I found these photos on Facebook this morning. These grinning guys don't seem too unhappy to be heading back. Isaac, age 13, is in 8th grade at middle school, and Irene, age 11 is in 6th grade, her final year of elementary school.
All of this back to school stuff got me to thinking about my own many years in school, as a little kid, a big kid, a college student, and as a teacher. Lot's of back-to-school days!
I have been retired now for eleven years! How fast it has gone. Irene was born just three months before I retired, so I can mark the time in her growth. Time seems to be speeding up just as she seems to be shooting up!
Several years ago, I reorganized my school days photos and keepsakes into new albums. Here is my very first day of school photo from 1950, when I entered first grade. I had my lunch box, but no backpack full of school supplies. The school supplied those.
I waited for the bus with my sister at the end of the driveway, well fed, and my hair freshly braided. I was a very shy little girl, but I loved school and my teacher, Mrs. Walch.
I can still name most of those kids in my first grade class. Wow. sixty-six years ago!
Do you have back to school memories?
With the exception of a few years of part time work and playing between college and full time teaching, I've been in school since I started first grade. Many back to school memories. This year it somehow seems much easier to go back, maybe because it's not warm and beautiful today, maybe because I'm still in denial about summer being over. In any case, it's good to be back at school with my kiddos! I must admit to looking forward to that first September when I get to watch everyone else go back to school while I stay home.
ReplyDeleteI love the picture of you on the first day of school and your grade one photo. It's amazing that you would be able to name most of your fellow students after all the years!
ReplyDeleteYes, I have many, but very few pictures and memories of my classmates. Moving all the time as an Air Force brat made it difficult to keep track. Somehow I managed to learn a lot, though. I LOVE that picture of you with the braids, Linda. You still look the same. :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree those guys don't look too unhappy. Jill looks cool in her new teacher clothes & I suspect she is a perfect match for her new job. You were a cute little girl in your pigtails. Not once in my life did my mother ever fix my hair in braids, wonder why. She always did those bobbie pin curls. Always on Saturday so I'd have curls for church on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteI love your first grade picture! I have some of my school pictures - you know the standard ones they did on 'picture day?' None of my sisters or brother or I have a single picture of us during our school years. We have a few of us in the summertime. I have TONS of photos of my children on the first day and the last day and so many in between!
ReplyDeleteMy husband taught second grade for 25 years and he says he loved it but does not miss it now!
Oh gosh! My memory is not as good as yours. What a cutie you were (and are). I can hardly believe my granddaughter is in the 4th grade. Their elementary school goes to 5th grade.
ReplyDeleteLOVE those 1950 school pictures. I can really see the resemblance between you and the Grands in the first grade picture. I still get geared up when school starts. It's just a signal to get organized and be ready. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThey are very much excited to go to the school and to continue their academic year:) Happy to see them feeling happy!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I have many back to school memories. It has also been eleven years for me since retirement, but I still had to buy myself a day planner when I took my two grandkids back to school shopping. My granddaughter headed straight to Sephora. Apparently she was thinking make-up as essential school supplies.
ReplyDeleteWow, there is definitely a strong resemblance between you and your granddaughter! Here in NJ the kids don't start until after Labor Day (it's that whole Labor Day at the Jersey Shore thing). When I was a kid, I loved the first few days of school. When my kids were little I loved it even more. ;-)
ReplyDeleteDo I have memories? I'm just one big memory of school starting. I finished high school in 1957 and taught for 38 years so 50 years in the classroom. Mom usually took pictures of the first day. I see a strong resemblance of Grandma in her granddaughter.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are very similar to mine - I started first grade in 1949 and my mother always made me a new first-day-of-school dress and usually took a picture. Weeks before that we went to the fabric store and I picked out the Dan River plaid that I liked - then she was busy sewing. I also got a new flannel nightie Christmas night. I can still smell the fabrics in my mind.
ReplyDeleteYou look like Irene in your school photos. Congrats to Jill on her new class. Hope all goes well.
ReplyDeleteWeren't you a cutie in braids. I loved summers and I loved to play but I loved school even more. New clothes, new and old friends and learning--oh my.
ReplyDeleteYour Grands are growing up so fast! I hope they have a wonderful school year and I bet Jill will love teaching PE and the kids will love her! :)
ReplyDeleteWow Irene looks so much like her Gramma. I remember school days too. I don't remember much before the second grade and I don't know why. Well I do remember a tiny bit of kindergarten and one scene of first grade but not much more. My elementary school went to the 8th grade and a few years back it had a 50 yr reunion. That was so much better than high school reunions because I grew up with most of those kids and high school are usually so large you don't get to know many. My opinion anyway. Another school year. Conway here started anew on the 31st. Neat post and good luck to your daughter on her new teaching spot..
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yes it's fun to be retired from being a teacher and school librarian, home without responsibilities is the way to go...happy retirement days!
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