I started school in Ray North Dakota. It was my first day of first grade. Away from home..strange town, strange school..my Dad was part of a road construction crew. We were in North Dakota just for the summer..but apparently we stayed into the school year.
That is me and my baby brother. It was not his first day of school..I am not quite sure why he was in the picture..probably just because he was cute. We are standing just outside the door of that wicked trailer house. It had an improper ground and if you touched the sides of the door as you went in you got a shock. I hated getting that shock.
Here we are arriving at school in a 1955 Chevy. I think it was green.
Doris Kaatz, Carey, Deann, Connie and Mike 1957
I am not sure of the little boy in front..he must belong to Doris..but I cannot remember his name. This was another family who was out on “the road” for the summer. All the kids played together…jacks and marbles being my favorite. ( I wonder what happened to these kids? )
It must have been a cool morning since we all have jackets on. I remember nothing of the school day..other than I was scared because I knew no one. I remember these photos being taken and some others from that time..but school..nope no memories of a teacher or anything.
What do you remember if anything about your first day of first grade? :)
Love it!
ReplyDeleteI remember absolutely nothing. I know I was there, but I don't even know where "there" was, since we moved so often as a military family. I think it was in California somewhere, maybe Fairfield, but... nothing more. You have those pictures, which help recall those days. I know what it feels like to be going to school with kids you don't know. Bet you knew some of them before a week went by! :-)
ReplyDeleteOne room country school, my mother was the teacher of all 8 grades, there was one other girl in the 1st grade with me, outhouses in back, pump out front, not a tree within miles. You were an adorable 1st grader! (I learned to drive in an aqua 1955 Chev!)
ReplyDeleteI don't remember my first day at school but I do remember my daughter's first day of kindergarten. She was so excited about going to school that she was sitting out on the front steps waiting for the school bus. I was so glad she felt that way about it. I guess I had talked up school so much that she was eager to go.
ReplyDeleteI remember not wanting to be there. My brother drove school bus, so it was treat to go to school with him, but I expected to go home when my mother picked him up. Wrong! I remember crying and crying, but I had to stay there. Only one other memory of that year remains: a boy was caught chewing gum and told to put it away (meaning to throw it away), so he put it in his pocket, and cried at recess because he couldn't get it out. The rest of the year is a blur.
ReplyDeleteI loved playing jacks, too.
Long walk through the bush, new prickly clothes, worry, fearful, holding the hand of my older boy next door neighbor whom I totally looked up to. Pages taped to a brick wall, with names on it, and crowds of kids.
ReplyDeleteMom! don't leave me here alone....and that's it.
The next year I went alone....couldn't find the correct papers that everyone else found, and didn't know which class I was in, long empty hallways, doors all closed, ran all the way home a few miles....crying.
Mom sent me right back again.
No helicopter parents in those days.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
I remember them all but I wasn't in shock about being on the road. We didn't have the first day of school pictures but mom was just glad to get the four boys out of the house and not have to feed them a noon meal.
ReplyDeleteI remember being doted upon by two older girls (daughters of friends of my parents) in the playground, and being very, very quiet and shy. The last part lasted for a few more years.
ReplyDeletePeace,
Muff
I remember I was scared to death! And, even to this day, when I'm scared I have to go to the bathroom. The teacher let me go. I got lost. The Principal found me and took me back to class. I was mortified!
ReplyDeleteI remember different things about school, but all I remember about the first day is being nervous, very nervous. I was very shy and quiet. I don't think I spoke a word all through kindergarten. Our school playground butted up to our backyard. My sister has almost all of our old family photos. Someday I'd love to go through them and see if my mom took any first day of school pictures.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos from your first day of first grade! Great memories, too. I remember my first grade teacher and a couple things from that year. I knew I wanted to be a teacher that year because Miss Foster was so nice and she got to put stickers on our papers when we did good work.
ReplyDeleteSweet pictures. I remember crying for mama. The teacher was an elderly lady from our church and she held me in her lap most of the day (can you imagine that happening today?)
ReplyDeleteYou are right: a trailer house like that would indeed be wicked! Maybe that shock set the tone for how you felt about everything else there in that town. No wonder you don't even remember the school!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the first day, but it was a parochial school because I was too young to get into first grade at five and had never been to kindergarten. Grades 1-3 were in one room and 4-6 were in another room. I just remember I had been nervous but fell in love with school quickly. School was a place where I got approval. Was allowed to go around and help other kids when I was finished...even kids older than I was. Had a wonderful couple years there...and then got transferred to public school. :( I thought I had gone to hell. Suddenly I wasn't allowed to talk or walk around and was in trouble all the time. But by the time I managed to get through third grade I had figured out public school and things got better. Luckily I never lost my love of school and learning. that nasty teacher didn't beat it out of me. ;)
ReplyDeleteWe had a light bulb with a chain pull in the basement by the washer and dryer that would shock you like that!! I hated to have to turn the light on down there!!! I could almost feel the jolt when you were talking about the trailer door. How did we survive--LOL! :):)
It's a good thing you have these pictures to help with some of the memory. I think very few of us on the "far side of fifty" remember the first day of school. I remember gr. one but not the first day...no way.
ReplyDeleteAn appropriate post for me, I started back to school today myself. I think the first day of school is the worst, I hate to think of having to go to a new school.
ReplyDeleteOh, such cute pictures! Starting a new school is always so hard.
ReplyDeleteBecause I had three younger sisters, my mother asked a neighbor girl to walk with me to school. She could have been a fourth or fifth grader. It seemed like all the other children had their mothers lined up around the room watching what was happening. One of the two teachers in the room told me I was a big girl to come to first grade on the first day all by myself. Some of the children cried, some didn't. There were over sixty students in the class. The two teachers were sisters. There was a second room called the Activity Room. Sometimes Miss Mildred took part of us over there for classes.
ReplyDeleteMy mom had a photo of my first day of school. I never found it when she passed away. I kept hoping one of my siblings would show up with it.
ReplyDeleteI have a gnawing in my heart when I see all of your lovely ones (being the 8th kid, I think my parents were just worn out and maybe couldn't even afford film. who knows.)