Elementary Grade 3

Well, there are two elephants in the room this year! My singing career is at an all-time low and those childhood diseases are back.

Which disease I had this year, I do not know for sure. Had to be Measles, German Measles, Mumps or Chicken Pox. This was still the days of doctor home visits and Dr. Gilmore showed up with his little black bag full of unknowns every time.  And no doubt kids were confused by these names.  I didn't live in Germany nor did I have a pet chicken. The adults weren't any help explaining it either. Had the internet been invented, this would all be moot.

I don't profess to be a great singer, then or now.  But I could belt out a song I knew in full voice on the playground or in the tub.  I'm pretty sure I learned many pop songs listening to WRAW 1340 AM when I was sick in bed and during summer vacation, which brings to mind "VA-CA-TION", the 1962 summer song by Connie Francis.  WRAW published the TOP 40 song list every week as a one-page bulletin, available at record department in stores like Two Guys, Nichols, W T Grants, and Woolworth's Five & Dime to name a few.  The bonus for me was the printed lyrics of a popular song on the back of that bulletin. Imagine if we could sing pop songs in music class. Those Cs would be history...well, either way I guess they still are.

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Miss Dawn Schaeffer was a short-haired blonde of average height with a nice smile. She took her vocation seriously and was fair to both boys and girls in the classroom. At the end of the school year, extra supplies of pencils, crayons, construction paper, erasers and glue were the incentive to school kids picked to help the teacher clean up the classroom once school was no longer in session. It's one of my favorite memories of grade school. Going to school in shorts and sneakers to help the teacher put chairs on desks, clean blackboards and remove everything from the cork boards didn't feel like work, it felt special and I was lucky to be picked twice.

Mom insisted on rewriting my name on these works of art!

Elementary Grade 2

Second grade at Thomas H. Ford Grade School, as I look back,  was a surprise on the academic side. It looks like I gave up. I waivered in English, Writing, Art and Work Habits!. After one year. Really?

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Though I hate to admit it, if my 1st grade report card cover was an indication of this year's art ability, I deserved those Cs. This year's cover is not an abstract work, and looks more like Mr. Potato Head than a self portrait. At least my singing career didn't take a hit!

Grade 2 Report Card Cover 1960

To be fair to myself, attendance played a large roll in grading this year. I had mumps, measles (both kinds), strep throat and the perennial cold during grade school years, so my 13.5 days absent in 1961 can be blamed on one of these transmittable childhood viruses. The go-to remedies for most anything at that time was bed rest, Bayer baby aspirin, ginger ale and saltines, Campbell's chicken soup, calamine lotion and WRAW-AM radio all day long.

Attendance Summary, 1960-61

I do not recall much about my teacher, Elnor K. Thompson.  Miss Thompson was my mother's age I believe. Penmanship was my favorite subject and I practiced hard to print just like her.  Miss Thompson added words to our spelling booklets in black magic marker for penmanship practice and spelling. And yes, I loved smell of black magic marker. Leaded gas came in a close second. Who knew?

My second grade classroom was probably located in the same area as first and third grades, but I have no recollection of it other than the room's interior perimeter was decorated with a large alphabet, construction paper red apples and green trees, and a big green "black" board, maybe two. I was intrigued by the three-pronged chalk holder used to add lines on the board for penmanship class. Not all teachers could draw those lines straight though.

The end of 1961 showed  I closed strong academically (think racehorse) earning the privilege of moving on to the next challenge, third grade.

Elementary Grade 1

First grade was a lot to take in. The day was long in kid time, but I took to it eventually when I realized all it offered.  That should explain the slow academic start my grades reflect. In fact, that's my style every year, so if I was a racehorse, I'd be called a "closer".

My teacher, Miss Beverly Katzenmoyer, was tall and had a great smile.  She had to be my mother's age in 1959, about 26 years old.  But, let's agree her name was a test to say as a six year old.  Looking at my report card, there was no spelling grade for this year, so I can assume I didn't have to spell it. 

My classroom was the middle one of three first grade classes on the side of the Thomas H. Ford Grade School building. A large macadamed play yard, complete with three large white painted circles, was easily accessible from a door in the back of the classroom. Recess time was easy in, easy out.  Tag, Duck-Duck-Goose and Simon Says made the play list over and over at this age.

Arithmetic and Writing were my best achievements, while Social Studies and Science suffered. As I look at all these categories, I can't imagine what each one involved, since the highlight of this grade for me was Bob, Alice and Jip the Dog stories including other three-letter words to complete their tales. 

Thomas H Ford Grade School, Reading PA S.D.

It was a big deal each year to make a construction paper cover for its journey home to get signed and returned. I'm a tad disappointed in this year's holder, but not even surprised that I picked a purple theme. My mother felt the need to identify my report cards more than was necessary in my opinion, but I discovered our printing style is very similar in that we mix caps and lower case letters freely. Let's hope creativity improves as we peek at second grade in my next post.

Grade 1 Report Card Cover