Give Me Five Monday: August 26, 2009

first of all, yes, i know it's not Monday. i'm rebelling. =P but the topic was appropriate, what with school just starting again in my neck of the woods, and me being ready for some Autumn weather. (wishful thinking but, hey, state of mind, right?)



Give Me Five back to school memories.

1. new school supplies. i used to get giddy (oh, who am i kidding? still do!) at the prospect of brand new pens, notebooks, binders, folders. i would scour the sale ads that would come in the Sunday paper. and then i would cruise the special "seasonal" aisles, in search of the perfect supplies for that year. (this was back in the day when you still had some choice in what supplies you would use, because your class list would tell you "blue pens, Number Two pencils, two 3-subject spiral notebooks, etc" but you could still choose the brands & styles you wanted. i've seen recent supply lists & holy specific!) once i had acquired them all, i would label them all carefully and assemble them in my (brand new, of course!) backpack. and then for the next month, i would peer in at them with glee & anticipation. kind of like i do now when a new office supply order is delivered. heh.

2. a new classroom. teachers do a lot of work to get their classrooms ready & decorated for their students. i think i appreciated it from a very young age. i used to be so excited to see the wall decorations and the learning centers, the calendar and the bulletin boards, the name tags on lockers and desks. there is just something about a freshly prepared classroom that i found exciting. and it wasn't just for "back to school"--i was excited to see the changes that would come with each new month. what would the new theme be? what new shape would my name tags take on? why yes, i was a geek. why do you ask? =P

3. third grade. i went to a small Lutheran school from nursery school through eighth grade. the school was two floors. the main floor had the gym, the main office, the nurse's office, the library, and the Kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms. i remember the year i started third grade. it was the first year that i would be upstairs. this was a big deal to me, for some reason. the upstairs was a mystery to me. the Big Kids were up there. and teachers i only saw in the mornings when we would line up to go inside or at school assemblies. to be grown up enough to have your classroom on the second floor must mean you had arrived. i remember the first time i walked in line, up those dimly lit stairs, turning at the landing to climb the second half of the flight...and feeling so old. i was all of seven years old (my October birthday meant i was always one of the youngest in my class) & i thought i was so grown up. oh sweet little Dawn.

4. sixth grade. Mr Ryskowski. this was the first time i had a man for a teacher. if i thought i had arrived in the third grade, when i got to go upstairs, then this was *really* the big time. big kids got male teachers! female teachers were for babies! (here's a twist of irony for you: the classroom i climbed those stairs to in third grade? same classroom i had for sixth grade too. they had switched around the classroom layout when i was in fourth grade. so, two huge, in my mind, milestones revolved around that one classroom.) also the first time i would change classrooms during the day! keep in mind that this was a small school. we would only rotate between 3 classrooms with the seventh & eighth graders. Mr R taught English, Mrs Higgins taught history, and Mr Moll taught science. the other subjects were handled by our "home room" teachers. but still! a man for a teacher! changing classrooms! the trauma of having to change into gym clothes in the locker room! this was the big time!

5. starting high school. remember that small school i mentioned? well let's keep in mind i graduated eighth grade with about fifteen kids, most of whom i had gone to school with since i was 3. in a school that had ten classrooms. my high school? was public. three floors & about ten *million* classrooms. i had more kids in my homeroom than my entire graduating class the year before. and my two best friends when to different high schools. to say i was in absolute shock for the first couple of weeks years would not be an understatement. i walked around with eyes the size of saucers, mute, just trying to navigate an environment that was so unfamiliar i might as well have been in a foreign country. i knew all of a half dozen people in the whole building & if i caught a glimpse of one once a week, that was something. it was a LOT for a quiet, shy girl to take in. i'm pretty sure i said about a dozen words without actually be forced to speak because i was called upon. i would eventually meet some new people & make some new friends & talk enough to get Chele & myself some stern looks, but i remember that first day in that big building & my hands still get a little sweaty even after nineteen years.