# Anyone remember first day of school?



## Camper6 (Jul 12, 2020)

Wow! That was a real long time ago but I can remember it like it was yesterday.

I was terrified.  I remember the blackboard and a sort of curtain scroll that pulled down and I'm sure it was the vowels displayed.  Anyway it was all greek to me. We didn't have kindergarten.  We started in grade one and it was a full day except we were allowed a 15 minute break called recess in the morning and afternoon.  We were also allowed an hour and a half to go home for lunch.  I didn't want to go back. And our teachers were nuns which to me were strange.

But the most strange remembrance and it was the smell of the classroom.  There used to be a kind of clay stuff that you could mold into shape.  Like playdough.  It was called plasticene (sp).  Even now if I can smell something like it my heart starts racing just like the smell in a dentist's office.  It's funny about smells.  It stays with you for life. You just don't forget a smell.  It's indelibly inserted into your brain. My mother taught me how to identify the good mushrooms by the smell.  I can still identify the good ones easily when picking wild mushrooms.

My panic disappeared when we started to learn how to read.  I was really good at it.  And they used to take me to the next grade to read to the class.  

So share your experiences with me so that I don't think I was such a wimp.


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## Lewkat (Jul 12, 2020)

Vividly.  I carried on like a maniac, screaming and clinging to my mother, that they sent me home with her.  This went on for a couple of days.


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## Camper6 (Jul 12, 2020)

Lewkat said:


> Vividly.  I carried on like a maniac, screaming and clinging to my mother, that they sent me home with her.  This went on for a couple of days.


Thanks for that.  I remember pretending I was sick so that I wouldn't have to go. My mother said, o.k., then you will have to go to bed and stay there.   That cured me.


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## Wren (Jul 12, 2020)

Me too ! I was carried into school kicking and screaming, absolutely hated it, I’ve no idea why, but I hated it until the day I left.....


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## fuzzybuddy (Jul 12, 2020)

Yeah. My mom brought me to school at 8 AM. I guess my parents made school sound like fun, so I went willingly. When lunch came, I walked back home. I was six, and walking all by myself. Nobody thought that was unusual back in 1952. I ate, and left to walk back to school. Well, I decided to play along the way, and I got to school after the bell had rung Everyone was in class. I couldn't remember  which classroom was mine.  I walked all over the school, nothing looked familiar, so I went home. When I got home, my mom wanted to know why I was back so early. I told her they closed the school. She said "OK". Yup, I was "Absent" on my first day of school.


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## JaniceM (Jul 12, 2020)

I hadn't even thought of being taken to the next grade classroom to read til you mentioned it-  yes;  but not on the first day.

Kindergarten was our first experience with a structured environment.  Before then, we kids were at home.  My "gripe" to this day was the birthday deadline-  it meant some of us started school at 4 years old.  I recall a classmate who was a few months younger than I;  he was so scared that he didn't even want his picture taken.  
For some of us, it was even our first experience with children our own age.  

Kindergarten was full-day.  For the first day, though, parents had the option of taking their children home at lunchtime.  As my parents were the only ones who showed up for this, I was so embarrassed that I hid under the table.  The teacher didn't like this, so she took my ice cream away.  
Other than that, it was uneventful.  I went to school on the school bus and returned on it after school.  My father had the day off, and took "home movies" of me jumping off the bus .  

A few of us were so advanced that we didn't belong in Kindergarten, but the school had a policy of not promoting kids for that reason.  It occurred to me kids in that category had much-older siblings who "contributed" to our early learning.


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## Pinky (Jul 12, 2020)

My first day of school, Grade 1, I was 5 yrs. old. First time with a group of children my age. Not having been socialized, I was very lost - refused to join the circle on the floor at story time. I did better with learning how to print, and reading. All in all, not a pleasant time for me. I was an extremely shy child, and a loner despite having 2 older sisters.


