I wanted the part so badly because the bluebird sang.
I didn’t care about the acting or play acting part of it.
I just wanted to sing along. It was the first grade play or
pageant,and it was the first one I had ever remembered
being in. Boy I wish I could remember more about the song
or the play itself. Sadly I don’t… I just remember how
excited I was and that everyone got to participate. We could make
a costume or paint our faces.
My mother always was a great
seamstress. She could make the most delicate doll clothes and
turn around and make full on suits of clothes for men and women.
She taught herself mostly. She learned a lot from the neighbor lady,
who she still knows, some 57 years later. Mom sewed me a
hat that looked like a blue head with a beak and I helped
make some cardboard wings so that they were fastened by pieces of
elastic stapled to the wing. I was so happy being able to
flap around and sing the my little part of the program.
I will never forget there was a robin and a blackbird,
a cardinal and a chickadee. Another little girl played
the chickadee very well, I think she had a lot of relatives
in the audience because they just yelled and applauded
very loudly.
When first grade was over..second grade came
I was in many plays and many programs after that
little performance as the bluebird… I loved being
in the music class and the choir. I think it ran all
the way to the day I graduated when we sang at my
commencement. I look back at the tiny school
where I was the bluebird and think of how small
it looks now and very large it was to me back
then. Fond memories of days gone by.
Today it
houses the entire K-5th grade for the whole city.
Back in my day,there were at least 5 or 6 grade
schools and they were full of kids. The city thrived
with industry and sadly now it does not.
as a shock. I had a teacher, Mrs. Gaskell,
who really wanted us to WORK
do spelling and grammar and math and geography. I was
bummed out because I thought that school was all fun
and exciting plays and singing. I did okay in classes,
but I never will forget her, who taught me
what SCHOOL was all about and how to learn.
SHE is now over 90 years old I see and talk to her
occasionally. She is still as quick and bright as ever
her eyesight is failing and she may not know you right away
when she first sees you. She still lives alone and
uses the internet to communicate with her children
who live all over the country. She is one amazing woman
for sure. She ran the libraries in the school system
and her rules helped keep the place going smoothly.
She advanced right to the senior high level before
retiring. I don’t think there is one child who grew up
in town who went to the schools here in the 50′s all
the way to the 80′s who doesn’t have a story about her.
Such teachers are sure hard to find now days. When you
find one you wish your kid would have them for their
whole school experience.
Some charter schools do use
this method and the kids do very well. I think the bond
between the teacher and the student was one I always
treasured. To this day I can tell you the name of
every teacher I had in that grade school and some of the
ones I had in high school. Most of the grade school teachers
are no longer living but their memories are kept alive
in all us students who had them in our lives.
DID YOU HAVE A FAVORITE TEACHER IN GRADE
SCHOOL OR HIGH SCHOOL??
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HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY !!
P.S. Milk today was 2.77 at Meijer for all grades and selling
out quickly..
Gas was cheaper by almost 20 cents from one
Gas was cheaper by almost 20 cents from onetown 15 minutes away to my city ranging from 2.80 to
2.98…..
