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October 17, 2004

Success at School

First of all a lesson in blogs. Blog is short for web log. This is a blog. To the right you will see a calendar. Any number that is blue and underlined indicates an entry has been posted on that date. So click on a blue number and check it out. Make sure to scroll all the way down each page. You will see that people, maybe even people you know, have posted comments. Please type in your name and email address (both are required), type your comment in the box and click on post. Feel free to respond to others, as well as the original content of the page.


Harrison is having great success at school. Or at least we think so. We have our first Teacher/Parent Confrence on Thursday. He leaves for school happy... He comes home happier... He tells us about the events of the days. Below are some pictures of the first day of school.

waitingbus.jpg walkway.jpg teacher.jpg class.jpg

His favorite activities at school involve math manipulatives like unifix cubes, pattern blocks, polygons, and geoboards. It turns out that only elementary teachers actually know what these things are. Use your imagination or do a google image search. Below is a symmetrical picture that Harrison created at his Grandma's house with no adult help. Pretty cool for a five year old! He loves symmetry.

symmetry.jpg unifixcubes.jpg

Do you remember your first day of school? What were your favorite activities at school as a five or six year old?

Posted by jennifer at October 17, 2004 10:29 PM

Comments

I only have vague memories of my first day of school. I didn't go to Kindergarten, so my introduction to school was first grade.

Mom waited with me at the bus stop, which was simply the spot next to the mailbox, across the street from the trailer house on Oglesby Road. I was very anxious about the bus: would I need to pay the bus driver? Mom didn't know, either, so she gave me some change. When I boarded the bus, I tried to pay the driver, but he or she just laughed and told me to sit down.

That's my only specific memory of the first day of school.

I do remember things from the rest of the year. I remember the small, stuffy gym at Eccles. I remember playing on the monkey bars. I remember learning about homonyms. I remember reading in a series of small books that included The Wee Light. I remember dressing up in a powdered wig and marching around singing patriotic songs for the Bicentennial celebration. I remember getting my mouth washed out with soap because I happened to be standing next to a couple of boys who were swearing (one of my first lessons in arbitrary punishment). I remember that each week a parent would come in and give a presentation on what they did for a living; my parents brought in a food dryer and handed out dried apples and dried pineapple. I remember that we had to write a report after each presentation, a report on that heavy, pulpy first-grade paper, the kind with chunks of wood still floating in it. I remember recess, and the library, and the cafeteria. I remember thinking Tikki Tikki Tembo was the funniest thing ever. I remember show-and-tell.

I loved school, even in first grade. (And even in high school.) I wasn't a particularly good student in first grade, or second grade. It wasn't until third grade that I blossomed...

It doesn't surprise me that Harrison likes symmetry. He may be a wild kid sometimes, but secretly (or not-so-secretly), he's a lover of order at rules. :)

On preview: well, that's a problem. Two thiings: you don't have line-breaks on in comments, so even though I've typed nice paragraph breaks, everything appears as one big lump of text. Also, you're not allowing HTML in comments, so my tags and my links have been stripped...

Posted by: J.D. at October 18, 2004 05:49 AM

Huh. That's strange. On preview, the line-breaks were stripped from the comment. When I posted them, they returned.

The HTML is missing from both, though.

Posted by: J.D. at October 18, 2004 05:50 AM

Like JD, I did not go to kindergarten.

I remember that I waited with JD (David) at the bus stop (the same one he waited at) and rode bus #7 to Eccles. I can remember walking down a wide hallway to Mr. Schultz's room. It was on the left -- almost all the way down the hallway to the double doors that went out to the playground. I may have had some kind of name tag around my neck.

I remember learning the alphabet -- and the sounds the letters (and letter combinations made). The 8-1/2 x 11 letter cards were posted around the front of the classroom close to the ceiling. Mr. Schultz would uncover a new letter every day. I remember that Mr. Schultz had a very old, very cool car -- but I don't know what model it was.

After our first 9 weeks (Canby did a year-round system at that time), we were moved to the brand new Philander Lee Elementary School across the tracks.

Unlike JD, I never did like school much. I always wanted to be somewhere else having fun.

It's good to see that GingerichFamily.com has come to life again. See you guys tonight!

Posted by: Jeff at October 18, 2004 09:16 AM

Love the photos! What fun.

I remember kindergarten. I was so excited to start school because I had three older brothers and I wanted to do everything they did. But, my teacher was rumored to be a hippie who lived in "Lucky Mud," a hippie community on the outskirts of our tiny, rural, Washington town. I didn't know, or care, what a hippie was, but I remember my brothers taunting me about having a teacher from Lucky Mud. Turns out she was pretty darn cool.

Posted by: Lynn at October 18, 2004 10:18 AM

Aha! I remember the alphabet cards that Jeff mentions. We had those in Mrs. Onion's class, too. (Though I think they were narrower, maybe 4-1/4 x 11.)

Posted by: J.D. at October 18, 2004 11:32 AM

No Kindergarten for me or my children.

I remember having nap time in the classroom in Ninety-One school where the iMac lab is now.

I also remember having to eat some of everything at lunch. We had the same rule at home, but mom made food we liked.

We had a great merry-go-round, swing set and slide in the playground.

I had perfect attendance in the first grade.

Posted by: Grandpa at October 19, 2004 09:52 PM

Harrison I enjoy having you in class! You are a wonderful student and bring great fun to the classroom. This is an exciting time to make new friends and explore learning.
I went to Carus Elementary and had Mrs. Stahl as a kindergarten teacher! She was a fun teacher and always had good stories to read.
I hope your year is filled with exciting times!

Posted by: Mrs. Smith at October 21, 2004 01:34 PM