Your first school

   / Your first school #1  

orezok

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My first school was in a small town in eastern Pennsylvania. It was a small stone and brick building that was very old when I attended in the 50s. As I remember, it was dog one shaped with 4 classrooms at the corners and 1 or 2 in the middle of the bone. It was 2 story so about 10 classrooms. The upper floor classrooms were connected by a corridor which we called the cloak room and it consisted of benches on both sides and hooks on the walls to hang your coat.

Now the amenities. It still had a bronze bell in a bell free and it was used to announce the start and end of school and start and end of recess. The rope for the bell was in the cloak room. We stayed in the same classroom all day and the teacher taught all subjects and determined how much time was spent on each. No bell schedule.

Air conditioning? Yeah, open a window which were huge. Heat, well there was a coal fired boiler in the basement and radiators. I never was down there, but occasionally they left the doors open and you could see the monster.

There were stairs at each end of the building. As I remember, they were 5 feet wide and made of some smooth grey stone. When I was there in the fiftys, there was a groove worn in the tread on the closer side as it was the most used, Probably a quarter inch deep.

Back then, every school had a nurse. I an remember visiting her a couple of times for scrapes and bumps. The classrooms had the original slate blackboards and at the end of each day a student was assigned or volunteered to go out side and clap the felt erasers to knock the dust off.

I do not know when it was built, but it is still in use and must be close to 100 years old. What was your first school like?
 
   / Your first school #2  
Ridgeway R-V school. All twelve grades.

Building was fairly new, built in 1950, I went to 1st grade in 1957. Small school with 15-20 kids in each grade.

Cleaned the erasers on a spinning wheel like a bench grinder. Oh the Horror!!! To let a kid run such a beast!!!! :)

Had a milk machine in the hall. .02 for a cup of white or chocolate milk. In waxed cardboard containers. Chest type cooler. Insert pennies, slide the carton to the gate area and lift it out.

The Cafeteria was in the gymnasium, separate building, bundle up in the Winter, tough it out in the rain, stay in single file and walk....

The community raised kids then. I was very Blessed. Month ago I went to my 3rd and 4th grade teacher's funeral. I loved that woman. She always treated us as her own.


20191219_141531.jpg
 
   / Your first school #3  
Ridgeway R-V school. All twelve grades.

Building was fairly new, built in 1950, I went to 1st grade in 1957. Small school with 15-20 kids in each grade.

Cleaned the erasers on a spinning wheel like a bench grinder. Oh the Horror!!! To let a kid run such a beast!!!! :)

Had a milk machine in the hall. .02 for a cup of white or chocolate milk. In waxed cardboard containers. Chest type cooler. Insert pennies, slide the carton to the gate area and lift it out.

The Cafeteria was in the gymnasium, separate building, bundle up in the Winter, tough it out in the rain, stay in single file and walk....

The community raised kids then. I was very Blessed. Month ago I went to my 3rd and 4th grade teacher's funeral. I loved that woman. She always treated us as her own.


View attachment 638762

For me: There was no kindergarten.

Started school in 1945, at age 5, three grades in each room.
Then two grades in each room.
Mother was teacher for both 3rd and 4th grades (ugh).
Eight grades in entire school.(approx. 90 students total).

9th thru 12th in adjoining town.
 
   / Your first school
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Looking at that picture I notice the cursive letters in the background. I remember when a capital Q looked like the number 2
 
   / Your first school #5  
Looking at that picture I notice the cursive letters in the background. I remember when a capital Q looked like the number 2


Remember the Big Chief tablets that had a solid dividing line for Capital letters and a dotted line for lower case?


My Granddaughters are 16, 14 and 10. They weren't taught cursive. Or how to spell. They are issued a laptop computer and all their homework is done on it......
 
   / Your first school #6  
I attended 1st grade in this building in Hallstead, Pennsylvania in 1952....picture taken in 2004.

Hallstead School001r.jpg
 
   / Your first school #7  
Mine met the wrecking ball in 2017. They had an open house a month or two before it was demolished so me and some old classmates went to visit. Everything looked bigger to us back then. They were building a new school right behind it on our former playground which was huge. Back then it was also a giant septic field. They had a pump house for it that we called The Stink House. I think in later years they connected it to city sewer even though it is outside city limits. The replacement school got a different name which i think was dumb.
 
   / Your first school #8  
My school that I attended 1-12 had some remodeling as I grew up but was closed down the year after I graduated. Now there is nothing there but a few weeds. It took the school district many decades after closing before they could afford to demolish it since it had asbestos in it. I graduated in 1967 and it was just a few years ago when they finally got it demolished and cleaned up. I dont know if they really got the asbestos abated or just torn down and hauled all the concrete and bricks away. The brick building part was build in the 40's right after WWII ended. When I started 1st grade, some of the schools lower grades were still in the original wooden structure. I have no idea when it was built but my mom and dad went to school there also. This was torn down and rebuilt in the early 60's. I think I was in about the 4th grade when the school switched over to propane from heating with wood. The kids had to bring in the wood from the wood pile to put in the stove in each classroom.
I had 26 in my graduation class. Classed continued shrinking yearly and finally in 1968 (right after de-segregation) they combined black and white school into one. Everyone went to the black school since it was newer and had air conditioned classrooms whereas my old school only cooled by opening a window, not even a fan in it. Now that school is also gone and kids from where I grew up have to travel at least 15+ miles to the closest school. There isn't much incentive for kids to stay there when the grow up as there is no industry other than farming and much of the small family farms have been absorbed into large tract acreage farms consisting of many thousands of acres per farm.
 
   / Your first school #9  
Atended school during summer in order to be out during peak of fall hearvest. 2 class rooms,,first through third in one and 4th through 6th in the other,2 teachers in 1950. Pledge Allegianc following role call. Good behavior and grades earned right to lead pledge. Lunch room in separate,stand alone building and 2 stand alone outhouses. Bell on tall post to start/end day and recess. Good grades and behavior earned bell ringer duty(girls did most the ringing). Raise hand for permission to speak,time out for speaking without permission,board of education for habitual offenders. All students in class stood and walked in single file to/from lunch and recess. Most boys and a few girls carried pocket knife all 12 grades. I'd like you to guess what two issues earned more discipline than all others combined and I will tell you later. Many elementary students have a crush on their teacher but how many still have one over 65 years later? Truly a class lady that I will always hold in my heart. Bus driver was a cut-up,waving,honking and shout out greetings to farm animals and suchr to amuse kids. Played hooky once in 12 years and was bored and miseriable. Should have planed ahead and stashed out fishing pole the night before. Seldom a day when I don't apply what that first teacher instilled. Never take more than you can eat,an idle mind is the devil's playground,be reaspectful of elders (need to apply this is seldom now days),think twice before dis-agreeing then once more after speaking,you are bound to reap what you sow and one I wish every man would apply. Treat every female like you want others to treat your sister. The answer to the discipline question is,,,,,,,,,,speaking out of turn and chewing gum in class.
 
   / Your first school #10  
I can't remember much about my first school, but I do remember this one. It is a one room school house; all eight grades, one teacher, no running water; a pot belly stove for heat in the Winter and open windows in the Spring and Fall. It was named "Chapman" school, near Pierce City Missouri.

Jolly Mill - Joplin MO Life

P.S. My Dad used to take us trout fishing at the Jolly Mill. I caught a HUGE one on a grasshopper.
 
 
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