My mother was going to home school me, but she developed breast cancer. I was sent to stay with Grandma, in town, and go to school there, starting after about two months into the school year. The elementary and high school were in the same building, and at the end of the day, I didn't know which door to take to leave the building. I wandered up into the high school area, and a neighbor girl of Grandma's rescued me, and got me home. I absolutely loved my first grade teacher, and can still recall what she looked like. Best of all, Mother lived fifty years after the cancer surgery.

I do not remember my first day, but I remember that I went to morning Kindergarten and I walked to my Grandma's house afterward to stay with her. I walked by myself. Something that is unheard of these days.

I went to afternoon kindergarten. I remember Mom or Grandma giving me breakfast, then a bath, in the morning. While Mom was walking me, we met another mother and daughter on the way. That girl turned out to be Andrea, my best friend for the next six years. We walked to school togrether all those years, even coming home for lunchtime. The only reason we split up was because my family moved away. I still hear from Andrea, we are now 58 years old. We exchange cards and eMails.Definitely my first and oldest friend.

I don't recall my first day, but have many memories of the first year of school. Our classroom was a metal building next to the brick school (it later became the shop building I believe). A little boy that sat behind me used to pull my hair. I remember always being petrified that I would do something wrong and get a spanking. The boys would be taken in the bathroom and spanked, but the girls would have their dress pulled up and spanked in front of the entire class.

Why is it I only remember the 'bad' stuff?

Oh boy, do I. I was so scared, my mom or granny had to go with me, sit in the hall so I'd know they were there, etc. It was a rough time. My older cousins had told me that the principal had an electric paddle, and scared me to death. My school years as a whole were not that pleasant.

Yes, kindergarten. I cried so much the teacher told Mom she might as well take me back home.

Vaguely. It was 1971 and we had just moved to a new town. I remember going into the classroom and choosing a toy from the shelves. I chose to string wooden beads on a rope. That's all I can remember.

Sue, I don't remember the very first day of school. It was in 1940 and all I can remember is my mother brushing my long curls while I sat on the bench in front of the dresser. Next thing I remember was crying at school for my mother. The first grade teacher would let me bring up my chair and sit beside her to help me stop crying. Not sure if that helped. My first grade teacher never married and talking with a friend years ago, she is still living, think she is 102 now.

Oh yes, I remember. I cried and refused to go into the classroom. They let me stand outside my sister's classroom. Her teacher came out into the hall and taught me a song. Then my 1st grade teacher let me go outside and see what I thought the clouds looked like. Finally my teacher ask me to come help her pass out books. I was ready by then.

We lived in a very small town in Eastern Washington with one school building. My Dad had graduated from the same school. You started in kindgergarten and graduated high school all in the same building!
My Mom told me I was going to school with my brother,I thought that was fine. She neglected telling me he wouldn't be with me, and every day I would cry and cry until they would bring him to my class.
Every day on the way home Mom and my brother would berate me for being a baby. (great parenting huh?)
The happiest day of kindergarten was when we moved even further into the rural area, the school wouldn't send a bus for me and I got to be a drop out! (It wasn't mandatory at the time)
By first grade I was ready, and I always used this as a example to my friends not to rush their kids into school at barely 5.

We never had kindergarten and unless it has changed recently, you do not have to go to kindergarten here. We went to the same school all 12 years.

Sue

There was a stile over the chain link fence that surrounded the country school. My mother drove up to the stile and told me to go into the school house and find Mozelle (Mozelle was my mother's friend who was the 1st grade teacher).

I (very frightened) went into that 3 room schoolhouse and asked another teacher for Mozelle.
That "old heifer" immediately scolded me, telling me I must say Ms Drennan not Mozelle. I was only 5 and did not know that Mozelle even had a last name.

I have vivid memories from preschool and kindergarten but not the first day. I remember what my first grade teacher wore on the first day but that's it. It was '74 and she had long blond hair, a powder blue mini dress and white paten boots. It was like having Marcia Brady for my teacher.

I remember what should have been my first day of school. I lived right across the road from the school and one of my parents (don't remember which one) was walking me across the road and to my classroom, but when we got the the sidewalk I threw up all over the sidewalk. Needless to say I didn't go to school that day. I was a very shy child and it was just nerves. I had, had Tang orange juice drink for breakfast and was out of high school before I ever drank it again. I was sure that is what made me sick. LOL
Kittywhiskers

My mother took a picture of me the morning I started first grade. I'm the one in the middle with the pigtails, between the girl next door and her best friend. They were three years older and walked me to school that day. It was half a mile to school, home again for lunch, back to school, and home again at 3:30 p.m. All of us walked or rode bikes. Nobody was woried about it. Most of the route was in a residential neighborhood and most houses had a SAHM in them. I loved first grade because I learned to read and was no longer dependent on an adult to read me a story!

I'd already attended afternoon kindergarten in the same building -- K through 6. (Another photo: Me sitting on the front steps of our house with my 'naptime' rug.) My most vivid memory of Kindergarten is when a classmate socked me in the stomach because I kept looking at him. I'd never seen a Japanese boy before.

Many of my kindergarten classmates went all the way through HS with me -- including Mike, who was senior class president, despite his 'violent' past! LOL

I think so, but I'm not sure if it was the first day or not. I remember being dressed up (i.e., cleaned up, LOL), standing on the sidewalk, looking at my mother, who was waving goodbye from the doorway of the house. I think one of my older sisters actually walked me to school.

