Alverda Reed Elementary
Alverda Reed Elementary School is an educational relic for generations of public-school-attendees, in Georgetown, Ohio. The school building was stoic brick with a small parking lot. It featured the infamous "loop" in the parking lot for all of the yellow buses to circle around daily. There, stood a flagpole in the center. It welcomed the children with a large playground out back and even a small creek that babbled through the woods, probably just dumping into a ditch somewhere. That babbling brook held tadpoles, frogs, and bugs. It was a busy hub, not just a place of learning but many local jobs were generated there. A lot of those employees were "lifers" retiring from the school system. It seemed that everyone around, Kindergarten-6th grade; attended there.
I walked into Mrs. Evelyn Arthur's Kindergarten classroom in August of 1992. I was five years old, with a scrunchie holding half of my hair back, a Lisa Frank backpack and a Crayola 64 count box. I got the joy of using manilla paper for the first time and I learned the difference between a hamburger fold and a hotdog fold. Mrs. Arthur had us do a project that year, that I think might be one of my favorites. She had our families submit recipes to be put into a classroom cookbook. Then, she interviewed the Kindergarteners and had each of us tell her how WE thought the recipes for our favorite foods went. They were hilarious! People baked meatloaf for 19 hours and cakes were only made of sugar and water. I loved that book. I chose to recite a cheesecake recipe. I think I forgot eggs.
That year I was also chosen to be the narrator of the play for our class; The Gingerbread Man. I had to memorize the narrator's part for the entire play and recite it by myself. The day of---I was sure I was going to nail it! However, I woke up that morning with a runny nose. Each line sounded like this: " and the gingerbread man said, SNIIIIIIIFFFFFF". That went on for the entire play. I still rocked it, snotty microphone and all. As far as the day to day--- well, In the 90's you had to make sure you brought your milk money in a change purse clipped to your backpack, so you could choose between chocolate or white milk, every morning during attendance. If you were well behaved you MIGHT get called on with a friend to get a milk crate, walk to the cafeteria, and pick out all 17 cartons of milk for your class. You were given a sheet of paper with the correct number of chocolate vs. white--- and you had better get it right! I remember one time I was called to get the milk.
I had an awful time figuring out how to open the milk cooler. It seemed to open on more than one side and I was sure I chose the wrong one and all the milk would be bad by the time they figured it out. You had to lean over the edge, embracing a face full of cold air, while loading up your crate and stacking them neatly one by one ---trying to figure out which "weirdos" actually chose something other than chocolate milk. Then, you and your milk partner would carry it back to the classroom, each with a hand on the milk crate. I always hoped I never got someone faster than me, because I'd have to keep up with them, huffing and puffing--- if they took off down the hallway with me attached to the other side of the milk carton, I would end up being drug down the hallway. Shame on those kindergarten anxieties.... ha ha.
When I was in the First Grade I had Mrs. Sharon Wisby. That was the classroom I met my first best friend in. (She just so happens to be my last best friend, but who's checking?) She tells the story like this: "I met Amber in the first grade. She was sitting in front of me with dark black hair, the sun shining all around her. She was skinny. She was quirky. I saw a birthmark on her neck and asked her if it was a hickey? She smiled the same way she smiles now. Like when we are eating Mexican together laughing and drinking margaritas....even then, somehow I knew I didn't want to be without her. And why did I know what a hickey was at 6?" She says that other times she can remember me walking into class bouncing on my toes. I did that for several years before I finally grew out of it. Why is me weirdly bouncing on my toes such an endearing thing? I don't know. But 26 years later here she is... We have been through a lot together. Each of us separately and together. But, I can't even begin to fit those stories into this. That is for a whole 'nother blog post. <3
That same year in 1993...I met one of my other best friends growing up. Sitting at lunch together for the first time...I was eating a packed lunch and she was eating a fish sandwich. I dropped my lunch on the ground... and she felt so bad, she offered me her fish sandwich. Her name is Meredith. And she played a huge role in the majority of my life as an adolescent. What a sweet, generous, person... a real class act she is, still today. Her genuine care and concern is so beautiful. She has endured a lot of heartache in her life, yet she has kept such poignant grace. I owe so many late night boyfriend talks to her.
In Second Grade I had Mrs. Kris Smart. She was a milestone on my life time-line. She taught me cursive. I never stopped using it. I write in what I call "cursive print" to this day and most people don't know what it says. I loved Mrs. Smart. I used to open my cheese-on-cheese orange crackers every day at snack and offer some to her. She always said yes. This was the year I was first introduced to student teachers. I couldn't quite grasp the concept of these pretty, young ladies with changing last names that kept gracing our presence. They were not in charge, but sometimes yelled at us. Most were kind with smiley eyes. Sometimes they winked at me.
