Johnnycake Elementary School Memories: 1962 - 1968

Here are some of the things I remember about attending Johnycake Elementary School in Catonsville, Maryland, from September 1962 through June 1968.

My primary teachers for each grade, with classroom numbers and dates::

First grade: Mrs. June Burgee, room 26 (Sep. 1962 - June 1963)

Second grade: Mrs. Lucy Brocato, room 23 (Sep. 1963 - June 1964)

Third grade: Miss Joan Price, room 20 (Sep. 1964 - June 1965)

Fourth grade: Mrs. Donna Benzing, 15 (Sep. 1965 - June 1966)

Fifth grade: Mrs. Vivian Staisloff, room 8  (Sep. 1966 - June 1967)

Sixth grade: Miss Davis, room 4 (Sep. 1967 - June 1968)

The primary teachers taught most subjects, but we also had specialty teachers for music, art, physical education, library, and band (the latter was optional).

My specialty teachers were:

Music: Mrs. Kuhn (all 6 years)

Physical education: Mr. Williams (all 6 years)

Library: Mrs. Brusberg (all 6 years)

Art: I don't remember their names, but I think there were at least two during 1962-68.

Band: Mr. Feldman and a female assistant.

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Walkers and Bus Riders:

Students who lived a mile or more away from Johnnycake Elementary rode Baltimore County school buses to and from school.

Many of the bus students lived in the section of Westview Park west of the Beltway (I-695) and/or along Rolling Road or close to it. (Woodbridge Elementary School had not yet been built. A few students came from Chadwick Manor. The Woodbridge Valley housing development was just beginning to be built about 1968.)

One or two of the older students at each bus stop were assigned as "safeties" to ensure that students got on and off buses safely.

The parents of some of the walkers drove their kids (and maybe others) to and from school, especially in inclement weather.

All students living in the section of Westview Park east of the Beltway were walkers (non-bus students) during the 1960s. (In May 1970, students living in Westview Park east of the Beltway but south of Crosby Road became bus students.)

Other walkers came from neighborhoods immediately north of Johnnycake Road, such as Catonsville Manor.

The bus students left school at 3:25 PM, followed by the walkers at 3:30 PM.

After the bus students left for the day, the walkers inverted the chairs and placed them on top of the desks (to allow easier floor cleaning by the custodians overnight).

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Opening Exercises:

Bells rang throughout the school to indicate the start of school at 9:00 PM.

A message was given over the intercom by the principal.

Attendance was taken by the teacher. As each student's name was called, he or she raised a hand and/or said "Here."

The Pledge of Allegiance was said, usually led by a student. Students stood and faced the U.S. flag (a rather small one hanging on a bracket above the front chalkboard) and placed their right hands over their hearts while saying the Pledge.

A patriotic song was sung, often selected by a student. Some of the songs sung included: The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Yankee Doodle, This Land Is Your Land, You're A Grand Old Flag, etc.

Lunch counts were taken by the teacher. The number of students were counted who were buying hot lunches (which included milk), those buying milk separately, and those buying ice cream. These lunch counts, written on paper by the teacher, were then taken by the teacher-appointed messenger to the cafeteria to help personnel determine how many hot lunches to prepare and how much milk and ice cream will be needed.

Periodically, some students lined up at the teacher's desk to buy U.S. Savings Stamps. These stamps were then pasted into books, and the completed books were then used to buy U.S. Savings Bonds.

At appropriate times, the teacher would take orders for books sold by Scholasic Books (offered at least two times a year), orders for balloons in the annual Balloon Race (held in May) and orders for copies of the class photograph (usually taken in February or March).

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Helpers:

In some grades, the teacher assigned students to be "helpers" to perform tasks to help the teacher and/or class. Some of the helpers included:

Messenger: Took the lunch-count slip to the caftereria and items to/from the principal's office.

Line Leader: Led the class through the halls when going to and from the cafeteria, play period, gym class, library, fire drills, etc.

Desk Inspector: Periodically looked in the storage compartments of students' desks, and told students with cluttered desks to clean them out.

Water Tapper: Stood at a water fountain and counted to five as a student drank, then tapped the head of the student to indicate that his or her time was up and it was time for the next student in line.

Eraser Clapper: Took the chalkboard erasers outside and clapped them together to remove chalk dust.

Board Washer: Washed the chalkboards using sponges and water, usually on Fridays after school.

