At Rheems Elementary School in Pennsylvania, classes began right after Labor Day, just like clockwork. My aunt was my teacher in the first four grades, the charms and challenges of which I describe in my memoir.
Aunt Ruthie was a very young teacher. She graduated from college at age 19, having skipped two grades.
Circa 1940, age 22
Miss Longenecker, aka my Aunt Ruthie, taught grades 1-4 simultaneously in a two-room school, where eight grades (each with a teacher) assembled under one roof with a bell. The rooftop bell punctuated high points of the school day: the beginning of classes and the ending of recess. Aunt Ruthie’s diary gives a glimpse into two opening days of school several years before I was old enough to be her student.
September 5, 1944
Surprise! Out to school and opened door and what! Mr. Greiner had Kem-Toned the ceiling and walls with light green & done the woodwork in white. Don’t say that didn’t lighten things up. Carl Floyd, 1st grader, surely is sweet. He’s the only first grader that had to cry a little.
Note: In 1941 the Sherwin-Williams Company introduced Kem-Tone Wall Finish, the first commercially successful, durable, … interior wall paint.
September 4, 1945
Well, today school started. 29 on roll, 2 graciously given from Grandview, the kind anyone is anxious to hand over. But they’re a nice bunch – lights in school, cellar cleared, and new reading books. And as usual tearing my hind leg off trying to get around. Worked at Bldg. tonight.
My thoughts: Miss Longenecker may have been given two extra students from another school for some reason. Nevertheless, apparently she is going to make the best of it. In those days, teachers had duties way beyond teaching, making sure the “physical plant” was up to snuff. The cellar was a site for our Hallowe’en fun house for grades 1-8, a chapter devoted to this event in my memoir.
My sister, Jean Longenecker, first grade, 1950s
What do you remember from first grade?
Do you have photos or other memorabilia from your early school days?
This one’s easy, if I haven’t shared it here before: my most outstanding memory is from Halloween costumes that year. I decided to dress up as a “fancy lady.” Mrs. West, my teacher, was probably my favorite teacher from all my elementary years, but she had to reprimand me, to my chagrin, at the costume parade. I had decided that I would chew gum (don’t know why I thought that made me a fancy lady), but Mrs. West looked at me with big surprised eyes and said, “Oh, even fancy ladies don’t chew gum in school.” I thought I would die of embarrassment. Yes, I quietly disposed of my fresh wad of gum…. 🙁 And if she had to straighten my etiquette, she did so keeping me in character of my fancy lady role.
No, I don’t remember this sketch from your school days before, but I could guess that though you wanted to be fancy you also wanted to please a teacher you liked. Sweet story, Melodie, thank you!
I always enjoy excerpts from Aunt Ruthie’s diary. One vivid memory I have from the first grade was when a new girl in class and another girl, who I thought was my friend, stole my lunch. I came in from recess and found them in the classroom with my lunchbox, huddled in the coat closet. I wasn’t upset with the new girl, but I remember feeling hurt by someone I thought was my friend.
Jill–that’s so sad, and obviously it made a deep impression on you. I do wonder if you brought amazing lunches though.
Actually it did, Merril. I still remember the look on their faces…kind of a smirk. My mother always did make great lunches. She used to travel quite a distance to the Hostess Bakery. On Tuesday mornings, they had 1/2 price goodies. I always loved Ho-Ho’s and Suzi-Q’s. 🙂
That was my guess – your ma made good lunches. It doesn’t excuse the behavior, but it may explain the temptation and why your so-called friend gave in to it. It sounds like she’d make a good cast member of the teen comedy, Mean Girls. Thanks, Jill!
How sad, Jill. Did the girl you thought was your friend ever apologize?
No, she never did. We weren’t friends after that happened. In junior high, she got into the “wild” crowd.
Good morning, Marian! It’s so wonderful that you have all these photos and other memorabilia. My dad had saved some weird, random items–like old lunchboxes and some report cards–but we threw most of it away. No journals, alas.
My younger sister and I went to nursery school, kindergarten, and first grade in a private school because we were too young to go into public school, but my mom thought we were ready for school. This school was small with just a few classrooms. I don’t remember any of my teachers, but I do remember they had animals outside and a pony that we sometimes got to ride.
Merril, one of the items that was deemed very valuable at Aunt Ruthie’s estate sale was Mark’s lunch box. Very collectible these days, but I remember old, metal lunch boxes as very stinky.
Your mom probably sensed how smart you and your sister were and thus, the early private school. Obviously you loved nature early on, a pony you noticed outside. 🙂
😀
Aunt Ruthie’s excerpts are so fun and lively! She must have been quite accomplished!
My first grade teacher was Miss Bault. I recall a quiz she gave on butterflies. The winner would receive some school supplies,including a box of 64 crayons that I sooo wanted. But I misidentified the Monarch butterfly so I lost out to my best friend. To this day, whenever i see a Monarch I think of that quiz.