Storytime at the library was one of my most favorite times of the week. There were two entrances into the library. One was next to the office, located next to the ramp. It was a wooden door, that "cubbied" into a set of steps like a hobbit door. You walked up two steps and entered into the large library. Down in the back was a storytime nook designed for listening to Mrs. Kathleen Cahall read. It was so cozy, and her grace while she read is something I will never forget. It was so soothing and you felt like you were on Reading Rainbow. I got to meet some famous authors in that library. It was the first library I got the pleasure of being horrified by Alvin Schwartz's cult classic, "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark." They remade those books a while back with less scary pictures. Kids these days don't know the horror that lurked in those pages! Whether it was Harold the living scarecrow or the girl with the spider eggs in her face--- face it-- this 90's classic was truly epic.
Our Gymnasium at Alverda Reed doubled as a place for physical ed, basketball games, and the PTO chili supper games area. It had a rope you could climb too. I always hated rope climbing day. BUT- When Mr. Underwood would play the cookie monster game with us-- THE BEST. We would yell, "Cookie Monster--- are you hungry?" and then we would creep closer and closer to him. When he was ready, like a ticking time bomb, he would yell, "YES I AM" when we least expected it--- and take off running after us while we fled screaming. Those were the days.
Our cafeteria also doubled as the stage for lip synching during the chili supper, a place for wedding receptions and also school plays. When I decided I was going to lip-synch during a talent show one time, I told my parents I was doing "Did I shave my legs for this?" by Deanna Carter. After a brief argument, I settled for "We danced anyway" by her. For some reason my parents said "There's no way in heck (I was) singing "Did I shave my legs for this" at the Chili Supper." Whatever guys. Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.
One time, probably around 1994 we had a tornado warning while we were eating lunch. I remember climbing underneath the tables in the cafeteria, gagging as I hung tight next to pizza dippers and applesauce from the previous crowd. Pizza dippers were the bomb. And so was Rib B Que on bun. The school also had the best pizza---always on Fridays--- and always served with corn.
In the Third Grade, I had Mrs. DeeDee Taylor. ("Mrs.Faust" to you youngsters...) She was out on maternity leave for the first few months of the school year, so I had Lyra Cahall. I liked her. When I finally got to keep DeeDee, she became my favorite. How could any teacher be as precious as Dee Dee? That was the year the "big fall" happened. One day we had a substitute teacher. She was older and walking through the aisles of desks and scolding us for something as a group. Her footing got caught and she tripped and fell hard on the ground. You could hear a pin drop. We all thought we killed her. Silence screamed inside our classroom like the dreaded fire alarm drill that we did quarterly. But, she made it out fine... we were off the hook. This was also the year all of the kids got in trouble for writing their names in the paint on the bathroom walls. Boy oh boy, folks. Keep it classy.
In the Fourth Grade, we were introduced to "changing classes". For homeroom, I had Mrs. Nina Miller. Mrs. Miller is now the principal of Georgetown Elementary, but in 1996 she held down the fort for the class of 2005.. Mrs. Miller was a nurturing encourager. She pushed us enough to learn, but comforted us when we failed. My favorite memory in her class was when she read chapter books aloud to us. As someone who only wanted to read non-fiction books, I got my first taste of juvenile fiction and Roald Dahl with James and the Giant Peach and Matilda, as well as loved the vintage story of The House Without a Christmas Tree, and had my heart completely broken with Where the Red Fern Grows.
That year we had a separate teacher for math, Sandy Hastings, and a teacher for Social Studies, Patty Myers. Ahhh to be a kid again, watching the projector glow on the white screen, while Mrs. Hastings taught us fractions with dry erase markers on a transparency sheet. The kids this day will never know the games played where you could ask for help on your homework before it was turned in, and you could repeat that over and over again, eventually getting all the problems worked out on the transparency so you could quickly write down the correct info on your homework before it was to be turned in... But you had better do so before it succumbed to the abyss of the spray bottle. One squirt...and all the work on the screen, lost f o r e v e r.
A thought just occurred to me, let me backtrack a second. Sometime in between 1st and 4th grade, a bunch of us got hitched. Now, you guys may remember better than me--- but I think Meredith Married Chad, and someone married Jake Farrell. It was like a premeditated thing...and it went down at recess by the water fountain and the trees over by the fourth-grade rooms. I think that's what made me think of it... anyways.