Opening Exercises Leader: Often a different student was chosen by the teacher each day to lead the class in saying the Pledge of Allegeiance and in singing a patriotic song of the student's choice.

Student Council Representative: There was one from each class in grades 3 and above. These students attended the monthly Student Council meetings in the cafeteria, and reported back to their respective classes on the items discussed at the meetings.

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Schedules:

Teachers usually wrote the daily schedule of classes and activities on the chalkboard. They included: Reading, Arithmetic (called "Numbers" in first grade), Spelling, Social Studies (or Social Living), Lunch, Recess (often called "Play Period"), and once-a-week classes: Physical Education, Music, Art, and Library.

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Reading:

Reading classes in grades 1 and 2 were split into three "reading groups" with about one-third of the class in each one.

Reading groups met in the back of the classroom, seated in a semicircle. Meanwhile, the other students engaged in "cut-and-paste" or "phonics" or copied words and sentences from the chalkboard.

In first grade, the reading groups were: Red Birds, Yellow Birds, and Bluebirds.

In first grade, the first three books (basic readers) were: "Jack and Janet", "Tip and Mitten" and "The Big Circus." I seem to remember us reading the book "All In A Day" and perhaps "Under the Apple Tree."

As first-graders, some of us were eager to learn to write. Our teacher Mrs. Burgee told us: "You have to learn to read before you can learn to write." Also, "Remember, you read from left to right, not from right to left!"

In second grade, the reading groups were: Lions, Tigers, and Panthers.

Sometimes a teacher would tape-record the students reading aloud using an open-reel Wollensak tape recorder, then play back the tape. I think this happened especially in second grade.

In third grade, books that were read included "Down Singing River." By this time, there were just two reading groups.

In third grade, one student each day read aloud a book that he or she brought from home, in front of the class, and showed the illustrations in the book to the class. This activity was done immediately after lunch period.

Sometimes a teacher would tape-record the students reading aloud using an open-reel Wollensak tape recorder, then play back the tape. I think this happened especially in second grade.

Later books that we read included "Charlotte's Web" and "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi."

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Spelling:

Spelling words were introduced to the class using a spelling textbook at the beginning of each school week. Students practiced writing the words and using them in sentences. Students kept a hardcover composition book in which to write their spelling assignments.

There was a spelling test each Friday during the school year. The teacher recited a word and the students wrote it on their test papers, until all of the words for that week were covered.

In first grade, four spelling words were introduced to the class each week.

By the second half of second grade, there were eight new words each week from the spelling textbook plus four more that were originated by the teacher. But on spelling tests in second grade, the eight textbook words were repeated, so each appeared twice. (See the April 1964 example below.) In fifth grade, there were 20 spelling words each week, including sixteen from the spelling textbook and four that were originated by the teacher, often from the class's current studies (for example "igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary"). From October 1965 onward, spelling tests were done in pen. If a student made a mistake when writing a word, he or she was allowed to cross through the mistake with a single horizontal line, and begin again.

In sixth grade, there were 25 spelling words each week, including five originated by the teacher (such as "primeval"). Spelling tests were done in pen. If a student made a mistake while writing the word, he or she could not correct it. If a student made a corection, the correction was counted as incorrect, even if the student wrote the correct spelling. (I enjoyed having Miss Davis as a teacher, but I thought this rule was too strict.)

Here is the spelling test our second-grade class took on April 10, 1964:
1. ride
2. happy
3. wide
4. think
5. read
6. could
7. read
8. wide
9. think
10. need
11. could
12. need
13. happy
14. made
15. ride
16. made
17. flowers
18. showers
19. rainy
20. April

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Social Studies:

In each grade, there were about 4 social studies "units." Each unit covered a different subject in such fields as sociology, cultural and physical geography, geology, history, and various sciences (biology, air and space, weather, electricity, chemistry, etc.) all grouped under the label "social studies." In some grades, the titles of the units were posed as questions: "How do people of different lands get their food, clothing, and shelter?" "How is man exploring air and outer space?" "What is the Earth's place in the solar system?" In others, it was simply stated as a subject, as: "Health." "Weather." "Electricity."

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Music:

Music class was held once a week. Mrs. Kuhn came into our classroom with a piano on wheels, usually pushed by students from the immediately previous classroom where she had been.