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## Geezerette (Jul 12, 2020)

I loved it! I was the youngest kid on our block & the kids I played with were already there,so I could hardly wait to join them. I had new clothes & shoes & was just smiling ear to ear, & couldn’t figure out why some kids were pouting or crying and P-ing on themselves.


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## Ferocious (Jul 12, 2020)

*Anyone remember first day of school?*

*Hmmm.......like it was yesterday......we were all sat down in the cave and we were all given a hammer and chisel and a tablet of stone to write on. *


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## AnnieA (Jul 12, 2020)

Mine was okay.  Parents, teachers and kids all met up in the gym and kids weren't discouraged from playing, laughing.  So when teachers started dividing us up to go to the different classrooms, it felt like a game.   My first grade teacher was a kind, grandmotherly person so that helped.


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## Gardenlover (Jul 12, 2020)

I remember clinging to the chain link fence that surrounded the schoolyard, trying to hold back the tears. I pleadingly asked my dad how long I had to stay in this place and he laughingly replied, "12 years son, get used to it!" as he walked away.


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## jujube (Jul 12, 2020)

I had to walk a mile to school (but it was OK, it was downhill both ways...) and cross a major highway.  When winter came, it was pitch dark and snowy.  I had a flashlight and boots and enough clothes on for three kids; it wasn't considered child abuse for your young child to walk to school for a mile in the dark and the snow. 

I was still 5 when I started first grade, but lucky for me first and second grade were only half days.  There was no kindergarten available so it was all new to me.  I wasn't sure that I liked this new way of life.  

I was dyslexic.  Apparently nobody at my school had ever heard of dyslexia; I just "wasn't trying hard enough".  I had great teachers but really didn't like school until third grade when I finally learned to read.


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## Pappy (Jul 12, 2020)

It’s funny, but I still remember the smells the first day. Combos of cleaning fluids, wax, Clorox and just a real clean smell. And, how nice the floors looked.


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## Camper6 (Jul 12, 2020)

Ferocious said:


> *Anyone remember first day of school?*
> 
> *Hmmm.......like it was yesterday......we were all sat down in the cave and we were all given a hammer and chisel and a tablet of stone to write on. *


And the first graffiti in history came into print.


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## Camper6 (Jul 12, 2020)

jujube said:


> I had to walk a mile to school (but it was OK, it was downhill both ways...) and cross a major highway.  When winter came, it was pitch dark and snowy.  I had a flashlight and boots and enough clothes on for three kids; it wasn't considered child abuse for your young child to walk to school for a mile in the dark and the snow.
> 
> I was still 5 when I started first grade, but lucky for me first and second grade were only half days.  There was no kindergarten available so it was all new to me.  I wasn't sure that I liked this new way of life.
> 
> I was dyslexic.  Apparently nobody at my school had ever heard of dyslexia; I just "wasn't trying hard enough".  I had great teachers but really didn't like school until third grade when I finally learned to read.


My son likes to bug me when I talk about the good old days and school.

He tells me. "Tell us the story again when you had to walk to school in the winter on the ice and uphill with barbed wire tied around your shoes". Get outta my yard son.


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## jerry old (Jul 12, 2020)

Pissed myself on the first day of school during naptime.
That was the beginning of my academic slide.


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## jerry old (Jul 12, 2020)

deleted


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## Camper6 (Jul 12, 2020)

jerry old said:


> Pissed myself on the first day of school during naptime.
> That was the beginning of my academic slide.


I saw that quite often in fact you could hear it hitting the floor. Kids too scared to ask or know what to do. Usually boys.


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## Robert59 (Jul 12, 2020)

What school? Can't remember that far back.


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## jerry old (Jul 12, 2020)

Nope, not scared, confessed immediately...
'Go to boys room, clean yourself...'

Yea, your right, don't remember a girl wetting herself, only boys.

Hillcrest Elementary School 1947


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## Trippy Hippie (Jul 12, 2020)

It was in the mid 50's and I didn't have much difficulty settling in as I was a little social butterfly back then.