Speaking of recess, let's talk about the inevitable. The metal slides, that felt 40 feet tall, that squeaked against your skin as you slid down it in shorts, like a blaze of glory. They were hot. The pea gravel on the playground would often get piled up in a loose bunch, and if you weren't careful you'd wipe out when running past the swings. The jungle gym was layered in tiers like a cake, and I would always get so jealous when someone had enough skills to flip around and around, hanging only by their knees. Sometimes we played red rover. I clung to the hope that someone from the other team knew my name well enough to call me over--- so I could charge their linked arms and pray I didn't get the wind knocked out of me. Speaking of name calling, whenever the teacher used my name in an example... I lived for that. Just so you know. I remember when our playground got upgraded and we got a new plastic tube slide and play set. That was awesome! It gave me a place to go, since I couldn't quite figure out the fireman's pole over by the hot slides, and well-- the tube slide was a safer option for this accident-prone child. Ahh the good old days. I miss all the "meet ups" that happened at recess. It was the time to sneak holding hands with your boyfriend. The time to pass notes to your best friends, and the time to let your imagination run wild.
The playground was set up to be the length of the building. At the very back behind the ball courts, was a two-story house nestled amongst the trees. The sunlight would trickle through the maple leaves and leave a marbled sunlight glare on the front steps. It was primarily shaded and we never, ever saw anyone leave there. Somehow we conjured up the story an old witch lived there. It really snowballed out of control in just a couple of years. Soon she was putting spells on people, and eating children--- you know the normal. I found out several years ago the name of the people that own that house. They were in fact not witches, I'd like to report. Now the house is just a short walk out my back door, and it brings back so many precious memories that I walk back there often.
In the Fifth grade... things were really starting to change for us. For one, we were put out in a building addition where we actually got to leave the building for a brief second to get to our classrooms. This was the year of science, musical programs, puberty talks, and an accidental exposure to Ren and Stimpy during a holiday party, that ended epic. We had Mr. Arn for Math, Mrs. Grennan for Science, and Mrs. Perez for English. Mr. Arn was quite the cheeseball, and we all loved him for that. He was incredibly unpredictable and gave us nicknames that were far beyond our years of understanding. For example Jacob S. was called Jake Sweeney-- shortened to Sweeney. Heather, my best friend, well-- her last name was Lahmer...so Mr. Arn called her the Dalai Lama. He was quite unforgettable. Mrs. Grennan had an aquarium with creek water in it. We used to do fun things in there... and one time she let us go to the creek behind the classroom, which was not really a creek at all but just a babbling ditch. We got to take a container with us, collect tadpoles and bring them back to put them in our aquarium. One time she sent me and Zac Webb to collect the tadpoles.I most definitely should have used the bathroom before I went. I didn't. I heaped SERIOUS repercussions for that. When Zac and I went through the tree branches and down into the water source to get the tadpoles, the "babbling sound" from the water flowing caught me off guard. You all know what happens when someone who has to pee, hears water, well--- I peed my pants right in front of Zac. He splashed me with water like it was no big deal... and we pretended I had fallen in the creek and that's why my pants were wet. He kept my secret a secret, and to this day no one knew what happened out there. Thanks Zac. Of course, all of you know now. Mom just found out after reading this too.. She is going to kill me for telling the world I peed my pants in the 5th grade. Sooorrrrrrryyyyy MOM!
We got two new students that year. Bailey and Angela. Bailey is who all the girls wanted to look like. She was beautiful and every detail seemed perfect. Bailey, you really are beautiful! Angela, what in the WORLD WOULD I DO WITHOUT ANGELA?! She is my "sweet". I love that girl! The sweetest, kindest, purest, love for the people who are close to her. I could trust that girl with my life. We are still friends to this day.
That was also the first year that there were those "machines" in the girl's bathroom. I know for a fact none of us actually wanted to use them though. We were all too worried someone would hear the change go into the machine. Then, since we were in a modular building that was added, the bathrooms were added to each classroom and were individual bathrooms. There was one boy and one girl bathroom in each classroom. In the middle of the three rooms, there was a big opening where the entire grade could pow wow if we needed to. I imagine this was the one place our teachers wish they had air freshener. There is no joke about 5th graders who haven't started using deodorant yet.
That was such a good year. By then, I had already had my first boyfriend. Jacob S. Over the summer, during my birthday, he stopped by my house and dropped off a teddy bear. I was at basketball camp and my dad had answered the door to get it from Jacob. Well, when he came to pick me up from Brian Grant Basketball Camp, it was sitting in the front seat when I opened the door. Both thankful and embarrassed, I clutched the teddy bear and beamed.
That same year, I got a waterbed for my birthday. That waterbed was like a "staple" in my sleepovers. We would pile as many people as we could in the bed...and you'd slosh around until everyone settled. Getting up to pee in the middle of the night was a nightmare. You'd have to throw one leg over the side, find some sort of traction in the water bed, and pray you didn't bust your head on the wooden frame as you climbed out. Those sleepovers were spent eating Long John Silver's, picking out movies from First Choice Video, and if you still had time try and catch Real World or Road Rules on MTV. I miss those days more than anything in the world. My mom worked a lot of weekends, and my dad was typically the one home during these excursions. He would take us uptown to pick stuff out from the movie store and would wait as long as he could... likely an HOUR before we would come out. Then he would go into the store, screaming my name in front of a Zurbuch sister working there, and walk out. "AMBER! Time to go! You've got 30 seconds or your walking HOME".
