I went to fifth and sixth grade in a small school house that was seven miles from the farm. It had two large rooms. There were cloak rooms on one end and bathrooms off of the other end, and a huge expanse of windows to the east or the west depending on if you were in the sixth grade or the fifth grade.
A kindly old lady ( Mrs. Zeller) was the fifth grade teacher, she had been teaching for years. The sixth grade teacher was a shy young man (Mr. Cox) he was probably right out of college.
We walked from this school to the grade school everyday for gym and for lunch, it wasn’t far, less than a block away. There was a gymnasium in the basement of our building, but we were not allowed to use it.
In my opinion the best thing about our school yard was the big old metal merry go round.
We would start with a child at each space and one in the middle, if you were in the middle you had to find a spot to hang on when your head started spinning and you were too dizzy to stand up. The best runners would run as fast as they could around and around..then IF you were daring..and I was.. you would hop on and throw your legs over the bar and lock them in place and bend over backwards and feel the wind in your face. and watch the world go by upside down. We would play on this merry go round before and after school everyday rain, shine, snow, ice..Minnesota school kids are a hearty bunch or we used to be. I did hear a rumor that the kids nowadays don’t like to wear snow boots to school.
I watched these children trying to get the hang of this old fashioned merry go round..it was fun to watch..no one was bending over backwards looking at the world upside down..but they were having a good time:)
Oh my! I remember more than a few light-headed and dizzy moments from such a contraption!
ReplyDeleteMy grade school was torn down - and the spot is now a huge parking lot for Merck and Co.
I remember the metal monkey bars, I fell off and ended up with stitches in my chin. I gratuated with only 17 kids and there was only 5 boys and the rest of us were girls!
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful to be able to see the places that had meaning to you when you were growing up. I also played on the merry go round, but I never thought to be so daring. Why am I not surprised that you were so adventurous?
ReplyDeleteReally brings back memories. I to went to school in the country and every time I see the kids get on the bus or playing in the school yard it triggers wonderful memories !
ReplyDeleteOh baby, I feel off of a big old merry go round once when it was goin' fast. I was young and instead of lettin' go, I hung on. Needless to say I was skinned up pretty bad. The dang thing was on gravel. 'Nuff said...........
ReplyDeleteGod bless ya and have yourself a fun day!!!
I remember doing that and also climbing on monkey bars too. Now they've gone and made everything so safe you can't even get any speed up on a merry-go-round and you're totally caged in......monkey bars...they're a thing of the past too.
ReplyDeleteMemories - we had our wedding reception there....that merry go around wasn't from the osage school area was it? I remember playing on one but other than the park in PR not sure where...
ReplyDeleteWow, that sure brought back some memories! I grew up with one of those too. I will never forget the day in 3rd grade when we had our recess cut short because one of the students lost his glass eye under the merry-go-round. All of us had to go back inside while the teachers helped the little boy find it. Poor kid!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend,
The Duchess
I remember those days too!
ReplyDeleteThose merry-go-rounds are fun. We had one with bench seats and two or three "pumps". That thing could really fly. Growing up in upstate NY, we, too, played outside for recess every day - - except when it rained.
ReplyDeleteWe still have those merry go round things in a playground near here. Once I pushed the kids and their friends around so fast, that one of the friends was sick!
ReplyDeleteI remember those merry go rounds. I went on them as a child and even took my girls on them. So much fun!
ReplyDeleteI missed country school by one year. It would have been a few miles away so we walked a dirt road when it rained to hit a bus.
ReplyDeleteWe had a merry-go-round similar to that one and monkey bars, too. Maybe it taught kids to be careful when they weren't so overly protected. ;)
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