“Welcome to the Writing on Learning Exchange! Every week or two I will publish a prompt that is meant to get us thinking and writing about some aspect of our learning and/or teaching experience. Whether you are a teacher, a learner, a parent or just a citizen who cares about the growth and development of other citizens, I hope you will find some inspiration here.
So here’s the first prompt: What are your first memories of going to school?”
I have some early school memories and it was my first year of school. Here they are:
New Clothes - I remember buying brand new clothes and shoes for the first day of school. I was so excited because it seems like I had waited for years to go to school! (I think I was only 5 at the time).
Crayons - My parents bought me a brand new box of Crayola crayons - the 64 count box. As soon as I got to school, the box opened up and all of the crayons fell to the ground. Most of them broke and many were lost in the crowd of kids. We were hurried to a classroom and I never got my crayons back.
School Bus - I was 5 years old and it was the one and only time I rode a school bus. My two older sisters (10 and 12 years older than me) and my parents watched me get on the bus. Later in the day, the bus brought me home…or should I say, close to home. The bus driver let me off at a stop that was not my stop and I was lost. I didn’t know how to get home and started crying but soon a neighbor saw me and brought me to my house. My parents were furious and my father jumped in the car to hunt down the bus driver. I think he said a lot of angry words to her when he caught up with her. That was the last day I ever rode a school bus to school.
These are my earliest memories and I’m surprised at how I can still remember them after almost 50 years later. I guess this is proof that as teachers, we can make a powerful impact on children.
What are your earliest school memories? Please share.
Image: 'school friends'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73645804@N00/1384954600
Found on flickrcc.net
3 comments:
Our first school was a one room school house. There was two grades -one and two. It was in walking distance down a rolling road to the corner of Ferndale Avenue and Slave Lake Street. The room was big and it had a piano in it. The teachers name was Mrs. Armstrong. She screamed a lot. We had a huge fenced in school yard and lots of room to play. My mom sewed me new clothes for school. She always bought us new crayons and pencils for school and I had a very cute pencil case. The nicest girl was name Gayle. She lived a few houses down from mine. We walked home together. Mrs. Armstrong taught us about counting money with real change she kept in a big bag. She was also really good at teaching us to read. I still remembr our work books with a space for gluing in the latest sound "short o" as in dog with its matching picture. Then we had to practice words with "short o" on the lines underneath. She did this with all the "sounds". The bathrooms were in the basement down a huge scary set of stairs. I would only walk down with one foot and then stand on the stair with both feet and then take one step down and then bring the other foot down. It made me very slow and drove everyone else crazy.
@Cindy What an awesome memory! Thanks so much for sharing.
The crayon memory in particular is so touching! Those early disappointments stay with us forever...Thanks so much for sharing this.
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