Our class also spearheaded an awesome nature trail that year called the "Discovery Trail". We planted flowers, and spread mulch around our building. We had lots of science time on the discovery trail, which wrapped around the back side of the soccer field. What a neat thing to be a part of.
As the grand finale for the year, right before we ended the school year we also spent time with choreographer Kine Frank. He came to our school and taught us all how to dance for a play we did called "Follow the drinking gourd". I am really proud of the play. We sang songs and honored people on the underground railroad. We performed it at the Gaslight Theater. I can still remember the words and stomps to the song "Keep your lamps trimmed and burning". Great, great times.
In the 6th Grade we would enter our FINAL year in the beloved Alverda Reed. This was a time of self-discovery, broken hearts, trends, and sleepovers that left you grinning or crying. It would be the place I started to see that I fit in more with nerds than cool folks. It would be the year we discovered butterfly clips, fake messy buns that elastic'd around your ponytails, and the year the "capri" made a comeback from the 60's. It would also be the year we got to see Deputy Hubbard for DARE, and the year that we left childhood for adolescence and Georgetown Jr.Sr. High.
Our 6th Grade year we had 3 teachers. Mrs. Suzi Woods, Mrs. Tanja Haughaboo, and Mrs. Sandy Hastings. I had Mrs. Woods and I loved her. She passed slips out for the kids in her class that worked extra hard, and in turn would draw out names at the end of the day... if she drew your name you won a prize! One time I won the stuffed Taco Bell dog, that said "Yo quero Taco Bell" when you squeezed the center of it. Suzi has since passed away and she went through a bout of hard times, but God rest her soul, I loved her no less and here is not a place to talk about people who can't even defend themselves, so don't.
This year our recess "changed". We were too old to swing and slide yet still needed our free time so we got to go out into the back parking lot at the end of the day and hang out. We were a pretty tight class. One time I remember all of us doing 1 huge game of "Quack a dilly oh my quack, quack, quack!" We made a giant circle and we weren't too proud to all participate in the game together even in the 6th grade. I also go my second boyfriend ever that year! He wrote me letters and put them in my locker. We talked about growing uptogether...and how we would name our son Hunter. He was a little bit shorter than I, (this was that weird stage where MOST of the boys were shorter than the girls) and sometimes people made fun of us as a couple. That was one of many times I felt sad that people were cruel...but overall our class loved one another. We also were split up in to a new enrichment class called "Gifted an Talented" that year and I was one that was given the opportunity to participate. That alone lended the nickname of "Gifted Greyhound"....because I also had a gray hair issue at the time that started in childhood and well--- kids weren't really understanding about genetics and sometimes people made fun of me for it--- but mostly it was all out of love.
That year the Tamigochi was HUGE. It was also the year Beanie Babies became out of this world with popularity! We all spent time surrendering our pink, purple or green Tamagotchis and Nano babies because we couldn't stop bringing them to school. This makes me LOL.
We did a lot of fun things this year... we wrote and even met penpals from Kentucky, we went to the Renaissance Festival and we even had a school dance. Tommy Hilfiger was in everyone's closet and bib overalls started making a comeback that would last well into Freshman year.
When we hit 6th grade there was this oddly understood respect for us from the younger kids at school. When we would walk into the gymnasium for assemblies, the younger kids would wave at us and smile. I can remember looking up to the older grades when I was younger--- and they seemed so much bigger than I actually remember us looking at the age of 11 and 12. We had made it--- we were on our way to becoming teenagers and it was exciting.
I can still remember the way the lights in the hallway down to the 6th grade dimmed and flickered as you passed the kindergarten classrooms, and then the art room... and the feeling I felt the first time I walked down it to my room the very last year of elementary school. I remember filling my backpack full of "lead pencils" and composition journals and the excitement that filled my stomach. I remember that every morning I would hear Steve Horstmeyer on channel 12 and the cool, dark, air that filled the house when I woke up in the wee hours of the morning. I remember my grandmother sitting in the office, and my aunt Wanda who was also the secretary there. I remember the sound of the bell dinging before the morning announcements and the announcements at the end of the day. I remember the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.. I remember bumping my head at recess and how the ice always came in a bread bag reused from the kitchen. I remember my artwork hanging from the walls, and the first time I held clay in my hand's in Mrs. Defossee's class. I remember the joy that filled my heart when Mrs. Glenna Smith played piano and we sang songs like "Witches Brew"and how I thought the music timeline hanging up in her classroom that said "Baroque" said "Barbeque". I remember everything about my time at Alverda Reed. I am sad that children will no longer build up the courage to choose the ramp "up" instead of the stairs. And how my ears burned with the Southern Ohio Abstinence Program taught us as adolescents. I know that this place will always be near and dear to my heart. My Father attended this very same school and it was the place he learned to read his first book ever, Swimmy by Leo Lionni. It was my home August-May for 7 years, and will always be near and dear to my heart.
