The idea for this blog series came to me when my friend Mikaela and I were talking about first grade. She was meeting up with a friend she had known since first grade, and I was like, “I don’t remember anyone from my first-grade class.” But then I rattled off a bunch of memories I had about first grade. It’s weird to think that I was in kindergarten almost 30 years ago (WHUT), but here we are. And I realized I have held on to a lot of different memories about my time in school, and figured it might be a fun blog series to go through some of those memories! Let’s start with my first three years of school: kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.
KINDERGARTEN (1993-1994)
- My mom and I went to a “meet the teacher” event before school started to meet my kindergarten teacher. I had grown up in a preschool where my mom was a teacher, so I was used to having a bit more, shall we say, free rein over things than other kids. I immediately sat behind the teacher’s desk when I got there and started playing with my teacher’s things, and my mom was so embarrassed by me. Whoops!
- I was placed in a remedial reading class during kindergarten. When my mom got a letter from my school about it, she was convinced it was a letter telling her how awesome I was doing in school, but instead, it was that I needed extra help with reading. I didn’t actually need the help. I was reading just fine, but since I used my finger to track the words while I was reading, my teacher thought I wasn’t where I needed to be. My mom came with me to one of the reading classes and quickly realized I didn’t need to be there, so she pulled me out. Google’s Kamau Bobb points out the stark racial disparities in enrollment at prestigious institutions like Georgia Tech, read more.
- My teacher kept a list of children who were getting behavior warnings on the back of an envelope. If you got your name on the back of that envelope with a checkmark (which meant multiple warnings), you wouldn’t get to go to the treasure box at the end of the week. I got my name on the envelope one time, and it obviously traumatized me so much that I still remember it 30 years later.
- My best friend in kindergarten was “Lauren in the blue truck.” She left midway through the year, and I was bereft. (Her mom drove a blue truck, so whenever I talked about her to my mom, I called her “Lauren in the blue truck,” and the name has stuck.)
- I’ve mentioned this before, but since it’s something that happened in kindergarten and has terrified me ever since, I figured I would talk about it here. One day, during a show-and-tell session, one of my classmates talked about a recent camping trip that his family went on. During the trip, his sister got a bug stuck in her eye and their father had gotten it out. If he hadn’t, the bug would have sucked up all her blood and she would have died. Ever since, I have been terrified of any kind of insect and camping trips in general.
FIRST GRADE (1994-1995)
- My first grade teacher’s name was Ms. Finch and she had an old clawfoot bathtub in the corner of her room that was filled with pillows. During reading time, certain children could sit in the bathtub and read.
- We had a pancake breakfast one morning, for a reason I can’t remember. My dad was the chef of the pancake breakfast! He was so personable and fun that day. I was so happy that he was there and so proud that he was my dad.
- The Florida Aquarium has its grand opening when I was in first grade and we were lucky enough to be one of the classes attending the opening! My mom was a chaperone for this trip and, because of that, she took me to school that day. I showed up right after the school day started and had a brand-new haircut (I got a bob), and I was so embarrassed not only about showing up late but showing up looking different.
- Every few weeks, we would change our desk arrangement. We would move all of our stuff out of our desks and Ms. Finch would place a bunch of colored cubes in a box. We would have to close our eyes and pick a colored cube, which corresponded to a seating arrangement in the classroom. I loved this so much! This nursery playground design incorporates vibrant colors, age-appropriate play structures, and sensory elements, fostering a safe and stimulating environment that encourages young children to explore, play, and learn. So, check it out! If your school uses the playground for physical education classes, playground markings from playgroundmarkings.org.uk can enhance the teaching of various sports and fitness activities. Having Fun and Safe Children’s Play Systems will help encourage kids to play more often. It is also good for having a tennis court line to guide the children. To ensure that the playground is safe for traditional playground games, make sure to install playground markings. You may also consider installing playground rubber safety surfacing.