Much of music class was spent learning and singing songs. We had a music textbook (perhaps different ones for each grade) with songs from all over the world, in addition to American songs. (I wish I could remember the specific book titles!) In December, we sang Christmas songs. Some of the songs we sang were:

"America the Beautiful"

"Break the Piñata"

"Dear Lyhoette" (I can't find anything about this song; maybe I have the spelling incorrect. This song included the words "Babbitt, my friedn, my dear old friend/If you should see her tell her this/I lover her more than anyone/nd I would give her anything")

"Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill"

"Funiculì, Funiculà"

"Hava Nagila"

"Home on the Range"

"I Saw Three Ships"

"Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho"

"Katrina" (words include "Katrina is having her wedding today, hi-dilly-hi-dilly-ho", something like that)

"Kookaburra" (often sung as a round)

Limerick song ("Here was a young lady form Niger/Who smiled as she rode on a tiger," etc.)

"Old Tante Koba"

"Reuben and Rachel"

"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

"The Happy Wanderer" (one of the class's favorite songs)

"There's a Hole In My Bucket"

"This Land Is Your Land"

"Waiting For the Robert E. Lee"

There are a whole lot more songs we sung in class.

Additionally, we may have sung the following songs in music class, but maybe I'm just thinking of them from other experiences:

"Bicycle Built for Two"

"I've Been Working on the Railroad"

"The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze"

"The Sidewalks of New York"

Bells - Mrs. Kuhn occasionally brought "bells" to the classroom, which were actually metal xylophone-like bars, each tuned to a specific musical note, mounted on red plastic bases. They were played with sticks that each had a small hard rubber ball at one end. One activity we did with the bells was to pass the bells out to individual students in the class, each of whom would then ring her/his bell every time the note of that bell occurred in a song.

Recorders or "flutes" -- Around third grade, we obtained and played black plastic recorders, about a foot long. We often called them "flutes." We blew into them while putting our fingers on various holes in the instrument, to make musical notes.

Ukuleles - Many of us were excited at the prospect of playing ukuleles. They were late in arriving, and every week someone would ask something like, "Where are the ukes?" Finally they came, and we learned to play them in class.

Autoharp - On occasion, Mrs. Kuhn brought along and played an Autoharp either without singing or to accompany us when singing songs.

Piano Movers - After music class, several of the boys (never any of the girls) in the class were asked to be "piano movers" to move the piano to the next classroom Mrs. Kuhn had for music.

Richard Massey played "White Christmas" on the piano for the class.

Norma Sue Mayben, who moved away during third grade, was known for her loud voice (in a good way). When she sang in class, one could hear her voice above the others.

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Handwriting:

Early in fourth grade, teacher Mrs. Benzing had our class practice handwriting by writing each letter on paper repeatedly, in both capital and small form, and then writing a sentence that uses the letter repeatedly. Each sentence was made up by the class with Mrs. Benzing suggesting some of the words. In this list, the sentences with dates before them are the actual sentences we created in class on those dates. For the others, I made up sentences that sound like they could have been devised by the class. October 26, 1965 was the day we transitioned from writing in pencil to writing in pen. After finishing the handwriting paper for a letter, each student drew a crayon illustration depicting the class's sentence for that letter.

A: Andy and Anna always ate apples, asparagus and almonds.
B: Baby Bobby broke Barbie's beautiful big beach ball.
C: (Sep. 30, 1965) Cindy Crunchley choked and chattered, cried and croaked, but couldn't change the color.
D: (Oct. 1, 1965) David didn't dust Daddy's dirty desk.
E: (Oct. 5, 1965) Eddie Evans eagerly eats electric eels every Easter.
F: (Oct. 6, 1965) Freddie Fire-Fly flew fast for fun of flying.
G: (Oct. 7, 1965) Gabby Gadabout gabbed and gabbed about Grandmother.
H: (Oct. 8, 1965) Hairy Hilda has her hair hanging.
I: (Oct. 13, 1965) Itchy Izzy isn't itchy inside.
J: (Oct. 19, 1965) Jerky Jeff Junket jumped and jiggled the jug.
K: (Oct. 22, 1965) Kathy Killer kicked Kenny's kickball.
L: (Oct. 21, 1965) Little Lillie Lulu loved lazy life.
M: (Oct. 22, 1965) Mugsy Moomoo made Mommy's marshmallows Monday.
N: (Oct. 25, 1965) Nina Nickels needed new needles.
O: (Oct. 26, 1965) Oliver and Olive Oil orbited over Ohio.
P: (Oct. 27, 1965) Peter Pumpkin pushed Pop's pole.
Q: (Oct. 28, 1965) Quincy quivered and felt quite queasy.
R: (Nov. 2, 1965) Rolly Roger rolled and ran down the rough road.
S: (Nov. 3, 1965) Sleepy Susie slept soundly in the sun.
T: (Nov. 4, 1965) Tattle-tale Tommy told a tale and got no Thanksgiving turkey.
U: Ulysses understands up and under.
V: Vince and Vance are very vexing.
W: William washed windows and wished we were watching.
X: (Nov. 16, 1965): Alexis expected a xylophone for Xmas.
Y: (Nov. 17. 1965): Yippy Yahooey yipped and yapped yesterday.
Z: Zane zigzagged through the zoo zebra zone.

