The First Grade

I remember my first day of first grade. I was really excited and planned what to wear for a week before hand. I practiced all sorts of things to prepare and was sure I was going to be the teacher's favorite. One of the reasons I was so excited is because a week before school started my mother took me to meet the teacher. Her name was Mrs. Julius, you know like the orange Julius drinks that use to be in all the malls. Anyway, her husband was a dentist and she said that he would be visiting the class. This thought really pleased me because I knew I didn't have any cavities. Mrs Julius also told me she loved my romper.

For those two young to remember or to old to care, a romper was a one piece jump suit sort of outfit that was popular in the late seventies and early eighties. My "romper" was made of terry cloth and was a soft turquoise color and I had red jelly sandals, which have oddly made a come back in recent years in the preteen/ tween group. I was sure I needed to wear another thing the same color so the teacher would remember me. For the occasion my mother bought be a long sleeve dress shirt with a scalloped edged color that was a lighter version of my romper color, on one of its sides it said Cabbage Patch Kids. I wore this shirt for two years straight until it fell off in protest.

So, back to the first day of class, I wore the new shirt. It was only like 100 degrees that day, but I didn't care. Mrs Julius noticed and said "Jamie, I am glad to see you again, I like your shirt." I was in heaven. From there on I don't remember too much about grade one, other than the dentist day, mixing up Lion and Liar during reading groups, winning the super bowl challenge of guessing the score - I won pudding - everyone else got fruit, getting in trouble for talking too much and then lying to get out of it (now that is a good story), and playing endlessly on the playground. I loved the big old trees. Under them there were hollowed out nooks where the roots were and you could curl up in them, endless hours of house, Fraggles, Wuzzles, Little People, and Carebears were played there. I am not sure this was the year we saw Haley's comet or not, that may have been second grade. Either way I had Mrs. J for both grades.

The big lie went something like this:

"Jamie and So and So, it is time to quiet down and concentrate."

one minute passes

"Jamie stop talking."

one minute passes

"Jamie STOP TALKING"

one minute passes ... Mrs J comes to my desk and asks what is so important. I just casually smile and say "I'm sorry, I can't see the board."

The next thing I know Mrs. J is sending a note home telling my parents it is time to get an eye exam. Like two days later I had glasses, and I didn't even think I needed them! LOL, certainly I did - but that isn't' even close to what I was talking about. I was talking about, get this, Michael Jackson.

It was book day. That one day a month when the book orders come in and everyone gets a book from scholastic or where ever the school gets them from. Anyway, I had talked my mom into getting me the biography of Michael, pre Pepsi Injury. And I was telling my friend all about the book as I read it instead of doing what ever work I was suppose to be doing. Ahhh nostalgia.

So today I took C to his first teacher meeting in his new school. The teacher Mrs. T seems very nice, although there wasn't much meeting time - It was more of an open house set up. But C and I plodded around the classroom doing a make shift scavenger hunt and checking out where his seat was. From memory it was a lot different that when I was in school. The kids sit at tables, not desks. C is almost too big to sit at the table, good thing he is skinny but for height I know he is in the 95th percentile this year (he had his physical on Tuesday), but still he most likely won't be the tallest kid in there. His knees sort of hit the table when he tried to sit down. But he said he fit fine once he scooted the chair in. My son looked like a giant. LOL. But he is really excited and for a while I shared his excitement.

On the way home he asked for a haircut, ice cream, and how many days until he gets to go back. I am a pretty proud parent at the moment. Good Luck C.