher was ok but I still do not care for the 4th and 5th grade ones.

The light blue arrow was junior high and housed 7th and 8th grades. Seventh grade was downstairs and eighth was upstairs. The principal's office was upstairs and he had a big, wooden paddle with holes in it. Whenever he paddled someone, he did it in front of the window for all to see. I nearly died the day I witnessed the paddling of a girl. I had no idea he would hit a girl. Wow.

The purple arrow was the high school. The green arrow points to the building where we had band in junior high. I'm not sure about high school because we moved. Which I hated.

I rode to school every day with my father's sister and her four kids. My aunt taught high school English. I remember not liking to ride with them because they ran late all the time and because I was always made to feel that stopping to get me was an inconvenience. Even though all they had to do was stop by the side of the road right on the way to school. I was supposed to be able to ride home with them on days that were rainy or cold but I would swear to this day that she stayed up in that classroom until I gave up waiting and walked home. Some days my mother would pick me up but she always ran late and I usually thought she had forgotten me. Walking home wasn't that bad. It was only a mile- I guess. Maybe a little less. Anyway, it just got to the point where I walked home regardless of weather. I could and did stop sometimes at the library, which was maybe two blocks from the school, and stayed with my grandmother.

I had company on choir days when a group of all ages went by Charlie's Drug Store and bought drinks and candy. I ended up carrying a lot of their things for them so they could eat and drink. I think I did it just to have people to walk with. I was an only child for 12 years so I didn't have older brothers and sisters to pave the way for me. I was a pack mule on those days and I always said I didn't mind. But I did. These were not friendly girls anyway. None of them were my cousins or my good friends. They all attended other churches. I still remember those girls and all their names.

The pink arrow points to the auditorium. I had several performances in that place. Our town dance teacher, Ms. Christine, had all of our recitals in that auditorium. And once, in 6th grade (the grade I can't seem to remember) I had a speaking part in a play. I don't recall the play but I do recall that I had only one line and I was TERRIFIED. It was not a good experience and I never stepped foot on stage again in any way other than dancing. EVER.

I don't have any pictures of that play, but I do have several of the inside during dance recitals. Does anyone else remember your mom spray painting your ballet and tap shoes for these performances? :)

Here I am back stage. In my stiff, silver, sprayed painted ballet shoes. 

Here I am on stage tapping away in my silver, spray painted tap shoes. 

Alrighty, then. I've strayed away from topic which is not a shock to any of y'all, is it? Ha!

Basically, school in my day was a community. All of the schools were close together and town events as well as school events were held in the auditorium. The football field is right there too so even the football games were on campus. In my mind, the football field was behind the building where we had band. In the picture, it is set up as the baseball field. My thoughts are that they changed this depending on the season.

And there you have some memories of my first school.