Thank you, Alverda Reed.
I walked into Mrs. Evelyn Arthur's Kindergarten classroom in August of 1992. I was five years old, with a scrunchie holding half of my hair back, a Lisa Frank backpack and a Crayola 64 count box. I got the joy of using manilla paper for the first time and I learned the difference between a hamburger fold and a hotdog fold. Mrs. Arthur had us do a project that year, that I think might be one of my favorites. She had our families submit recipes to be put into a classroom cookbook. Then, she interviewed the Kindergarteners and had each of us tell her how WE thought the recipes for our favorite foods went. They were hilarious! People baked meatloaf for 19 hours and cakes were only made of sugar and water. I loved that book. I chose to recite a cheesecake recipe. I think I forgot eggs.
That year I was also chosen to be the narrator of the play for our class; The Gingerbread Man. I had to memorize the narrator's part for the entire play and recite it by myself. The day of---I was sure I was going to nail it! However, I woke up that morning with a runny nose. Each line sounded like this: " and the gingerbread man said, SNIIIIIIIFFFFFF". That went on for the entire play. I still rocked it, snotty microphone and all. As far as the day to day--- well, In the 90's you had to make sure you brought your milk money in a change purse clipped to your backpack, so you could choose between chocolate or white milk, every morning during attendance. If you were well behaved you MIGHT get called on with a friend to get a milk crate, walk to the cafeteria, and pick out all 17 cartons of milk for your class. You were given a sheet of paper with the correct number of chocolate vs. white--- and you had better get it right! I remember one time I was called to get the milk.
I had an awful time figuring out how to open the milk cooler. It seemed to open on more than one side and I was sure I chose the wrong one and all the milk would be bad by the time they figured it out. You had to lean over the edge, embracing a face full of cold air, while loading up your crate and stacking them neatly one by one ---trying to figure out which "weirdos" actually chose something other than chocolate milk. Then, you and your milk partner would carry it back to the classroom, each with a hand on the milk crate. I always hoped I never got someone faster than me, because I'd have to keep up with them, huffing and puffing--- if they took off down the hallway with me attached to the other side of the milk carton, I would end up being drug down the hallway. Shame on those kindergarten anxieties.... ha ha.
When I was in the First Grade I had Mrs. Sharon Wisby. That was the classroom I met my first best friend in. (She just so happens to be my last best friend, but who's checking?) She tells the story like this: "I met Amber in the first grade. She was sitting in front of me with dark black hair, the sun shining all around her. She was skinny. She was quirky. I saw a birthmark on her neck and asked her if it was a hickey? She smiled the same way she smiles now. Like when we are eating Mexican together laughing and drinking margaritas....even then, somehow I knew I didn't want to be without her. And why did I know what a hickey was at 6?" She says that other times she can remember me walking into class bouncing on my toes. I did that for several years before I finally grew out of it. Why is me weirdly bouncing on my toes such an endearing thing? I don't know. But 26 years later here she is... We have been through a lot together. Each of us separately and together. But, I can't even begin to fit those stories into this. That is for a whole 'nother blog post. <3
That same year in 1993...I met one of my other best friends growing up. Sitting at lunch together for the first time...I was eating a packed lunch and she was eating a fish sandwich. I dropped my lunch on the ground... and she felt so bad, she offered me her fish sandwich. Her name is Meredith. And she played a huge role in the majority of my life as an adolescent. What a sweet, generous, person... a real class act she is, still today. Her genuine care and concern is so beautiful. She has endured a lot of heartache in her life, yet she has kept such poignant grace. I owe so many late night boyfriend talks to her.
In Second Grade I had Mrs. Kris Smart. She was a milestone on my life time-line. She taught me cursive. I never stopped using it. I write in what I call "cursive print" to this day and most people don't know what it says. I loved Mrs. Smart. I used to open my cheese-on-cheese orange crackers every day at snack and offer some to her. She always said yes. This was the year I was first introduced to student teachers. I couldn't quite grasp the concept of these pretty, young ladies with changing last names that kept gracing our presence. They were not in charge, but sometimes yelled at us. Most were kind with smiley eyes. Sometimes they winked at me.
