I will include years 6 & 7 together as yes, I had the same teacher for those two years. Also remember, that my gr 6 and 7 happened in 1950 to 1952. Most of you weren't running around at that time.
First, I will cover something that applies to all years of my education...outdoor play. Playing was for most , the very best part of school . When I think back I am surprised at how much we did and how much fun we had. The peak enrolment when I was in the school was 17, from gr 1 to 9. We had recesses of 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon. We had an hour at lunch time. Sometimes lunches were eaten very quickly so that we could resume play.
All play was organized by the students. The older kids did the most of the organizing.
The main activity was ball. One side was always short one player as you need 18 players. Not to worry. The little guys were the fielders or ball getters. They were like a dog and ran and got the ball and brought it back. Arrangements were made so that every hit wasn't a home run. You only got one base on an infield ball. Two bases if the ball landed in the oufield. There were variations that were played. Scub! There were many names for this game. Students were placed in an order...first batter, then catcher, pitcher , first base. The idea was to hit and run to first base and back. You stayed at bat as long as you could do this. If you went out you went to the bottom of the numbers and the catcher became the batter and everybody moved up one place.
Another version was 500. A batter would hit the ball into a group of players. If you caught a fly ball you got 100 points. A grounder 50 points . The first person who got 500 points became the batter.
This certainly added variety to our playing.
In the winter we played Fox and Goose, prisoner's base, soccer and built snow houses and made tunnels in the snow. The prairies were open . The wind blew the snow for days on end. The blowing snow formed many snow banks. The snow was quite hard as you could always walk over it.
Anty I Over was enjoyed in the summer.
Also for gr 6, we got a brand new school building. No more wind moaning through the building.. It was a treat. We had oil heating so the room stayed the same temperature all day and night.
The new school had one tiny room as a library and more books than the old school. As I said before I finished my work as fast as possible so I could go in the little library and read. There was a very old set of encyclopedias which I spent a lot of time reading. My favorite book was Planes for Bob and Andy. So I really wanted to be a pilot. I did get my pilot's license when I was 25. I also remember reading Smokie and Black Beauty.
Again, I was the only student in my grade. I worked hard so that I could have free time and avoid the teacher. The teacher had to spend the most time with the little guys. I bragged about being first in my class but Yorkshire Pudding also reminded me that I was last as well!
The teacher was pretty good with music and she worked hard. Our work was marked which is more than some of the other teachers did. She made the mistake of praising everything about the previous school she taught in. Very soon she had lost our report. We did not like her .
I have no pictures from this time as the teacher did not organize photos. She took photos for herself but they were not distributed to the students.