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Physical Education:

Physical education class, usually called gym, was held once a week. It was taught by Mr. Williams during all six of my school years at Johnnycake Elementary. In the spring and fall during good weather, the class was held outside. In the winter and on cold and/or rainy days, the class was held in the gynmasium/auditorium. Members of the gym class participated in their street clothes, although students were encouraged to wear loose-fitting clothing on their gym-class days. Some students, especially girls, changed from their street shoes to more-comfortable gym shoes for the class.

Girls and boys were in the class together, although sometimes the girls and the boys separated to do either different activities, or the same activity. For example, while the boys played baseball, the girls played jumprope, hopscotch, and the like. When we had basketball, the girls were split into basketball teams that played each other, and likewise for the boys.

Indoor gym classes usually began with calisthenics, often while Mr. Williams played the record "Chicken Fat" by Robert Preston on the portable record player that he had on the stage. There was a "short side" and a "long side," each of which had a series of exercises, with the long side being more difficult. Some members of the class groaned if they heard the long side begin playing. Occasionally Mr. Williams played both sides of the record, much to the dismay of some class members.

Gymnastics was taught each year. The gym was set up with eight or more "stations," each of which was a piece of gym equipment and/or activity. There was a small circular trampoline ("mini-tramp"), a large rectangular trampoline, a springboard and vaulting box, a pommel horse (often called simply "horse"), a balance beam, a pair of suspended rings, parallel bars which could be made either even or uneven, a mat without any other equipment, and two ropes suspended from the ceiling. The class divided into groups to use the equipment, each student in a group spent a minute or two on their equipment, then the groups rotated to the next station so that they visited all or most of them during the gym class. Students who were not using the equipment acted as spotters to help prevent students from falling to the floor. Some students could not climb the ropes very well, some were not good on the parallel bars, but nearly everyone liked to jump on the trampolines, especially the large one.

Mr. Williams taught square dancing to his classes in some grades, which was enjoyed by most students. I first heard the terms "do-si-do," "allemande left," and "promenade" during his square-dancing lessons.

The boys played baseball in gym class beginning in fourth grade.

Also in gym class, we ran various lengths of races: 50-yard dash, 100-yard dash were the most common.

And we did tug-of-war, with the class splitting in two to take opposite sides of the rope.

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Band/Orchestra:

Starting in third grade, students were offered the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument and to be in the school's band/orchestra. Students used musical intruments rented by their parents from a music store in Catonsville. The band class met once a week. Students who were not in the band, stayed in their classroom and worked on skits and then performed them for the band members when they returned from practice.

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Lunch:

We ate lunch in the school cafeteria, situated at mid-level between the two classroom wings. We lined up in our classrooms just before going to lunch, with people buying hot lunches first in line, those buying milk and/or ice cream (only) second in line, and people buying notheing at all at the end of the line.

If we were a little too early lining up, the teacher of at least one of our grades had us sing songs while in line. One teacher's favorite song to sing in line was "Rock-A My Soul," which we sang, complete with arm and hand gestures. I don't think this song was sung in our music class.

We walked in single file to the cafeteria, where those of us buying nothing at all went immedately to our assigned tables (long tables with attached benches) while the other kids went through the cafeteria line and bought their food and/or milk. Plates of hot lunches were served on trays. Students returned plates, trays and utensils to the washing area after eating.

Lunch "traffic light": There was a configuration of three light bulbs on a board, resembling a traffic signal, on one of the walls of the cafeteria. The cafeteria monitor (often Mrs. Gakenheimer or Mrs. Mullinix) listened to the cafeteria's noise level (from talking). If it got too loud she turned off the green light and turned on the yellow light, warning us to bring the noise level down. After a minte or two, if the noise was still too loud, she turned off the yellow light and turned on the red light. When the red light was lit, we could not talk at all.