Storytime at the library was one of my most favorite times of the week. There were two entrances into the library. One was next to the office, located next to the ramp. It was a wooden door, that "cubbied" into a set of steps like a hobbit door. You walked up two steps and entered into the large library. Down in the back was a storytime nook designed for listening to Mrs. Kathleen Cahall read. It was so cozy, and her grace while she read is something I will never forget. It was so soothing and you felt like you were on Reading Rainbow. I got to meet some famous authors in that library. It was the first library I got the pleasure of being horrified by Alvin Schwartz's cult classic, "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark." They remade those books a while back with less scary pictures. Kids these days don't know the horror that lurked in those pages! Whether it was Harold the living scarecrow or the girl with the spider eggs in her face--- face it-- this 90's classic was truly epic.
Our Gymnasium at Alverda Reed doubled as a place for physical ed, basketball games, and the PTO chili supper games area. It had a rope you could climb too. I always hated rope climbing day. BUT- When Mr. Underwood would play the cookie monster game with us-- THE BEST. We would yell, "Cookie Monster--- are you hungry?" and then we would creep closer and closer to him. When he was ready, like a ticking time bomb, he would yell, "YES I AM" when we least expected it--- and take off running after us while we fled screaming. Those were the days.
Our cafeteria also doubled as the stage for lip synching during the chili supper, a place for wedding receptions and also school plays. When I decided I was going to lip-synch during a talent show one time, I told my parents I was doing "Did I shave my legs for this?" by Deanna Carter. After a brief argument, I settled for "We danced anyway" by her. For some reason my parents said "There's no way in heck (I was) singing "Did I shave my legs for this" at the Chili Supper." Whatever guys. Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.
One time, probably around 1994 we had a tornado warning while we were eating lunch. I remember climbing underneath the tables in the cafeteria, gagging as I hung tight next to pizza dippers and applesauce from the previous crowd. Pizza dippers were the bomb. And so was Rib B Que on bun. The school also had the best pizza---always on Fridays--- and always served with corn.
In the Third Grade, I had Mrs. DeeDee Taylor. ("Mrs.Faust" to you youngsters...) She was out on maternity leave for the first few months of the school year, so I had Lyra Cahall. I liked her. When I finally got to keep DeeDee, she became my favorite. How could any teacher be as precious as Dee Dee? That was the year the "big fall" happened. One day we had a substitute teacher. She was older and walking through the aisles of desks and scolding us for something as a group. Her footing got caught and she tripped and fell hard on the ground. You could hear a pin drop. We all thought we killed her. Silence screamed inside our classroom like the dreaded fire alarm drill that we did quarterly. But, she made it out fine... we were off the hook. This was also the year all of the kids got in trouble for writing their names in the paint on the bathroom walls. Boy oh boy, folks. Keep it classy.
In the Fourth Grade, we were introduced to "changing classes". For homeroom, I had Mrs. Nina Miller. Mrs. Miller is now the principal of Georgetown Elementary, but in 1996 she held down the fort for the class of 2005.. Mrs. Miller was a nurturing encourager. She pushed us enough to learn, but comforted us when we failed. My favorite memory in her class was when she read chapter books aloud to us. As someone who only wanted to read non-fiction books, I got my first taste of juvenile fiction and Roald Dahl with James and the Giant Peach and Matilda, as well as loved the vintage story of The House Without a Christmas Tree, and had my heart completely broken with Where the Red Fern Grows.
That year we had a separate teacher for math, Sandy Hastings, and a teacher for Social Studies, Patty Myers. Ahhh to be a kid again, watching the projector glow on the white screen, while Mrs. Hastings taught us fractions with dry erase markers on a transparency sheet. The kids this day will never know the games played where you could ask for help on your homework before it was turned in, and you could repeat that over and over again, eventually getting all the problems worked out on the transparency so you could quickly write down the correct info on your homework before it was to be turned in... But you had better do so before it succumbed to the abyss of the spray bottle. One squirt...and all the work on the screen, lost f o r e v e r.
A thought just occurred to me, let me backtrack a second. Sometime in between 1st and 4th grade, a bunch of us got hitched. Now, you guys may remember better than me--- but I think Meredith Married Chad, and someone married Jake Farrell. It was like a premeditated thing...and it went down at recess by the water fountain and the trees over by the fourth-grade rooms. I think that's what made me think of it... anyways.
