The campfires are out, the amusement parks, water parks, and camp sites are closed until spring in the north. The leave have started to change and the air has started to become slightly crisp and cool. That's right, Fall is here and that means back to school. Which means another round of stories of school yard memories. This time I looked back at one that I didn't cover and thought I'd share some. So sit down, class is now in session.
Gym class was a different class back as a kid, it was more warm up and playing games than sports. One of my favorites was when both gyms, yes, we had two gyms side by side that was divided by a collapsible wall, was turned into an obstacle course. Think like the show GUTS. Climbing up on mats, rope swings, mini mazes, crawling through tunnels, the whole thing. It was pretty fun. We would just play and run around. A couple other activities we did was crab soccer and scooter soccer where you sat on square scooters and rolled around kicking a ball around. Then there was the parachute. A staple among elementary school kids. Lifting it up in the air and either running around inside it or pulling the edges down and sitting inside of it. It was something fun for us to do on those rainy days in New York.
At my school at the time, we would have school wide events among the grades. One of which was the reading competition held in the winter to the theme of a dog sled race where in the hallways had a paper track with laminated dog sledders that race each other depending how many books you have read. The prize was a pizza party for that grade. Can't remember if my grades ever won when I was at that school, but it was fun.
As a kid, each Friday the 4th grade teacher at the local elementary school I was at would howl in the halls celebrating the weekend. It was odd when I was little and starting school, but I got used to it. Funny enough he ended up being my fourth grade teacher for part of that year, and I found out later that he was my mom's teacher too when she was younger.
Ever stubbed your toe? Ever had a chair drop on it? A metal chair? Well that's what happened to me in second grade. I was putting up a chair and it fell down and landed on my toe, twice, first was the solid rock part of it and then was the metal frame. Thankfully all that happened was a bruised toe and the loss of a toenail. But it hurt when it happened and while I was recovering. Having band aids on my toe in a shoe was not fun.
There are more, but for now, that's a wrap. Looking back on the memories, I didn't mind school as a kid because they kept it fun. I was bored at times because I like a challenge. But I still had fun and made many friends. Though I lost most of them between the moves and just time. I'll never forget the time spent there.