Milk Tabs: In fourth through sixth grades, our milk came in blue cartons that had yellow pull tabs on them. These tabs had black lettering on them: "To open, pull this tab." Each tab covered a hole in the carton through which a straw was placed to drink the milk. Several girls in our class (among them Linda Beals, Carol Beninghove, and Carole Hogsten) collected these milk tabs from other students. At the end of each school year, they counted their milk tabs to determine who had collected the most.

Cooties: Especially in the early grades, someties a student tapped another student sitting beside him or her and said, "Cooties -- No take-backs." THe tapped student was then expected to tap another student and say the same thing.

 

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Fire Drills:

Fire drills were held twice a year, in the fall and spring. A special bell sequence was used to indicate a fire drill: Rather than a solid ring, the bells gave a series of four short rings (sounding like clangs), then paused, then four more short rings, then paused, etc. Students and teachers stopped what they were doing and filed out of their classrooms, down the halls, and out the nearest side doors, and stood in an area on the school grounds away from the school building, but facing the building. Each class was assigned its own area to stand in. When 5 to 10 minutes had passed, an "all-clear" solid ringing of the bells indicated that the fire drill was over. Students and teachers filed back into their classrooms and resumed their activities. During the 1962-68 time period, there never was a fire drill in response to a real fire.

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Civil Defense Drills:

Civil defense drills were held once or twice a year. Students filed out of their classrooms and lined up along the immediately adjacent walls, by the lockers. Students (and teachers?) sat down on the floor, facing the lockers, and crossed their legs, then bent their heads toward the wall and placed their hands over the backs of their necks and interlocked their fingers. After people were sitting in this position for about five minutes, te civil defense drill ended and students and teachers went back into their classrooms to resume activities. In the 1962-68 era, there never was a real civil-defense emergency.

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Play Day / Field Day

Once a year, the school had a day -- variously called "Play Day" or "Field Day" -- in which Johnnycake Elementary students either hosted another elementary school's students, or Johnnycake students visited another elementary school, and participated in sports and physical activities. Most of that time, the other school was Hebbville Elementary School, as Woodbridge and Chadwick elementary schools had not yet been built. I think "play day" was only for the upper grades (4 and up?). There were a bunch of track-and-field activities, gynmastics, baseball games, etc. There were also tug-of-war contests between the two schools.

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Balloon Race:

Each May, students released helium-filled balloons, each with a return tag on it, to see which one would go the farthest. The balloons were sold by the students to themselves, their family members and others, to raise money for the school's PTA. At lunchtime on the afternoon of the balloon race, students in the cafeteria could see balloons "going by" the windows in the upper wall of the cafeteria, as balloons were transported between the lower and upper hallways. When students got back to their classrooms after lunch, they found a whole bunch of balloons on the ceiling. The teacher then read each balloon tag and gave the balloon to its proper owner. A few enterprising kids, who sold the balloons door-to-door, had dozens or perhaps a hundred balloons. All classes then went outdoors and, when a bell rang, released the balloons in unison, and we watched them fly away. A few of them got stuck in tall trees on or near the school grounds. Results of each year's balloon race were announced at each year's June Jamboree. Typically, the baloons did not go far, although at least one year someone found one of the ballons someplave in Ohio; in another year, some were found in New Jersey.

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June Jamboree:

The June Jamboree was an annual carnival held on the school grounds of Johnnycake Elementary on a Saturday in June all during the 1960s (and for a long time after that). It was run mostly by parents of school students, although some outside help was brought in, for example, to set up and operate the rides in years when they existed. The June Jamboree benefited the school's PTA. Some of the activities at June Jamborees in the 1960s included: (1) Throw a table-tennis ball into a goldfish bowl half-filled with water, and win a goldfish. (2) Pull a plastic duck out of a tub of water, and win a prize, depending on the number written on the duck's underside. (3) Use a mallet to "chop" down on a lever, which moves a piece of metal up a slide and rings a bell -- if the chop is strong enough. (4) Take three shots at a basket with a basketball; win prizes depending on the number of baskets made. (5) Spook house inside the school, had all sorts of scary and slimy things. (6) Cotton-candy machine.  (7) Pony rides (early 1960s). (8) Spin art: Drop paint on a spinning piece of tagboard to create designs. (9) Silhouettes: A light projects a shadow of a person's head in side profile onto a piece of paper; a person draws along the outside of the shadow, then cuts out the "head" and pastes it onto another piece of paper. (10) Small roller coaster (one year). (11) A raffle. One year, the principal won a color TV but refused to accept the prize, which was then given to another person. (12) Results of the annual balloon race were announced at the June Jamboree.