Speaking of recess, let's talk about the inevitable. The metal slides, that felt 40 feet tall, that squeaked against your skin as you slid down it in shorts, like a blaze of glory. They were hot. The pea gravel on the playground would often get piled up in a loose bunch, and if you weren't careful you'd wipe out when running past the swings. The jungle gym was layered in tiers like a cake, and I would always get so jealous when someone had enough skills to flip around and around, hanging only by their knees. Sometimes we played red rover. I clung to the hope that someone from the other team knew my name well enough to call me over--- so I could charge their linked arms and pray I didn't get the wind knocked out of me. Speaking of name calling, whenever the teacher used my name in an example... I lived for that. Just so you know. I remember when our playground got upgraded and we got a new plastic tube slide and play set. That was awesome! It gave me a place to go, since I couldn't quite figure out the fireman's pole over by the hot slides, and well-- the tube slide was a safer option for this accident-prone child. Ahh the good old days. I miss all the "meet ups" that happened at recess. It was the time to sneak holding hands with your boyfriend. The time to pass notes to your best friends, and the time to let your imagination run wild.
The playground was set up to be the length of the building. At the very back behind the ball courts, was a two-story house nestled amongst the trees. The sunlight would trickle through the maple leaves and leave a marbled sunlight glare on the front steps. It was primarily shaded and we never, ever saw anyone leave there. Somehow we conjured up the story an old witch lived there. It really snowballed out of control in just a couple of years. Soon she was putting spells on people, and eating children--- you know the normal. I found out several years ago the name of the people that own that house. They were in fact not witches, I'd like to report. Now the house is just a short walk out my back door, and it brings back so many precious memories that I walk back there often.
In the Fifth grade... things were really starting to change for us. For one, we were put out in a building addition where we actually got to leave the building for a brief second to get to our classrooms. This was the year of science, musical programs, puberty talks, and an accidental exposure to Ren and Stimpy during a holiday party, that ended epic. We had Mr. Arn for Math, Mrs. Grennan for Science, and Mrs. Perez for English. Mr. Arn was quite the cheeseball, and we all loved him for that. He was incredibly unpredictable and gave us nicknames that were far beyond our years of understanding. For example Jacob S. was called Jake Sweeney-- shortened to Sweeney. Heather, my best friend, well-- her last name was Lahmer...so Mr. Arn called her the Dalai Lama. He was quite unforgettable. Mrs. Grennan had an aquarium with creek water in it. We used to do fun things in there... and one time she let us go to the creek behind the classroom, which was not really a creek at all but just a babbling ditch. We got to take a container with us, collect tadpoles and bring them back to put them in our aquarium. One time she sent me and Zac Webb to collect the tadpoles.I most definitely should have used the bathroom before I went. I didn't. I heaped SERIOUS repercussions for that. When Zac and I went through the tree branches and down into the water source to get the tadpoles, the "babbling sound" from the water flowing caught me off guard. You all know what happens when someone who has to pee, hears water, well--- I peed my pants right in front of Zac. He splashed me with water like it was no big deal... and we pretended I had fallen in the creek and that's why my pants were wet. He kept my secret a secret, and to this day no one knew what happened out there. Thanks Zac. Of course, all of you know now. Mom just found out after reading this too.. She is going to kill me for telling the world I peed my pants in the 5th grade. Sooorrrrrrryyyyy MOM!
We got two new students that year. Bailey and Angela. Bailey is who all the girls wanted to look like. She was beautiful and every detail seemed perfect. Bailey, you really are beautiful! Angela, what in the WORLD WOULD I DO WITHOUT ANGELA?! She is my "sweet". I love that girl! The sweetest, kindest, purest, love for the people who are close to her. I could trust that girl with my life. We are still friends to this day.
That was also the first year that there were those "machines" in the girl's bathroom. I know for a fact none of us actually wanted to use them though. We were all too worried someone would hear the change go into the machine. Then, since we were in a modular building that was added, the bathrooms were added to each classroom and were individual bathrooms. There was one boy and one girl bathroom in each classroom. In the middle of the three rooms, there was a big opening where the entire grade could pow wow if we needed to. I imagine this was the one place our teachers wish they had air freshener. There is no joke about 5th graders who haven't started using deodorant yet.
That was such a good year. By then, I had already had my first boyfriend. Jacob S. Over the summer, during my birthday, he stopped by my house and dropped off a teddy bear. I was at basketball camp and my dad had answered the door to get it from Jacob. Well, when he came to pick me up from Brian Grant Basketball Camp, it was sitting in the front seat when I opened the door. Both thankful and embarrassed, I clutched the teddy bear and beamed.
That same year, I got a waterbed for my birthday. That waterbed was like a "staple" in my sleepovers. We would pile as many people as we could in the bed...and you'd slosh around until everyone settled. Getting up to pee in the middle of the night was a nightmare. You'd have to throw one leg over the side, find some sort of traction in the water bed, and pray you didn't bust your head on the wooden frame as you climbed out. Those sleepovers were spent eating Long John Silver's, picking out movies from First Choice Video, and if you still had time try and catch Real World or Road Rules on MTV. I miss those days more than anything in the world. My mom worked a lot of weekends, and my dad was typically the one home during these excursions. He would take us uptown to pick stuff out from the movie store and would wait as long as he could... likely an HOUR before we would come out. Then he would go into the store, screaming my name in front of a Zurbuch sister working there, and walk out. "AMBER! Time to go! You've got 30 seconds or your walking HOME".