It's odd not being able to truly remember an important day in my life...makes me wonder what else I've forgotten!

I'm probably carrying the damage to this day. LOL

We didn't have kindergarten, I don't think I'd ever had a babysitter. I remember what I wore. A dress with a big collar/bib with grapes. Because I used that collar to wipe my eyes (and probably nose). Whew, good thing that first day was only until noon.

That's all I remember about the first grade. I think it was fine after that first day.

Yes I do...only because when we went outside for recess I thought it was time to go home...so I did.

The part I don't remember is ...did my mom call school...or did school call my mom....whichever it was...I was busted and sent back.

patti

My 1st day of school was in 1948. They put our class in a separate bldg from the school. They had to put blocks of wood under each child''s feet (or most of us anyway) because we were too short for those big metal desk and our feet wouldn't touch the floor. It was raining that day and we had to wade thru water up to our shoe tops to get to the door of that bldg, which included lunch which was in another bldg. All the mothers who had come with their kids that day (including mine) held a sit-down strike until the principle promised to move the class to the main school bldg. We were moved within 2 days to the main school bldg. That school has long been torn down but I still remember what it looked like. I went there thru 7th grade. It was called Toano High School and held all 11 grades. There was no 8th grade at that time.

Don't remember much about my grammar school life at all. Probably my mom took me to school, in that town, everyone knew everyone else. Don't remember any bad or good. But did move in the 5th grade due to Dad changing jobs due to WWII. I was a year ahead of everyone else. Loved HS, and JC.
Brother did not like school, cried all the time, but big sister (me) did tease him a bit.

Remember first grade teacher asking everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up.

I said MISSIONARY

Yeah, right :o)

OMG. casey nfld - your first day of school was in the year I graduated from high school. Ugh. I feel really old.

I think Mom walked me. I understood I was supposed to listen and do what the teacher said. But I did not like the things she was telling us to do. Why line up? Why be quiet? Why sit there? If it's recess why can't we play? I was soooo happy when that long tedious day ended. The next day I walked into school, got to my classroom door, and just stood there and cried. They called my Mom, and she told them I must miss playing with my sisters -- but truthfully, it had just overwhelmed me that I HAD TO GO BACK FOR A SECOND DAY, AND IT WOULD NEVER END!

Luckily, we moved after a month and my second first-grade teacher was a wonderful, kind, caring, gentle, beautiful young woman who made me like school after all. Thank you Mrs Lyons.

I'm not sure it was my first day of school but it was definitely one of the first days of kindergarten. My cousin has just moved to my town and we were fast friends. We ruled the kindergarten classroom because we were the only ones that knew someone. Our mom's had to have the teachers put us in different classrooms after kindergarten because we wouldn't let anyone else play with us and we were very bossy. I'm not sure my mom did the right thing on that one. Both of us were very shy after that and didn't make friends easily until much later in school.

My DH remembers his first days vividly. His mom walked him and his twin brother to school and they both followed her back home. They didn't want to stay there. This went on for several days and she'd walk them both back to school only to get home and find them back at home. Finally one day when they showed up yet again at home, she put them outside (it was a cold day) and wouldn't let them back in. They finally got cold and walked to school and stayed the rest of the time. I think that is the funniest thing ever. I can just imagine getting home after taking the little rascals to school only to find that they'd beat her home. Today they'd probably call social services or something.

Yep. My brother and sisters brought me. I wore brown "buster brown" shoes. I had an apple with me to have as a snack. There was a boy named Paul crying by the door. I did a funny little dance and acted silly, dropped the apple then picked it up and spanked it saying "stupid apple!" and made him laugh.

Did NOT like our kindergarten teacher, as she spanked me the first day for correcting her spelling. She was a hand smacker. I HATE hand smackers.

Dances.

I started school in September 1957. I was still four years old, my birthday was in November. I remember some children crying, their Mothers would be called to pick them up. On Sept 24 my Mother went into the hospital to have my brother Bill. I was scared but walked to school. I started to cry in class but told the teacher not to call my Mom, I wanted to stay. I also remember some kids wet their pants in kindergarten, and their Mothers would bring a change of clothes. Luckily I never did that. But my closest sister did wet her pants once in kindergarten. I remember singing songs, our teacher Miss Jackson was a wionderful piano player.

I started kindergarten in 1947. My mom walked me to the school bus every day. I don't remember much about kindergarten except my teacher's name and that she corrected me when I called a train a "choo choo". She hurt my feelings by saying that only babies say choo choo. I don't remember anyone crying or wetting their pants in kindergarten but I vaguely remember some kids wetting their pants in first or second grade. I think that was because you had to get the teacher's permission to use the rest room and sometimes the teacher made you wait.

Yes, my teacher ruined school for me for years. First day of first grade (no kindergarten in our town), I was a tiny just-turned-five-year-old about 5 days before. Teacher was cross-eyed and didn't know our names yet.
Three little girls sitting in a row. She said "little girl, come up here". We all just sat there, staring at her, not knowing who she was talking to or even looking at. She said it again. No response.
She walked up, grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me and yelled because I didn't come up to her.

I cried every day, I hated going back. My next sister was 11 months younger than me, we couldn't remember not being together, I could not understand why I had to go to school and she didn't.