Being big, but not mature!?!

I am a saver. I save everything. I learned it from my mother. In fact today they have an entire industry devoted to what my mother did back in 1945---scrap-booking! I can go to my closet and pull out old scrapbooks and see who sent cards congratulating my parents on the birth of their first born. Of course my mother didn't use special cutting tools, expensive paper, or the correct adhesive, but I still have all those mementos to tell me who was thinking about me.

Recently I was going through some old manilla envelopes and found all my old reports cards and class pictures from grade school. I can see my mother storing these important papers in the back of the coat closet at the bottom of the stairs. It was where my mom kept her silver chest, the good wrapping paper, and family documents.

I felt a little trepidation about opening this envelope after so many years. Did I really want to know what those teachers thought of me? After all I am a teacher, I know the power and weight these words carry. Would they be words that made my parents proud of me or would they be words that made my parents worry about me?

Since I didn't go to Kindergarten, my initial report card was for first grade. From Mrs. Bertha Chausse's (Seated at the end of the front row on the right side.) comments, I can see that I wasn't very well prepared for entry into school. According to Mrs. Chausse, I definitely needed some improvement.

{Barbara didn't do too well on the test partly because she gets so “worked up.” She needs to relax and takes things a little more calm. This semester we will be stressing the addition combinations 1-10. Have her count blocks, pennies, clothes pins, etc. to begin with (4 pennies and 2 more). Still continue Library reading}

According to my attendance record, I missed 19 of the first 67 days of my school life. If my math skills have improved, then I was out almost one third of my initial foray into public education. Wow! I recall having chicken pox in first grade. My scabs dried up just in time for me to return to the classroom on the last day of school before Christmas break. It was the day of the Christmas Pageant. All the girls wore angel wings, but I didn't get to participant because I had been home sick. While everybody else was in the gymnasium/auditorium rehearsing, I stayed back with Mrs. Chausse and a girl who was “really, really poor” (as opposed to the rest of us children from factory-worker homes). Mrs. Chausse took the two of us to the locker/shower room. She washed this girl up, fixed her hair and put her in a new dress. I wonder what her parents had to say about the new dress and hairdo?!?

One of my first episodes of homesickness occurred in first grade. I was overcome with the need to go home! During one of the recesses I took off and tried to walk home. I got as far as the park across the road at the back of the schoolyard. I remember Mrs. Chausse talking me back into the school.

With having a July birthday in Indiana, I was among the youngest in my class. Unfortunately though I was among the biggest in my class with flaming red hair and a face full of freckles. By second grade I must have been feeling my oats because I made a real enemy of my second grade teacher, Mary Van Drew. (Third person seated from the left on the front row). In looking at the comments on my second grade report card, I feel she thought I should be more mature because of my size!?!

{Barbara could do much better in school if she would mind “Barbara's business”} Under PERSONAL AND SOCIAL GROWTH: Makes good use of time-she checked {NO and wrote in (too much visiting)}

One of my distractions in second grade was my cousin, Danny. I obviously didn't understand that I could not act the same way around my cousin in the classroom as I did on Friday nights at Grandma's house. If he dropped his crayons, I had to help him pick them up.

Fortunately for Mary Van Drew our classes were really over crowded and she got to dump (select) me in (for a transfer to) a second-third grade combination classroom with Mary Towne. Poor Mrs. Towne (First person seated on the left in front row) didn't do much better understanding that “big” in size didn't equate with “big” in maturity. I remember my mother bemoaning this transfer because I spent the rest of second grade only knowing what was being said in third grade. According to my report card, I missed 10 of the first 30 days in the new combo class and I had my first tardy. Mrs. Towne couldn't even bring herself to check yes or no for “Makes good use of time” during the first two grading periods of second semester. She printed {fair imp} over the blocks.

I hold very fond memories of third grade. My teacher was Elenora Stanford (Second person from the left seated in the front row). She had the nicest voice. It was the practice back then for the town kids to go home for lunch and for the bused kids to stay at school. Mrs. Stanford had 40 students that year with no teacher's aid. Half of our class could go home for lunch and she would still be caring for 20 kids. Mrs. Stanford introduced us to the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Everyday after lunch we would put our heads down and she would read us chapters from the “Little House Series.” Plus, I must have really struggled with cursive writing because the only hand-written note on my entire third grade report card refers to WRITING: Uses correct habits {tries}.

By the time I started fourth grade I think that I was feeling very confident about school in spite of being in a class of 42 students. I was getting mostly A's and some B's. I was even slamming “Arithmetic” with A's on the semester exams and A averages for each semester. However, according to the “NO” checks under Habits and Attitudes, Mary Laughlin (seated in the middle of the front row behind the school sign) thought I was still struggling with “Follows directions promptly, Practices self-control, and Is considerate of rights and properties of others.” I do remember one incident that brought me back to the attention of Mary Van Drew, my original second grade teacher. I was reported to Principal Warner (standing in the middle of the back row) by Mary Van Drew for shoving (not bumping) my teacher out of the way as we all raced to wash our hands and be the first in line. It was my misfortune that my mother was at the school that day working on a PTA project. Mr. Warner pulled her out of the meeting and told her what I had done. Needless to say my mother was embarrassed and I was made to apologize to Mrs. Laughlin. My parents didn't punish me at home though because they understood that size did not equate to self-control.

My last year at Waynedale was fifth grade with Helen Berkey (Third from the end on the right side of the back row). In spite of being in a large class of 44 students, she made school interesting and challenging---spelling bees, projects, book reports, etc. My dad got involved with subjects like Geography, Science, and History by helping me make buzzing quiz boards and light-up maps. Even though I can honestly say I loved Miss Berkey (she wrote one comment on the back of my report card, {Good work!}) my fondest memories were of the time spent across the street at Waynedale Methodist Church (not yet United). Almost our entire class (except for a few Jehovah Witness) would march over every Wednesday for some Bible study. We would memorize Bible verses and sing hymns. To this day in my head, I can still hear the “church lady” play THIS IS MY FATHER'S WORLD on that big grand piano. Strange what stays with us!?!