Cynthia Allen (Ellis)
Hi Kathy! Thank-you so much for your response!
Am I to understand that there was only one Kindergarten teacher in the school that year? If so, then I was definitely in your class! It's so fun to hear the names of the people who were in the class! Was there a class photo taken that year?
There is absolutely no physical evidence of the existence of my Kindergarten days. No photos, no artwork, etc. Sadly, the memory of any classmates from this year is also non-existent, likely due to the fact that I was ill and therefore absent, well over half of the school year. We also moved each year and so the faces in the class never became cemented in my mind by seeing them again in the next grades up.
Ah, the mats! Mine was a gorgeous light blue one. They were stowed in the cubbies on the wall beneath a bank of windows. I don't recall her magic wand at all. That seems like something I would remember. . .
One time we were all resting on our mats and the teacher had to leave the room. She stood in the doorway and told us to stay on the mats until she returned. She promised she would only be a short while. The second she left the room, everyone in the room stood up and ran around. Not used to disobeying an adult, let alone a teacher, I may have been the only one still down when she returned. She reprimanded the entire class except for me. It was a horrible thing being singled out and I'm sure everyone was upset with me!
Our small tables were grouped together for art projects. Loved the globs of glue being distributed from an enormous jar onto small pieces of paper with a large tongue depressor! My father was a commericial artist and made screen printed Easter Eggs for us to decorate our milk cartons. He probably did this for the other holidays too.
Our teacher was so talented! She could sing and play the piano! I loved when we would all sit on the floor together to learn new songs and to listen to her read to us. She made sure to pan the book carefully, so we could all see the beautiful illustrations in the books. This made me want to become a teacher!
I'm so sorry I do not remember you reading Dick and Jane to us! I was probably absent, or I would have been most impressed and made you my best friend.
Kindergarten had its unpleasant moments. On the very first day of school, my mother instructed me to stand out on the southwest corner of the block after school let out. There she would pick me up. She didn't come right away and everyone had been long gone. I figured I'd have to find my own way home, even though I didn't really know where it was! Totally ill prepared to be outside in the world, I mustered up my courage and headed out. It was obviously a shorter route to the opposite corner, to walk diagonally across the busy street, than it was to cross two separate adjacent streets. (No one had taught me the rules). As I ventured forward, the crossing guard (who must have stayed well beyond his appointed time), picked me up by grabbing me quickly from behind and yanked me back to safety! All this while yelling loudly at me! He saved my life that day. He then taught me how to cross the streets properly. Mother finally found me a very long time afterwards!My experience is just like Harry Potters! He went diagonally too!
Thanks again Kathy--your words have helped me add some of the missing fragments to my story!
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