Thursday, July 22, 2010

Record your Life... Fifth grade drama.

Fifth grade memories to me are full of drama!  It was the last year in our elementary school (and the first year that 5th grade was the end...a new middle school had just been built) and we though we were it! 

One stand-out memory for me in fifth grade was learning my BFF had diabetes.  And the incident that started it all (well, not the diabetes but the appointments that led to the diagnosis) was something we all always got in trouble for.  During certain subjects (this day it was reading) we broke into groups and gathered in different spots in the room.  This day S. and myself and four others were around the table discussing a book we had been reading and S. had her chair tipped up on it's back legs.  We were always being told "four on the floor" (meaning all four chair legs on the floor) but she wasn't obeying and suddenly her chair tipped on backwards and she busted her head into the chalk tray as she went all the way down to the floor.  She ended up in the nurse's office and eventually at the doctor's (she had a concussion).  In the midst of her doctor's appointment her mom raised some other concerns and after testing, S. learned she was diabetic.  Her dad is severely diabetic and so I think she wasn't too surprised and I don't remember it ever affecting anything else...I just remember that she was diagnosed.

Another memory that jumps out for me is S. giving me my first diary for Christmas that year.  I still have it.  It has a black cover with lime green hearts on it.  And it had a lock and key and everything.  Every so often (when I'm cleaning or the times I've moved and moved it too) I get it out and read a few pages.  It's amazing how my fifth-grade brain worked.  It's mostly about boys and boys and oh yeah, boys.

One entry in that diary talks about A. and the time she purposely tried to break her leg by wrapping her leg around the desk chair leg.  I do remember that we were incredibly mean to this poor girl (looking back now...we were major bullies) but I do not remember why she tried to break her leg.  And my diary is oh so descriptive (*insert sarcasm here*).  It says, "A. tried to break her leg in class today.  She stuck her foot around the chair leg and fell."  That's it.  Nice huh?  I wish now that I wasn't so mean back then.

And the biggest memory from fifth grade?  Our teacher.  He was the only male teacher in the entire school.  Every morning before school started we said the Pledge of Allegiance (which I think is standard) and said a prayer (one we all had to memorize and said daily).  I don't remember the prayer anymore and while I know he is still teaching, I'm sure he can't teach that anymore (this was at a public school).  Anyways.  One day in class he was upset with us (and I don't remember what we were doing) but he SLAMMED his fist down on his desk top and completely cracked the plastic desk protector that he had over his desk calendar.  It wasn't glass but it cracked right down the middle like glass.  We were all so shocked that no one said a single word.  He grab that desk protector, went out the door, down the hall and came back without it and carried on like nothing had happened.  It was crazy.  I still can remember the sound of his fist hitting and the cracking sound that plastic made. 

This is my seventh posting at Mommy's Piggy TALES recording my memories in just 15 weeks. If you're interested in doing the same for yourself, swing by her place to check it out!

Click here to read my post from last week, where my second grade memories aren't very good memories.

1 comment:

  1. So did you like your male teacher? My last year of elem. school I had my first and the only one I can think of at the school, make teacher. Actually I will share about him next week, our school went to 6th grade. I still think it is weird to have male teacher in elementry school as an adult, though due to my own background I am more aware of certain things. I would probably request my child be taken out of 'his' class.
    Anyway thanks for sharing your memories!

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