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Sixth-Grade Picnic:

In May or June each year, the sixth-grade classes at Johnnycake Elementary went by bus to Patapsco Valley State Park after school for their Sixth-Grade Picnic. Food was barbecued and we ate on picnic tables under a pavilion. After eating, the classes.went out to the adjacent field, and we ran around and had some fun, such as informal games. (In May 1968, a thunderstorm delayed the picnic. We got to the picnic site and sat in our bus with the rain pounding on the roof, and wondered whether we would even get to have the picnic. But the rain stopped, and we had the picnic.Weather records from nearby locations indicate that the date may have been May 3, 1968, but I'm not sure.)

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Scholasic Books:

Books published by Scholastic Book Services Inc. were offered for purchase by students at least twice a year. Flyers advertising the book offerings were given to students, who took the flyers home and perhaps discussed them with their parents. The books were paperback and covered all sorts of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction, modern and historic, geared toward the grade level of the students. In the 1960s, these books cost less than $1.00 each and often less than 50 cents each. Teachers took orders for the books from students, then sent an order form to the publisher. In a few weeks, the class received a corrugated box or two containing the books that students had ordered. A time was set aside near the end of the school day to distribute the books to the students who ordered them.

Some teachers had booksheves in their classrooms where they placed Scholastic Books and other books that were donated by the teachers, the school, and perhaps by students. If a student finished all of his or her assigned classwork and had time to spare, he or she could go over to the bookshelf and select a book to read.

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My Weekly Reader

In the early grades, a children's newspaper called My Weekly Reader was distributed each Friday to the class. Sometimes the teacher would read the articles to the class and/or discuss them.

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Speech Therapy & Correction:

For students who had trouble with certain aspects of pronunciation, there was a speech teacher, Mrs. Rose, who met with these students once a week to correct their speech problems.

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Polio Vaccine Sugar Cubes:

Each year, students each ate a sugar cube infused with pink-colored polio vaccine.

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Lining up for lunch:

Just before going to the cafeteria, the class lined up inside the classroom in this order: Students buying a hot lunch, sutdents buying only milk, students buying milk and ice cream, and students buying nothing at all (they brought their own lunches).

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Report Cards and Grades:

In the first three grades, our report cards used G (Good), S (Satisfactory), or P (Poor) to grade us on 5 main subject areas, other subjects such as music, art, physical education and handwriting, and roughly 20 skills that each student of that particular grade should have. Report cards had four grading terms, ending on November 15, January 31, April 15, and the last day of school (always in June). Attendance of each student (number of days missed) was noted on her/his card. Report cards were taken home by the students, signed by one of the student's parents (who could also write comments in a provided space), and brought back to school. At the end of the school year, the teacher wrote in the card whether the student was being promoted to the next grade. (The teacher filled in after "Promoted to grade ---" the number of the grade to which the student was being promoted. Alternatives were "Retained in grade ---" or 'Will work with grade ---".)

In grades 4 though 6, report cards had a grading system of A though E (E was the failing grade) in five subject areas (reading, arithmetic, spelling, social studies, ?), along with a number of 1 through 5 beside each letter grade to indicate the amount of effort the student put into learning the subject. The G-S-P system was used for other subjects on the report card, such as art, music, and physical education. These report cards did not include attendance figures on them. The were taken home by the students and did not need to be brought back to school. Again, at the end of the school year, the teacher indicated whether the student was being promoted to the next grade.

Report cards were distributed to students in class near the end of school on or just before the last day of each quarter.

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Letters to Santa:

On December 3, 1963, in our second-grade class, we each wrote letters to Santa Claus, sayng what we wanted for Christmas. We took the letters home to our parents.

Iowa Tests:

In third grade, we took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills in the cafeteria. Some weeks later, we got our results back. There were five areas (reading, language and math were three of them) and we were scored on a percentile basis, from 0 to 99, in each of the five areas. I'm pretty sure Bill March scored 99 in all or nearly all 5 areas.

Reports on Countries:

In December 1965, each student in our fourth-grade class was assigned a country of the world to do a report on. We did reasearch and wrote reports; I think many of the students used encyclopedias at libraries. Also, we also each created a project, such as a map or artwork, relating to the countries we were assigned.

 

Much more later!