Do you remember your first day of school?

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NancyNGA

Well-known Member
Location
Georgia
It was 1952. Truman was still president. His picture was on the wall along with the purple ultraviolet germ-killer light. The desks were old like these:

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On the bus ride home I didn't know you were supposed to tell the driver where you lived.
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I remember being so scared when he went right by my house. Rode all the way to the end of the line and he had to take me all the way back.

Anyone else?
 

My first day was in 1941. The President was Franklin Roosevelt. I was in Los Angeles and we had desks with ink well in them. When we went to school we wore "dog tags" with our name, address and blood type on it. It was a time of extreme paranoia and we all were sure the Japanese (we always called them Japs then) were coming to get us any day. When President Roosevelt died they took all of us children out on the playground and had a brief memorial and sent us all home. We didn't have school buses then and we all walked to and from school. I fell in love with a girl named Sandy. She was also 5.
 
We were not so scared by 1952. Only had to practice those cold war drills crouching under our desks, and we didn't have a clue why. First grade teacher also read to us from the bible first thing every morning. This was a public school in northern Ohio.
 

NancyNGA said:
We were not so scared by 1952. Only had to practice those cold war drills crouching under our desks, and we didn't have a clue why. First grade teacher also read to us from the bible first thing every morning. This was a public school in northern Ohio.
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In second grade we pledged the flag then sang "oh what a beautiful morning". Teacher must have seen "Oklahoma".
 
Hahaha... oh boy do I! I cried the whole time.. and ran home at recess without telling anyone.. I was such a mama's girl..

So Mom brought me back.. and the teacher decided to make me and another little girl "Office Monitors" at recess, and I thought it was a big deal and that I was a real big cheese.. They even let me ring the bell at the end of recess. That other little girl and I are still friends.. 60 years later.
 
Ameriscot said:
Don't remember first day but do remember first grade - 1958. Mrs Head (snicker). Lincoln school. Rockland Mass.
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Funny.. I don't remember many of my teachers names.. but my first grade one I do.. Mrs. Smith. A fat little red head spinster, who picked favorites and terrified me.. That's probably part of the reason I would take off at recess.
 
QuickSilver said:
Funny.. I don't remember many of my teachers names.. but my first grade one I do.. Mrs. Smith. A fat little red head spinster, who picked favorites and terrified me.. That's probably part of the reason I would take off at recess.
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Mine was a fat gray-haired lady. I don't remember any more names until 4th grade. Sister Mary Paul in catholic school.
 
I only remember the scary ones... The next was my 6th grade teacher Mrs.Hartnet.. After that.. only the ones I had crushes on in HS. Mr. Kroll (English) ... and Mr. Capinigri. (Physics.)
 
QuickSilver said:
....the teacher decided to make me and another little girl "Office Monitors" at recess, and I thought it was a big deal and that I was a real big cheese.. They even let me ring the bell at the end of recess. That other little girl and I are still friends.. 60 years later.
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Cool! Did you get to wear badges? :)

First grade was Mrs. Ross. Also overweight. I was terrified of her, too, because when she got mad her face would turn beet red. She also spanked people right in class, with a paddle. The older kids were just sent "to the principal's office." Sometimes they didn't come back that day. :eewwk:
 
Only bits and pieces -- Catholic school with scary nuns. Uniforms. The washrooms in a separate building with a strong smell of disinfectant. Eventually taken out and started in a public school, which was much more fun.
 
Yes, I remember. It was a newly constructed school, very modern for those days. I remember some confusion about the bus schedule, but my older brother got things straightened out. I also remember the dress I wore, and my mother taking extra care to fix my hair. Lots of scurrying around because there were younger ones still at home and my father had to get off to work. But school was very exciting, especially lunchtime in the cafeteria.:) I do remember my teacher was Miss Rnadolph, and she was also my second grade teacher.
 
QuickSilver said:
I still remeber the smell of sawdust over vomit.. In grade school, there was always a pile of sawdust somewhere.. lol!
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Oh yeah! I forgot about that! The janitor going up and down the halls with his bucket of sawdust on wheels. The first time I ever heard the term "restroom."
 
I remember my first day of kindergarten, it wasn't pretty, I kept running back to my mom screaming and hollering in tears, I didn't want to part from her, it took a while. I hated it from start to finish, never enjoyed it, nor first through the rest of my school days except for English lit, music swimming, dance, summer break and the day it was all over..
 
Cookie said:
Only bits and pieces -- Catholic school with scary nuns. Uniforms. The washrooms in a separate building with a strong smell of disinfectant. Eventually taken out and started in a public school, which was much more fun.
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I went to a new catholic school beginning in 3rd grade. Lay teacher. But the nuns and priest were fresh off the boat from Ireland. Fun was not in their vocabulary. For some reason we only went for 3 years, going to public school in 5th grade, then back in 6th to the horror of the school - the principal - Sister Mary Ethna. She was one scary woman!
 
Perhaps not the first day but I do remember first grade. I was only five and I had to walk over a mile to school. We had "crossing boys" to cross us over the highway and I was scared to death of them. They were very officious and bullied the younger kids. First and second grade only went to school half days (first in the morning and second grade in the afternoon). I was dyslexic (of course they didn't know anything about dyslexia back then....you just weren't "trying hard enough"...) and had a hard time of it until the third grade when everything clicked into place. Luckily, I had wonderful kind teachers in my first three years, which was the only thing that got me past fourth grade, where my teacher was a certified witch. We were just posting about that teacher on my school Facebook group and everyone who had her had a horrible story about something she had done.

We started each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord's Prayer (imagine that today.....). And, yes, I remember the smell of vomit and sawdust that seemed to hang around for hours. That and the smell of the paste that everybody got a dab of on a piece of paper from a huge jar. There was always somebody in the class who ate their paste...yuk.
 
That's sad Jujube, I had teachers who were always trying to force me to write with my right hand or to hold my pencil the same way as others did and I just couldn't, still everyone else holds their pens and pencils in an odd way as opposed to how I hold mine. ;) I've had my hand whacked a time or two just for not complying. It was later in high school that I had some really caring teachers, but especially my guidance counselor, whom I'll never forget and if not for her, I probably wouldn't have made it through high school. One of the best human beings I wish I'd had the chance to official thank once I reached my later adulthood.
 
That and the smell of the paste that everybody got a dab of on a piece of paper from a huge jar. There was always somebody in the class who ate their paste...yuk.
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Yes, and smelling the papers after they came off the "ditto" machine.
 
First day of school for me would have been May of 1938 and I don't remember it, but I do remember the pretty red headed kindergarden teacher. It was a public school in Newark, New Jersey.
 
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For those of you from cold climates...do you remember snowsuits? They went on over top of your regular clothes. Even little girls in those days had to wear dresses to school. :p First grade teacher spent at least an hour every day getting kids in and out of their snowsuits. I think they cancelled recess in the winter just because of the time constraints. Mine was maroon, my mom made it.

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I ran right into kindergarten, I could not wait. My mother hyped it very well, so I was really looking forward to it. Sometime later when the excitement settled down, there were times when I just wanted to stay home with mom though.

And YES, I remember those snowsuits! I'd never have lasted all those long hours of sledding without them.
 

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