I wonder if your best friend offered you some crayons to use. Hmmmm
And I can tell, you love color very much, so losing the prize must have been especially hurtful to you. That teacher would be awed by your use of color on your blog and in the knitted creations you make these days. Thanks, L. Marie.
Poor little Carl Floyd shedding a tear or two. I liked First Grade and have mostly fond memories of it. We were in a basement classroom that was cozy and learning seemed natural there. My teacher was older, mellow, and was in her element teaching us wiggly little kiddos.
I know, such a poignant note, Ally Bean. Yes, little Carl cried a little, and Miss L. noticed and probably tried to distract him.
First grade sounds like a fun experience for you, probably because of how your teacher made you feel – and maybe the cozy basement too.
The first part of first grade was in the basement of a church as we were waiting on a new elementary school building to be completed. I have memories of drinking the most delicious chocolate milk from a carton and blowing bubbles with a straw. I still remember the richness of it.
Hi, Elaine. I wonder if I drank chocolate milk from the same company. Very creamy as I recall. And I did blow bubbles with my straw. Thanks for sharing this memory!
I remember being somewhat disgusted by the first grade rules regarding reading and taking books home from the library. I had long since learned to read and the books were too simple and we could only take one or two out at a time! The teacher, Mrs. Springer, used to just look at me and kind of laugh.
Sarah, I feel sorry for you with such limitations on library check outs. I can understand why you chafed at that. As I recall, you were one of the winners of the Mennonite Daughter giveaway.
Today I went to our branch library and because of Covid-19 restrictions, people are checking out loads of books either through curbside pickup, or (as I do) placing a book on “hold,” and then picking it up after going through a temperature check and answering a questionnaire. Masks required, of course. I asked a librarian how many books could be checked out at a time. I blinked twice when she said 100!
For my first grade, I was in a two-room schoolhouse. First and second grade were together in one room. I had to walk about a mile on a country road to get there and pass a pasture with a bull in it that scared me to death. But once I got to school I loved it. The teacher, whose name I can’t remember started reading Black Beauty to us. I wanted my own horse so badly!
Joan, we had the same set-up in grade school, as my post mentions. It seems quaint by today’s standards. I’m not surprised reading entranced you. And your mention of Black Beauty reminds me of the ponies of Chincoteague, where I met you.
Those were the days . . . when we could travel. Thanks for dropping by!
I began my schooling in a little village school in Paraguay. My teacher (exceptionally so) was not Mennonite but a young German man who left Germany with the Mennonites (not sure about his story—dad was evasive when I asked him years later). It was a good experience, as I loved school and was definitely ready (we only began at age 7). I learned to read and write with the Gothic alphabet, and we couldn’t use the familiar Low German we used at home, but used the “church language” of High German. Later, that knowledge of the Gothic script and the German language served me well in my career as University lecturer and translator, as well as private tutor for international students. Marian, as I write this comment I realize you’re inspiring me to write a blog post. Awesome!
You are highly trained as a linguist, Elfrieda. (I hope that’s the right term.) I think of the Gothic alphabet as very elaborate and artistic. Very few, now as then, could serve as a translator and private tutor for international students in this niche.
I’m so glad this post sparked memories in you that you can turn into a blog post. Awesome! 🙂
Marian — Like so many of your other readers, I also enjoy excerpts from Auth Ruthie’s diary.
I was taller than the other kids, which I didn’t mind. And I remember thoroughly liking my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Welch because she read to the class every day—books we truly enjoyed.
It’s true, we remember the names of teachers we appreciated, like your Mrs. Welch. I too remember Miss Longenecker reading to us after lunch, books a chapter at a time. We could color as she read. Some students, I believe, fell asleep. Thanks for sharing this memory, Laurie!
One almost feels nostalgic for the simplicity of those days. Teachers face more and more challenges as time passes by and we seem hellbent on complicating things to accommodate new technologies, higher number of students from very different backgrounds, child protection issues and now, teaching after Covid with social distancing and wearing masks. My heart goes out to teachers and students all over the world at the beginning of this term.
I agree with your observation! Teachers have had to adapt to strange times. My son, for example, teaches photography both online and in person, as students have a choice this term. He is struggling with the challenge because the in-person classes have access to a dark room, and the ones who get their classes digitally do not. I don’t know how he can insist on the same requirements for both sets of students.
Thanks for speaking up here, Fatima.
Peter is also an Art, Photography and Graphic Design teacher and absolutely hated teaching from home as it was almost an impossible task. He’s glad he’s back in school on Monday. Best of luck to your son.
My son, today, said the same. He teaches both online and in brick & mortar school, face to face in a large school system. He said it’s so hard to teach both ways, but he thinks the school board may decide to make it all online. Fingers crossed, second semester should be back to a semblance of “normal.”