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## Sassycakes (Jul 12, 2020)

*Not only do I remember the first day of school the Nun who taught me remembered it when I had to bring something in her classroom when I was in the 8th grade. I knocked on the door to her classroom and when I walked in she said "Get the Buckets". She remembered how much I cried when I was in her class. Of course there was a reason I cried. I didn't want to go to school and miss being with my brothers 2 little boys that lived with us at the time. I wanted to be home with them.*


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## peramangkelder (Jul 12, 2020)

My Primary School in Adelaide in the 50's was like this one....minus the air-cons of course 
Lots of schools were like this to house the Baby Boomer kids
The schoolyard was mostly just dust but great place to play marbles
We would get the occasional 'willy-willy' like a small whirlwind dust storm in the schoolyard
I remember the first day I went to school and I was fine but by lunch time one of the boys was
so upset the teacher asked if anyone knew where he lived and I did so I took him home
He cried all the way back to his house but I felt very important indeed
I remember when it was very hot in Summer the bitumen on the roads would melt and stick to my shoes
The footpaths were just dirt but in Winter they were really sloshy so I wore galoshes


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## Kadee (Jul 12, 2020)

Yes I do I was 6 years cold when I started school ,the school is still standing but it’s been deserted for many years . I took this photo of the school this time last year when I passed through where I lived as a child on my way up to Queensland. 
It was a single building with 3 class rooms


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## CinnamonSugar (Jul 12, 2020)

Don't remember the *very* first day but I always loved the first day of the school year... new pencils, erasers, shoes...  My mom was big on finding a cigar box and covering it with contact paper (do they still make that??) for a pencil box.  I loved school.


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## Keesha (Jul 12, 2020)

Yes! I hated the first day of school. I was 4 years old and lived in England. The school  I was to go to had a huge brick wall around it so you couldn’t see any of the kids playing at recess and I didn’t like this but my mom still dropped me off.

I stayed all day and had a hot lunch with a cold bottle of milk along with rice or tapioca pudding. It was actually good. While there I learned a lot of words and remembered them.
The word LOOK has two eyes  in the middle.

Then we moved to Canada  and I had to wait to go to Kinder-garden and I hated it. It was only for half a day where I learned to finger paint and have naps on the floor with all kinds of other kids. I hated it and rebelled and haven’t stopped rebelling since


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## Fyrefox (Jul 13, 2020)

I can remember my first day of kindergarten, coming to school with a cool pencil box that the teacher promptly put on a shelf where it remained unused, thereafter to be taken home and left there.  What struck me as most unusual was the nap thing where we were expected to lie down on small rugs brought from home.  I sure wasn't tired or sleepy!  I later decided nap time was to give the teacher a break from _us_...


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## PamfromTx (Jul 13, 2020)

I didn't like school; I was a nervous wreck and would throw up every single day prior to going to school.  I was terrified.  I remember walking with my two older sisters and throwing up on our way to the school.  It was a short walk.  I finally stopped this habit and started to enjoy school and did my best to make good grades.  

I also walked home to eat lunch.


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## Pappy (Jul 13, 2020)

That first day back with the new clothes and shoes and wondering what room you will be assigned to. Always had some sort of pencil box, usually something with a cowboy theme.  Although I did have this type too.


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## JaniceM (Jul 13, 2020)

Fyrefox said:


> I can remember my first day of kindergarten, coming to school with a cool pencil box that the teacher promptly put on a shelf where it remained unused, thereafter to be taken home and left there.  What struck me as most unusual was the nap thing where we were expected to lie down on small rugs brought from home.  I sure wasn't tired or sleepy!  I later decided nap time was to give the teacher a break from _us_...


Oh I remember nap time too-  there were little cots and also mats.  
Afternoon milk for kids who brought in an extra dime. 

It wasn't the first day, but also "Show and Tell."  
And it seemed to be my parents' first experience of when a teacher said kids need to bring in something they must bring it the next day-  I had to get a little smock for art.  

