Sunday, September 29, 2024

FALL COLORS

       There have been a number of excellent photos on leaves recently. It's very appropriate because of the fall season.

        These photos reminded me of some school activities about 75 years ago.

        I had an excellent teacher for grades 3,4 and 5. She was far ahead of her time when it came to excellent learning projects. One of them was on leaves. 

       The whole class of 17 from gr one to nine would spend an hour or two wondering around off the schoolyard collecting leaves for a project. So in this little field trip we observed many different plants. She didn't know the names but we observed plants. 

      I think my technique for this has weakened but I hope you can see the outline of a leaf. 



      When we got back to the classroom we chose leaves to make a tracing with our pencils. Of course, we had to arrange the leaves in an interesting manner. Then she displayed our works. We did not have a bulletin board and I don't think scotch tape had been invented yet. Thumb tacks were used to attach our work to the wall. 

      So my teacher evaluation hat says that she could teach many things with just one item. Every moment to her was a teachable moment. 

27 comments:

  1. What a fun lesson! I would have loved that and enjoyed reading the story. Thanks Red!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well try it yourself and see how it goes.

      Delete
  2. And when lessons are fun, the knowledge just slips in easily and stays

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I can remember many things from that time. The teacher also had us doing a lot of singing.

      Delete
  3. I did this leaf tracing too, a happy memory. Take care, enjoy your day and have a great week ahead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was probably a well know project at that time.

      Delete
  4. Yes, I can see the outline of the leaf! I remember ironing a leaf in between two pieces of wax paper.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, I remember that too but I can't remember how it was mounted.

      Delete
  5. That was a good activity, suitable for all ages. Did anyone ever identify the leaves? You could have taken pictures with your phones and asked to identify them. 😊 Oh wait! I'll bet you didn't even have phones of any kind. 😲😇

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We had a phone in the school but not much else. Yes everybody in the school did the leaf activity at the same time.

      Delete
  6. She had that gift…great memory!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I could make out the leaf, and you always seem able to come up with good posts about things in the distant past, Red.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It seems to me that I did a better job when I was a little kid.

      Delete
  8. I remember doing that when I was young. Thanks for bringing back that sweet memory for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought I would find that many people did this project.

      Delete
  9. I did that when I was a kid, too. It must have been a challenge for your teacher to come up with teachable moments, with such a huge age range and being in a rural area.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This teacher did well as she was experienced . Most other teachers were young and were just lost.

      Delete
  10. Replies
    1. There were other projects and there was much music.

      Delete
  11. That's high praise for your teacher.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I look back and she was much ahead of her time.

      Delete
  12. I think I did that when I was young too. I remember my mother pressing leaves between the pages of a book.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I remember doing something like this. Not too many trees or leaves in Oklahoma. But my gosh, Red, I thought scotch tape had been around since the pilgrims landed. I can't comprehend life without it. Surely it's friends Duct and Masking were around too. Linda in Kansas

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fun stuff, nice to have a teacher that does fun projects.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great memories of a wonderful teacher. You were lucky to have her for multiple years.

    ReplyDelete
  16. How wonderful that you had such a creative, imaginative teacher to influence you into the becoming the fabulous educator you grew up to be.

    ReplyDelete