A few people's blogs have been waxing nostalgic lately, so, I thought I'd go there too. Back to a time when "dinner time was all you had to know.." Back to before I could spell angst, never mind suffer it. Back to an oh, so much simpler time for children.. Back to school my friends.......Elementary my dear Watsons.
By mid-August every year the anticipation would start to build. Vacation was nearing an end, but it had been fun, as usual. We weren't near a beach and we didn't have fire hydrants to open, so it was sprinklers, and hoses, and inflatable pools, for us. As long as there was no thunder or lightening we could even go out and play in the rain (I think that was the best). Like most 50's families, we had only 1 car, so we would wait for Dad to get home to take us to the town lake for 1/2 hr. before supper (at 5:30). During the day there were games of Monopoly on someone's rickety ol' picnic table -or Sorry -or Parcheesi -or Life -or card games of Old Maid -or Fish -or War (no one had a Clue game - - I didn't get a clue til much later...badumpbump). We girls, still played with dolls until we were 10 or 11 yrs old. This was pre-Barbie, but I had a Ginny doll, a Betsy Wetsy, a Tiny Tears, and an 18" generic teen-age doll that my aunt made 6 or 7 outfits for, including the de rigueur wedding ensemble. We had a favorite little copse of small pines that we could divide up into rooms by mounding up "walls" of pine needles. These were our houses and we'd bring out our toy dishes and hang our children's clothes on the branches...and...'idyllic' comes to mind. But, I digress....I often do.
So, now, back to Back-to-school. As Labor day approached the preparations were well underway. New school shoes, New school dresses (pants for girls were still 15 yrs away), New lunch boxes w/a thermos that never got used because we bought milk at school [remember those red plastic octagonal chits you handed in ??], New pencil boxes w/pencils and a pink eraser.
Then the bus arrived and you got to meet and greet the kids from across town whom you hadn't seen all summer. I'm not sure how it was decided, but somehow during that first week [3 days], I was usually appointed bus monitor. This meant that I had a badge [cool - huh?] and one of those one-shoulder-around-the-waist strappy things to put it on. As the bus approached, I got everyone into two lines....1 for the boys and 1 for the girls. Yep, that was me..perpetrating [of course, neither I, nor any other kid, knew it at the time]. We did everything in two lines - in and out to recess - go to lunch or anywhere - sing at assembly - eat in the cafeteria - everything was divided boys/girls - No Prob - never gave it a second thought - Honest Native American. Remember, we were still playing with dolls and there were only three stations on the T.V. (b&w).
Next, you'd get into your new classroom and pick a desk next to your friends. The 1st thing your teacher would do is re-arrange you in alphabetical order. I can only figure that this was the least arbitrary way that the teacher had of preventing these potentially chatty and disruptive cliques from forming. Whatevah ! Next on the Agenda - New Crayons - YAY. Those nice big fat half moon shaped ones. Is there anything more joyous than a new box of crayons?!? ( ya ya, I know, there's lots - -I'm just "wax"ing poetic) Then came the back-to-school activity that I never really understood. We would get at least 2 grided oaktag sheets with upper and lower case letters and numbers printed on them. Then we would cut them into individual 1/2" squares and put them into a small cardboard box. I don't remember ever using them for anything, except, maybe, as markers for the bingo games we played for indoor recess. But every year we would cut them out.
During that first week we tested for our Reading Groups. This established the power base for the upcoming year. The better readers, like myself, got more privileges [ jobs, actually ]. Helping with the remedial programs, collecting the milk chits, working in the kitchen running the dish machine - Ah, bus monitor ! The less better readers got to pass out and collect up papers, clap erasers, and put the balls and ropes away after recess.
Whenever I see that Staples ad with the parent dancing around the aisles, gleefully tossing stuff into the cart while announcing "They're going back...!". I think - - - "Indeed" ..and I smile.
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