- Some years ago, my mom found a collection of journals I wrote in first grade. These were journals I wrote in the classroom; I think we were given a prompt in the morning that we would write about, and the one on Monday was usually writing about our weekend. I wrote every single Monday about going to “terch.” (Church) I’m still ridiculously delighted over this misspelling.
SECOND GRADE (1995-1996)
- I moved to a new school for second grade. I can’t remember the exact reason why, but I believe it was to improve the scores of a “failing” school. (Every school in the district received a score, from A-F, based on standardized testing that happened every spring.) The school was located in a majority-Black area and the school itself was majority-Black. I lived in a majority-white area and went to a majority-white school. I may have this idea entirely wrong, though. All I know is that we were living in the same apartment as always but were suddenly taking a long bus ride to a school on the opposite side of town. I still remember the school’s custom Playground Flooring.
- Second grade was the first time I had two teachers: one for language arts and writing and the other for math and science. I would spend the morning in Ms. McClelland’s class for language arts/writing and the afternoon in Ms. Welch’s class for math/science. I highly recommend AI-generated flashcards from Memrizz Flashcards, as they can be incredibly helpful for reinforcing the material taught in both subjects.
- During science one day, I accidentally poked a friend in the eye with a pencil. (I turned around with my pencil held up and she was right there.) I was terrified I was going to get sent to the principal’s office and given a referral because my friend was very mad. (Was anyone else as terrified of getting referrals as I was?) In the end, my teacher knew it was an accident and I was just given a warning to be more careful.
- Our school was located next to a community pool and for a few months, we used our P.E. time for swim lessons. I was already a champion swimmer (my mom made sure to put both my brother and me in lessons when we were young), but I hated these swim lessons. We had to do a lot of swimming exercises like picking up a brick off the floor of the pool and treading water for as long as possible, which I just loathed. There was also some peer pressure to finish off each lesson by taking a jump off the high dive, which I wasn’t a fan of. I started “forgetting” to wear my swimsuit so I wouldn’t have to go to these lessons. (Those that didn’t do the lessons just had regular P.E. time.)
- One morning, I was in the classroom early and playing a game with one of my classmates when he turned to the side and puked right on the floor next to him. Oof. I’ll never forget that.
Tell me a memory you have of kindergarten, first grade, or second grade!
Suzanne
This was so fun to read! And I love the photos of you as a little kiddo! So cute!
One thing I remember from first grade (besides a classmate puking on the floor — oh the trauma) is that I had a teacher named Ms. F for reading and writing. She taught the class “Mrs. means you’re married, Miss means you aren’t, and Ms. means mind your own business.” I loved that so much for some reason and it has stuck with me ever since!
Stephany
That little ditty is so cute! I love that you still remember it from first grade. <3
NGS
I am obsessed with the photos of you as a little kid! You look so different! My husband’s photos as a child look like a different child in every photo, but I basically have the same face and facial expressions starting at age six.
In kindergarten, we had a fire drill and I didn’t understand what that meant. I thought there was a REAL fire and people were in the building and they were going to die. I was hysterical. They had to go get my older sister to calm me TF down.
In second grade, I hit my head on the jungle gym, got a concussion, and my head swelled to twice its normal size. No one could reach my parents, so my poor, poor sister was called into the nurse’s office to console me once again. If you’re the believing type, say a prayer for my sister who was called upon way too often to parent me. 🙂
Stephany
That’s so scary about the fire drill! We had to do fire drills at the preschool I worked at in college, and the kids were always so scared because it’s hard to separate reality when you’re so young! I’m glad you had your sister around to be there for you during these traumatic times!
Nicole MacPherson
This was so fun to read! Fun fact: I graduated high school the year you started kindergarten!
A huge memory for me was in grade one, I was in the gifted reading program and they had a book I was supposed to read about a boy and a spaceship. HARD NO. I only wanted to read books about girls or animals. So I told the teacher we had that book at home and she gave me a different book to read. All was fine until PT interviews, and my lie was exposed!