Thanks for the follow-up here. Good news for Peter! 😉
Hi, Marian! 🙂 How wonderful that you have Aunt Ruthie’s diary! Kindergarten and first grade, I had Mrs. Wilson–she was a wonder. For Halloween, she dressed up at Raggedy Ann and we all enjoyed the holiday and every day to the full. Mama was room mother for first grade–she brought in snacks, went with us on field trip to a dairy where we all got to shake our cream carton and magically turn it into butter. My best friend’s name was Diane Bruto and we had lots of fun together. Good ole School Days! xo
That dear Mrs. Wilson apparently saw teaching as a calling, not just a job. She made learning so much fun. I didn’t make butter on a school field trip, but my sister and I with our mother shook cream into butter in this post, created just a month before she died: https://marianbeaman.com/2014/06/28/home-made-butter-3-easy-steps/
It occurs to me that some of the joy of school crept into Shawn Daniels experience in your YA fiction Dog Bone Soup! Thanks for sharing your memories here, Bette.
I love seeing Aunt Ruthie’s diary. I loved first grade and was so happy to be going to school. My teacher was Miss Kruger and she was very nice. Great memories.
Darlene, I imagine Miss Kruger spotted a ready reader in little Miss Darlene. It’s good to recall pleasant memories from the good, old days. Thanks for sharing yours!
Nothing, I went thru the windshield of a car summer before 6th grade—coma for 6 weeks and no memory of anything from before then—pictures in my baby book bring back some memories but not much. 1st grade would have been 1956 in Venice, Florida where my mother owned the toy store and I was invited to every birthday.
Welcome to my blog, Susan. Your comment gave me pause, a long pause. What you have experienced is extreme trauma. Oh, my. I can only hope you have many pleasant memories since the accident and recovery.
Thanks for reading and commenting today. And, again, welcome. I hope you’ll visit often. 🙂
Ah first grade. Miss Carpenter. Columbian School. I walked to school by myself in those days. But what remember most were the small reading groups and my stutter beginning to become the power that would “drive my bus” for the next 40 years. Reading aloud was equaled in sheer panic only by the need to use the telephone. Ah, those were the days. How lucky you are to have such a diary.
Yes, I’m lucky to have such a diary. And you are lucky too, to have overcome the speech problem, which I would never have detect except that you have written about it. Actually, luck doesn’t have much to do with surmounting such obstacles. There’s usually hard work behind it all. Brava to you, Janet!
I also love the entries from Aunt Ruthie’s diary. My first grade teacher was Mrs. Hall. She was also my Sunday School teacher. I loved playing hopscotch, red rover, and jump rope. My school had a Halloween carnival every year with different game stations, such as, go fish, etc. My mom was a teacher at my school, and she dressed up as a gypsy and pretended to be a fortune teller. She wore a mask and she told me not to tell her identity, because the students were to guess who was behind the mask. I’m afraid I was persuaded to tell her secret. I could not tell a lie. Ha, I was only 6 years old!
I bet your mom was adorable as a fortune teller as she was rather tall and could project an air of mystery. Of course you would tell: you were obviously proud of your mom’s costume and couldn’t resist! I knew your mom was a teacher but I guess I didn’t know she was at the same school. I can definitely identify with the games you played, and Hallowe’en was a big deal at Rheems Elementary, as you know from reading my memoir. Thanks for sharing, Bonnie!
Aunt Ruthie was one AMAZING teacher. And during her teaching days, teachers certainly weren’t given the respect they are finally (in some places) receiving now. I’m watching my daughter set up her teaching class (6th grade science) that will be hybrid. Four days in the classroom and one day virtual. She’s juggling that while her children’s school is all virtual. “It takes a village” to help teachers and other parents who must be at the “office/school” while their children are home at “school.”
All I remember about 1st grade is how delighted I was to be in school. I felt like I belonged there, and I felt that way every year through grad school. <3
My heart goes out to your daughter. Being a teacher with hybrid classes is hard enough, but then she has her own children as students too. I think we all welcome the day when schools can convene as “normal,” whatever that turns out to be.
School was my cup of tea too, as it was yours. I like your sweeping statement: grade through grad school has a nice ring to it. Not surprised, Pam! 😀
🙂 Remember how “back in the day” we were called eggheads? Jeez, what was that all about? I’m grateful that I loved school so much. May you and I keep on learning…the rest of our lives.
Egghead was a compliment to brainiacs – I guess, but some saw it as a slur. Now they are called geeks. Some of them work for tech companies and drive small cars labeled “geek squad!”
Yes, Pam, you and I are lifelong learners! ;-D
I started to school at at time when parents didn’t teach kids to read before school – that was the teacher’s job! I also started at a time before institutions started putting shapes or illustrations of boys or girls on doors. The bathroom doors at my school had only the words, which I couldn’t read. I went back to my class and started to cry. When the teacher asked what was wrong, I said, “I have to pee!”
