Third Grade Memories

“I was scared to go to 3rd grade”, my mother told me over the phone… “Why?”, I asked…

My mother grew up surrounded by family…grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins by the score…

…most of the time, that was a wonderful thing…but sometimes……?

Mom’s Uncle Steve was just two years older than her…her cousin Jeannie, just one year ahead of her in school.

“We sure hope you don’t get Miss Vickery”, they’d tell her, over and over again…”She hates us—she won’t like you, either!”

First day of school, scared to death…”I DID get Miss Vickery!”, laughed Mom…

{It was fun to copy both sides of her report card, shrink it down, and make a little book of it—it will open and you can read everything—even Miss Vickery’s comments!}

“Looking back 60-plus years, I can imagine that part of the problem was the fear and anticipation itself, but nevertheless…”

“…my memories of 3rd grade are only ‘scary’ ones”, she said with a giggle…

{I love that Mom gave herself a STAR on this workbook page!}

“…and maybe I shouldn’t have listened to my older uncle and cousin, because I’m sure they took great delight in scaring me…

{My mother is quite an artist—so fun to see her artwork in her earlier years!}

“…anyway, I will NEVER forget 3rd grade!”

{Copy of Mom’s 3rd grade report card…signed by Miss Vickery herself!}

Not that fun and wonderful things didn’t happen for Mom that year, but as far as the classroom goes, it wasn’t all that great! (We’ll save some stories for other days!)

A fun new collection of papers from Graphic 45, “An ABC Primer”, inspired this delving into Mom’s grade school memories today…

I also happened to have brought some of Mom’s school composition books and workbooks home with me from our visit this summer…perfect timing!

A scanned sample of her work, along with her school picture from 1947 (3rd grade) made the perfect focal point for my layout.

Third Grade…..what kinds of memories do you have?

See you soon with something new…

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Karen Ostlund Smith,Third Grade,Graphic 45,school