Our class also spearheaded an awesome nature trail that year called the "Discovery Trail". We planted flowers, and spread mulch around our building. We had lots of science time on the discovery trail, which wrapped around the back side of the soccer field. What a neat thing to be a part of.
As the grand finale for the year, right before we ended the school year we also spent time with choreographer Kine Frank. He came to our school and taught us all how to dance for a play we did called "Follow the drinking gourd". I am really proud of the play. We sang songs and honored people on the underground railroad. We performed it at the Gaslight Theater. I can still remember the words and stomps to the song "Keep your lamps trimmed and burning". Great, great times.
Our 6th Grade year we had 3 teachers. Mrs. Suzi Woods, Mrs. Tanja Haughaboo, and Mrs. Sandy Hastings. I had Mrs. Woods and I loved her. She passed slips out for the kids in her class that worked extra hard, and in turn would draw out names at the end of the day... if she drew your name you won a prize! One time I won the stuffed Taco Bell dog, that said "Yo quero Taco Bell" when you squeezed the center of it. Suzi has since passed away and she went through a bout of hard times, but God rest her soul, I loved her no less and here is not a place to talk about people who can't even defend themselves, so don't.
This year our recess "changed". We were too old to swing and slide yet still needed our free time so we got to go out into the back parking lot at the end of the day and hang out. We were a pretty tight class. One time I remember all of us doing 1 huge game of "Quack a dilly oh my quack, quack, quack!" We made a giant circle and we weren't too proud to all participate in the game together even in the 6th grade. I also go my second boyfriend ever that year! He wrote me letters and put them in my locker. We talked about growing uptogether...and how we would name our son Hunter. He was a little bit shorter than I, (this was that weird stage where MOST of the boys were shorter than the girls) and sometimes people made fun of us as a couple. That was one of many times I felt sad that people were cruel...but overall our class loved one another. We also were split up in to a new enrichment class called "Gifted an Talented" that year and I was one that was given the opportunity to participate. That alone lended the nickname of "Gifted Greyhound"....because I also had a gray hair issue at the time that started in childhood and well--- kids weren't really understanding about genetics and sometimes people made fun of me for it--- but mostly it was all out of love.
That year the Tamigochi was HUGE. It was also the year Beanie Babies became out of this world with popularity! We all spent time surrendering our pink, purple or green Tamagotchis and Nano babies because we couldn't stop bringing them to school. This makes me LOL.
We did a lot of fun things this year... we wrote and even met penpals from Kentucky, we went to the Renaissance Festival and we even had a school dance. Tommy Hilfiger was in everyone's closet and bib overalls started making a comeback that would last well into Freshman year.
When we hit 6th grade there was this oddly understood respect for us from the younger kids at school. When we would walk into the gymnasium for assemblies, the younger kids would wave at us and smile. I can remember looking up to the older grades when I was younger--- and they seemed so much bigger than I actually remember us looking at the age of 11 and 12. We had made it--- we were on our way to becoming teenagers and it was exciting.
I can still remember the way the lights in the hallway down to the 6th grade dimmed and flickered as you passed the kindergarten classrooms, and then the art room... and the feeling I felt the first time I walked down it to my room the very last year of elementary school. I remember filling my backpack full of "lead pencils" and composition journals and the excitement that filled my stomach. I remember that every morning I would hear Steve Horstmeyer on channel 12 and the cool, dark, air that filled the house when I woke up in the wee hours of the morning. I remember my grandmother sitting in the office, and my aunt Wanda who was also the secretary there. I remember the sound of the bell dinging before the morning announcements and the announcements at the end of the day. I remember the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.. I remember bumping my head at recess and how the ice always came in a bread bag reused from the kitchen. I remember my artwork hanging from the walls, and the first time I held clay in my hand's in Mrs. Defossee's class. I remember the joy that filled my heart when Mrs. Glenna Smith played piano and we sang songs like "Witches Brew"and how I thought the music timeline hanging up in her classroom that said "Baroque" said "Barbeque". I remember everything about my time at Alverda Reed. I am sad that children will no longer build up the courage to choose the ramp "up" instead of the stairs. And how my ears burned with the Southern Ohio Abstinence Program taught us as adolescents. I know that this place will always be near and dear to my heart. My Father attended this very same school and it was the place he learned to read his first book ever, Swimmy by Leo Lionni. It was my home August-May for 7 years, and will always be near and dear to my heart.
Thank you, Alverda Reed.
Thank you for posting this. Great memories!
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!
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