Last night's "This American Life" TV show was about "making history". What gets remembered, essentially. One segment involved school pictures and high school, and how inadequate a picture is to remember certain years. Which actually led me to think about what I remember of elementary school, in particular.
Kindgergarten, Mrs. Lichner:
-I remember the layout of the classroom exactly, with the play area to the left of the blackboard, and the letter people along the back wall of the classroom, near the ceiling. The bathrooms were mini-sized, and only the kindergartners used them.
-I remember making some sort of Thanksgiving food item. Crabberries, maybe?
-I remember sitting in the hall with a volunteer mom (?) and telling her one of my mom's recipes.
-I couldn't tie my shoes. Which was cause for some worry, maybe?
First Grade, Mrs. Miller (?):
-Art colored too hard with his crayons, which was BAD, because it meant his parents always had to buy him new ones.
-I went down to Mrs. Reynolds classroom for enrichment, and though I don't remember what that entailed, I do remember that at one point, one of the first graders had a full body cast on. That was very interesting and exciting for a kid.
-I had a speaking part in the Xmas program.
-At the end of the Halloween parade, they called anyone who was "Anything Else" which included me, a Strawberry.
Second Grade, Mrs. Kanies:
-I liked Mike, who sat next to me.
-I knew what grades were.
Third Grade, Mrs. Pool:
-I remember learning what the word essay meant, and that it was actually essay and not SA.
-We made butter, with carrots. To make it yellow.
-We did an exercise where we were supposed to listen to music and draw based on the music.
-Someone (possibly Timmy?) said I was sexy in my jean skirt, which I thought meant I should walk around with my thumbs hooked through the belt loops.
Fourth Grade, Mrs. Godden (?):
-This is where things get hazy. I remember reading a book during a classroom learning game that was too easy for me.
-I think this was the year we visited the Stock Exchange, and I think my dad went with as a chaperone? This is what my memory tells me happened, but I don't know the veracity of it.
-This was also the year my dad told me I didn't want to be a lawyer, because would I really want to lie as a job? Turns out that he was right. I would never want to be a lawyer and have to blur so many lines.
Fifth Grade, ?:
-I remember being embarrassed by a sub because I didn't know how to spell some word that involved "i before e except after c". I still have problems with those words.
-I did the splits in another classroom. I seem to remember that most of us were doing the splits, by which I mean, the girls.
Sixth Grade, ?:
-I had a crush on Brendan.
-Someone gave me a Christopher Pike book, and I must've read it a million times.
-The teacher was a man.
Amorphous elementary memories:
-A spelling bee, during which I got colonel confused with colonial. Thus ending my spelling bee hopes.
-The library, specifically the "Little Mr. and Ms." series. You know, the books with the colored shapey people who were emotions. Mr. Happy. Ms. Sad. Those sorts. They were in high demand, those books.
-A school musical in which I sang "Good food is good for you, so eat lots of _____, it's good for you." I can still hear that tune.
-A music class involving a recorder.
-The smell of the lunchroom. Now it strikes me as an absolutely disgusting smell.
-One recess, all the girls were doing cartwheels, which I couldn't do. So I convinced someone to sing a song from the movie "Look Who's Talking" with me. I can't explain. Acutely embarrassing.
-Stripey cotton dresses for the fall and winter with something on the front chest. Like, an apple. Or a dog.
That's it, as far as I can easily remember. I could tell you with precision where each of these classrooms was. I mean, I have dreams involving my elementary school, and all of it is very vivid. If I went in the school now, and if it were as it was (which it probably isn't, because it's a middle school now), I could lead you to each classroom.
I suspect that my foggy memory from 5th and 6th grade is because I myself became somewhat foggy during that period. If you've read Reviving Ophelia, you know that this is the point where girls may start to lose themselves, and I think I went through that period a bit. I wasn't cute or popular, no boys (that I can remember) liked me, and I was awkward to the max when it came to physical things like recess or gym. I never stopped doing well in school, but I didn't figure out who I was for a long, long time after that. I don't have a really good sense of myself as a person again until 10th grade. What is that, a five year disappearance? I do have memories from middle school and early high school, but a lot of them are bad memories stemming from a move and a very rocky transition. Then I have memories galore from late high school through college right up until now. But those years, yeah, those 5 years are just kind of gone.
It's weird what you remember.