Those Memorable Elementary Days...

Let’s reminisce about elementary school… what I could write about; it’s not a great deal, but I will definitely try. I wasn’t the sharpest pencil around, nor a popular school mate. In the beginning of my education, I was kind of shy and maybe a little scared of my own shadow. I always felt that I should have started school one year later.   After graduation, I turned eighteen at the end of August and I was the second youngest in age in my class.  If I started a year later, I might have performed better.
My recollections to all my elementary teachers are limited. Perhaps you can say that maybe the ones that I do remember are the ones that left an impression on me. My elementary school that I attended was Center Street School, which is no longer there, the building got demolished and left is a vacant lot.  I attended Center Street  from kindergarten through eighth grade. The lists of teachers that I had are as follows:

First - Mrs. Mitchell

Second – Miss Dimnoff

Third – don’t remember

Fourth - Mrs. Fallet

Fifth – Miss Hartusnovsky

Sixth – don’t know that one either

Seventh and Eighth – Mr. Tropea

My recollection isn’t all that bad after all. 

Kindergarten was nothing like it is today, we didn’t learn to print our names; we were only taught colors. Kindergarten was mainly to learn how to get along with others, a social reaction, I guess. Classes were only half days consisting of the morning class and afternoon class. My last name began with the letter Y, so I attended the afternoon session.  My favorite time was when I was in the play kitchen area with all the utensils needed to play house and I enjoyed painting on pictures on this huge easel. I really disliked nap time because my Mom gave me this braided type of throw rug and it was most uncomfortable. I would get in trouble for being so restless and Mrs. Sauers would have me lie by myself, so I wouldn’t distract other kids. Let’s not forget our daily snack, we had our choice of white or chocolate milk, of course, I chose chocolate.
First grade was completely different. This was where we were taught to print our names, math and we began to read the basic stories of Dick and Jane. Phonetics didn’t get into the picture, as yet.  I bet that no child born after the years of 1960’s or the 1970’s, know about Dick and Jane.  Attending school was frightening to me because I would be gone all day, I actually had to go to both morning and afternoon sessions.  I remember on the first day that my Mom bought me into my classroom, I started to cry and thought it to be a cruel and unusual punishment. I would not participate much and never would speak at first. Later years, I recall my Mom telling me about a conversation she had with Mrs. Mitchell. She told my mother that she felt really bad because she tried very hard to get me to talk and to participate in class, but one day she had a bad headache, and she told the entire class during reading time, the first word that comes out of any one’s mouth would be punished, and guess what, I chose that time to open my mouth. She had to give me a paddle just to show the kids she good on her words, but made sure the crack wasn’t too hard because she was so pleased that I finally spoke some words.  Now, remember, this is the early ‘50’s and kids got paddled and no one would bring on a lawsuit. My Mom always preached that if we got paddled in school, we would get another one at home.

The most precious memory of grade school that I hold dear was on certain occasions, my Dad would pick me up for lunch and take me to the store for lunch. For my table, he would have two beer cases stacked and place a strip of white wrapping paper that was used for meat as my tablecloth and a milk case as my chair. It was placed in an aisle at the rear of the store. He would make his famous baloney sandwich with just the right amount of mayo with a class of chocolate milk with a fruit of the day.  If I would finish all my lunch in a timely manner, I was than able to choose my favorite hostess cake for dessert.

Second thru seventh grade wasn’t too memorable. I was an average student without much incident and wouldn’t get into too much trouble. Kids would tease me quite a bit because of my speech, kids were mean, but most learned not to mess with me. One day during outside recess, I beat up Sam Tablack. He was always being cruel to me, so I gave him a good knuckle punch. Mrs. Hartusnovsky told my parents that she was easy on me because she felt that Sam had it coming, because he was always torturing me during recess and told them that I must have had enough and that I finally let him have it. She also exclaimed that she was pretty sure that Sam would not ever bother me again. The lesson here, is that it’s more embarrassing for a boy to get beat up by a girl. I know he never squealed to his parents because of the humiliation. 

Mr. Tropea was the most memorable teacher at Center Street, as he was for most. As a lesson in science, we created the Universe of planets and stars with paper Mache throughout our classroom. The planets and stars were hung from the ceiling, it was amazing. The earth was hung with a spindle to reflect on the rotation of the earth, the sun and moon on cross wires to make it look like it was circling the atmosphere was astonishing. How you learned, from his examples. At the end of the school year, the eighth grade picnic was held at Mill Creek Park and his entire family attended.  The girls in class had more fun playing with his younger children of the seven than any other activity we could find to do at the park. Mr. Tropea was strict, but taught us thoroughly and was fair; but best of all, he didn’t have any silly old quirks.  In my later years of high school, I was to find out of his death, and was sadden, which now I realize, that it was far too early in his life.

The best time of my elementary days was definitely the summer vacations, only if, you have passed to the next grade… and I always did!            Kindergarten - Mrs. Sauers