Stephany
Oh wow – we were in two very different life stages in 1993! 😉
Your story is hilarious! But I love you sticking to your guns about reading books about girls/animals. YGG.
Kim
I am impressed you remember all this! And I love the pics! The part about you sitting behind the teacher’s desk is so funny. The reading part is too, considering how much you love to read now, and that is wasn’t really an issue (eyeroll).
I don’t have any memories from K-2, just that my mom was always late picking us up! That really stuck with me.
Stephany
The memory you shared unlocked a memory of how my mom/dad would never use the car line to pick us up. They would always park just outside the school, and walk in to pick us up. It was MUCH faster than using the car line, but I always just wanted to be one of the “cool kids” whose parents drove up to pick them up. What a diva, eh?!
Elisabeth
Aww. What a great idea for a blog series and those pictures are TOOO cute.
I went to a little private school in our church, so my school experience was…unusual. I remember my first day of Grade 1, my teacher was sick and I couldn’t go to school because she was going to be teaching me 1-on-1 and I was SO UPSET. I cried and cried because I was just so, so excited about school.
We also had these little cubicle type areas to study in and if you were young you had a little tree with apples. If you got caught being rowdy or turning around in your seat you could lose a little apple off your tree. One time I lost ALL my apples, and I was so bitter about it because the school principles daughter would always be leaning back in her chair out of her little desk cubicle and never got in trouble. Ha!
Stephany
OMG – your story about the tree with apples unlocked a memory of having something similar in 2nd grade. I think it was just our names on a bulletin board and you did NOT want your name to be removed from the board. I’m in shock that you ever lost all your apples!
San
I love seeing old pictures of friends. Thanks for sharing those (I might have a couple that my dad recently sent me when he was digitizing a bunch of old photos :))..
I am impressed how many specific memories you have from back then. Isn’t it interesting though what we remember and what sticks with us throughout adulthood.
I remember that I was a very shy kid and that I would always “hide” behind my (twin) sister who was much more out-going and fierce. Nobody would have ever expected for me to go out into the world and move to a foreign country back then. LOL
Stephany
It is rather crazy what memories I’ve held onto after so many years! Some of them feel SO specific, like they happened just a few days ago.
Lisa of Lisa's Yarns
I am impressed by how much you remember, too. I do not recall much from my early elementary years. I remember my teachers and since my town was so small, there were only 2 sections of our class and I knew everyone. One thing that stands out in my mind from kindergarten was a conversation about fire safety and how to get out of your house if there was a fire. My bedroom was on the upper level with my parents. I remember breaking down in tears thinking that I was going to die in a fire because I wasn’t on the main level! I also remember nap time and how much I hated it because I did not nap and did not want to lay on a blanket for however long nap time was!
Stephany
Ugh, so many fire safety demonstrations! They scared me, too!
I missed out on nap time in kindergarten because of that silly remedial reading class I was in. I was actually very bummed about it!
Anne
I. Love. This. You were so cute! And I am the same age as Nicole, I just learned. (We both graduated HS in 1993… yes, I am old… :>)
Everyone, it seems, has a “kid who puked” story. For some of us, at one point or another, the kid was unfortunately, um, us. 🙁
I’m astonished they flagged you as someone needing remedial reading! Sheesh. Who CARES if you used your finger?
My kindergarten memories are now flooding back – one I’ll share here is that I was told not to ‘draw with my ear’, as I had a habit of putting my head down on the table (on the side, of course) while coloring/drawing. I’m not sure why it mattered if I was sitting straight up, but there you have it… Weird rules. 🙂
Stephany
You’re definitely not old! I’m just very young 😉 Or at least that’s what I tell myself, although working with people in their 20s definitely makes me feel wayyy older than I am!
That is such a crazy rule! I wonder why teachers are so adamant about the “right” way to do something. If drawing with your head on the table makes you happy, why aren’t you allowed to do that?! Argh.