I LOVE this story. I was going to say what accurate detail you remember from first grade, but then when I read the words “I have to pee” I could see how/why this incident has been imprinted on your memory. WOW – and thanks, Arlene!
It’s so much fun and very interesting to read your Aunt Ruthie’s diary entries, Marian. I wish they were longer! As a teacher and a diary writer, it’s obvious why I’m so curious about her experiences. You and your aunt sure had a lot in common as well!
Let’s see. First grade… The only thing I seem to remember is wearing glasses and having one side blocked by a rubber item suction cupped inside the glass, because I had/have a lazy eye. If my left eye was as bad back then as it is now, that first grade must have been a distant, blurry experience! Maybe that’s why I don’t remember more… 🙂
Liesbet, I love you recollection of the rubber-suction solution for your lazy eye. The fact that there is nothing lazy about you as a adult (and probably not then either) makes this incident all the more memorable.
About Ruthie’s diary: I don’t publish much of it for several reasons, one of which is that she wrote in pencil, and it’s a bear to try to decipher it. Lately, I’ve discovered that taking a photo and then “filtering” is a good fix.
Best wishes on your editing, etc. You are making such good progress, but I well remember how grueling this stage is. Huge hugs! ((( )))
First grade memories can be so vivid, can’t they? My first grade teacher was Mrs. Lingerman and I was excited to have her because she had taught my older siblings and knew my last name. That made me feel welcome!
I admire teachers who try to make connections right away, like your Mrs. Lingerman. First grade is a scary place for students like little Carl Floyd, “who had to cry a little,” probably because it’s the first time away from home for a full day. Thanks for checking in today, Barbara!
Fun post Marian. Grade one I was wearing a uniform at a parochial school and protested daily to my mother I wanted to go to ‘real’ school with all the other kids. My paternal grandparents had persuaded my dad to put me in half day English, half day Hebrew. I hated it, lol. Grade 2 I fished my wish and started public school. Thanks for the memories 🙂 x
Debby, it’s obvious you wanted the authentic experience in school, like the regular kids had. I can understand why you chafed being set apart in a special school. Though I went to public school, there was the matter of the big mesh prayer cap on my head. Thanks for sharing your unique memories! :-0
I totally get how wearing the prayer cap could make you feel awkward. No uniforms for this gal! Lol 🙂 x
Ha Ha!
Grade one? I was there 180 days, but apparently none made an impression on me as I don’t remember a thing.
On another subject, I wonder what Aunt Ruthie would think about teaching online during a pandemic.😎
Something beyond first grade must have ignited your love for teaching and learning. I checked back on your website to find out how long I’ve “known” you, and it’s been since last December. Readers, here is a website you need to check out to see the services for parents and teachers he offers: https://petespringerauthor.wordpress.com/
Aunt Ruthie would HATE teaching online, I suspect. She was into hands on learning – and the personal touch. Thanks, Pete!
I remember loving 1st grade and learning to read and write and do math. I also loved the freedom of walking the 4 blocks or so to and from school with my girlfriend a few houses away. Times have changed, but we had lots of freedom in Mexico, MO in the early 1950s. My 5th grade teacher made a lifelong positive impression on me because she loved learning and loved her students so much.
Elaine, the love of learning has imprinted itself indelibly in all you say and do here and on other social media. I realize now how much I loved to roam the woods as you did growing up. Now we live in a community with a preserve and each of my neighbor’s owns a small “slice” of lake/path along with our houses and backyards. (I assume the HOA wants the liability to be ours, not theirs). However, when we first moved here, one of my neighbors yelled, “Get off my property.” I smiled and said, “I live here too,” presenting myself as a new neighbor. He wasn’t impressed.
Hoorah for your 5th grade teacher. May her tribe increase! 😀
That is a lovely post. I enjoyed reading it. Aunt Ruthie’s diary so interesting.
Thank you, Olivia Ava. I’m glad you enjoyed this. Do visit again. 🙂
I think it’s wonderful that Aunt Ruthie wrote a diary to give you the insight into her life . Bet you’re glad too .
I don’t have any photos of that time other than our year school photo . I had a dodgy hair doo that looks like it has been cut with a knife and fork . It probably had .
Cherryx
Cherry, whenever I see your name here, I smile, because I know that either you’ll say something funny OR you’ll express yourself as only YOU can do. Today’s chuckle: “I had a dodgy hair doo that looks like it has been cut with a knife and fork. It probably had.”
I don’t think you celebrate Labor Day in Wales as we do in the States, but do enjoy your weekend. I’m going to take a little rest, maybe with some cake and tea as you would do. oxo
What sweet memories! What a treasure trove that diary is.
Don’t I know it!
Thanks for commenting here today, Lady Fiona!