In grades K-2 we ate lunch in the classroom, and the restroom was also in the classroom.


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## jerry old (Jul 13, 2020)

Grapevine
Even small children have their grapevine.
Within the first week, we first graders heard the macabe stories of the 3rd grade
teacher Miss Mockingmill, the terror of the elementary  school.
Her  reputation was well deserved.
She would swing her 18 inch ruler like Leatherface swung his chainsaw.


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## peppermint (Jul 13, 2020)

I started Kindergarten at 5 years old....I had to wait till it was in September....They put my cousin in a different room....We both cried our
eyes out....They wouldn't let us be together....My Mom also tried to get us both together....They did it by your first name....
Anyway....We went to that school till ninth grade, then went to High School for 3 years and graduated....
I never had any trouble in school....I just wanted to graduate to get a job and then marry my husband....(I met him in High School)


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## Sassycakes (Jul 13, 2020)

peppermint said:


> I started Kindergarten at 5 years old....I had to wait till it was in September....They put my cousin in a different room....We both cried our
> eyes out....They wouldn't let us be together....My Mom also tried to get us both together....They did it by your first name....
> Anyway....We went to that school till ninth grade, then went to High School for 3 years and graduated....
> I never had any trouble in school....I just wanted to graduate to get a job and then marry my husband....(I met him in High School)



*I went through the same thing in Grade school and even high School. I had a cousin Joan and in each school we were never in the same class room. I always wished we could have been together.*


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## JaniceM (Jul 13, 2020)

peppermint said:


> I started Kindergarten at 5 years old....I had to wait till it was in September....They put my cousin in a different room....We both cried our
> eyes out....They wouldn't let us be together....



Hopefully your school didn't have the policy mine had-  routinely holding kids back a grade if they were deemed 'socially immature.'  How 'mature' do they think Kindergartners needed to be, anyway?!?  

One classmate had an older brother in a higher grade.  Whenever he saw his brother in the hallway, he'd start crying 'Bobby, Bobby!  I want to go with Bobby!'  and for that, they made him spend an extra year in Kindergarten!


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## debodun (Jul 13, 2020)

Like it was yesterday. I started at a school that was a 300 ft walk from my house. All the neighborhood moms showed up with their kids on tow. Most of the kids were screaming their heads off and clinging to their parent. I even remember thinking what a bunch of wusses they were. One just wouldn't stop and he was a BOY! After a while the teacher had to call his mom to come and get him. He did eventually straighten out. This is a pic of the building that was used for the school. No longer a school, but since I don't live in that neighborhood anymore, I'm not sure what it's used for now. Also my pic my mom took that day long ago in front of the school.


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## katlupe (Jul 13, 2020)

I will never forget my first day of school. I was so shy that when we were sitting around our teacher in a circle on the floor while she was telling a story, I had to go to the bathroom. I was so afraid to raise my hand to ask to go, that I peed right there. Everybody jumped up! In fact, my boyfriend now, Sonny, was one of those children! He remembered it happening but did not remember it was me. 

One boy who lived near my grandmother's house, kept biting my arms at nap time. I did not tell anyone. I would pretend I was asleep because the teacher had a girl and a boy rag doll. The first girl to go to sleep at nap time, the teacher would put the doll next to you for your nap. I was almost always the first one to go to sleep. This boy though, would always be near me for nap time and then he'd bite my arm. Hard, I'd see his teeth marks. Well, one day when the bus came..........I refused to get on. My mother took me to the school after I told her what was happening. His mother was called and when he was questioned he said he did it because he liked me. Now he is my friend on FB and he told me that for his whole life his family kidded him about that!


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## katlupe (Jul 13, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> Wow! That was a real long time ago but I can remember it like it was yesterday.
> 
> I was terrified.  I remember the blackboard and a sort of curtain scroll that pulled down and I'm sure it was the vowels displayed.  Anyway it was all greek to me. We didn't have kindergarten.  We started in grade one and it was a full day except we were allowed a 15 minute break called recess in the morning and afternoon.  We were also allowed an hour and a half to go home for lunch.  I didn't want to go back. And our teachers were nuns which to me were strange.
> 
> ...


Now that you mention it, I remember that smell too! I forgot about that clay. Smells have been affected me my whole life and school was full of them. Like the mimeographed paper or the smell of the books. Back then though, I liked those strange smells.


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## debodun (Jul 13, 2020)

Rubber cement....


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## Camper6 (Jul 13, 2020)

debodun said:


> Like it was yesterday. I started at a school that was a 300 ft walk from my house. All the neighborhood moms showed up with their kids on tow. Most of the kids were screaming their heads off and clinging to their parent. I even remember thinking what a bunch of wusses they were. One just wouldn't stop and he was a BOY! After a while the teacher had to call his mom to come and get him. He did eventually straighten out. This is a pic of the building that was used for the school. No longer a school, but since I don't live in that neighborhood anymore, I'm not sure what it's used for now. Also my pic my mom took that day long ago in front of the school.
> 
> View attachment 113500
> 
> View attachment 113501


Nice straight legs. No rickets in that family.
I was so bowlegged they could pass a beer barrel through them without touching.


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## debodun (Jul 14, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> I was so bowlegged they could pass a beer barrel through them without touching.


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## Lovely Rita (Jul 14, 2020)

Being a 1st Grade Teacher most of my career I have had many of these first day of school experiences in my day. I have had criers, screamers, and ones that just wouldn't speak at all. My own experience though from what I can recall, I was dropped off by my mom and from what I remember my Teacher Miss Adams took me to my cubby area and I put my lunch box in there and she took me to my desk. I remember just being shy and it was hard for me to fit in.


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## Camper6 (Jul 14, 2020)

Lovely Rita said:


> Being a 1st Grade Teacher most of my career I have had many of these first day of school experiences in my day. I have had criers, screamers, and ones that just wouldn't speak at all. My own experience though from what I can recall, I was dropped off by my mom and from what I remember my Teacher Miss Adams took me to my cubby area and I put my lunch box in there and she took me to my desk. I remember just being shy and it was hard for me to fit in.


I think a lot of us were really shy and it took a long time to get over it.


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## Camper6 (Jul 14, 2020)

debodun said:


> View attachment 113611


I wasn't that bad.  I do remember a lot of kids with bowlegs.  I think it comes from being overweight while the bones are still developing. I know I was overweight.  Being overweight when I grew up wasn't frowned on like it is today.  We were encouraged to have a big appetite.


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## Lovely Rita (Jul 14, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> I think a lot of us were really shy and it took a long time to get over it.


I still am that way in many situations.


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## Pinky (Jul 14, 2020)

Lovely Rita said:


> I still am that way in many situations.


Me too, Rita.


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## Ceege (Jul 14, 2020)

I don't remember my first day.  It was in the country in St. Clair, Michigan.  A little 2 room school with kindergarten in one room and first grade in the other.  At second grade we took a bus to a new East China, Michigan school that, at that time, sat out alone in the country side.

Now, my son's first day went very well.  I took him to school for a half day session, went home, and worried about how much he would miss me.  I went to pick him up and when the bell rang he walked out holding hands with a little girl.  _He didn't miss me at all_.


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## Camper6 (Jul 15, 2020)

Pinky said:


> Me too, Rita.


It's sad that a childhood experience as innocent as the first day of school influences our whole life. And even sadder that those involved like teachers and parents didn't recognize it.


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## Kayelle (Jul 18, 2020)

I sure do remember the first day of kindergarten. 

I even remember the teachers name. Mrs. Keeler said "Now don't be a crybaby, look at Susan Reardon, she's not crying". Susan and I were classmates until we graduated from high school at the same school....she was a witchy little snit then and she still is now.


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