Wanted to share a fun post from my flickr stream. Here’s a picture from my 6th grade yearbook (It was one of those cheapy, thin paperback versions) of my class. I love writing up memories from this time and sharing them. Click on the pic above to see additional info about my class.
– ah, 6th grade. Actually it was a pretty good year. We ruled the school back then. I remember on the last day of 6th grade (the next year I ventured to Ohio County Middle School where 7th and 8th graders were), I touched the brick wall as I walked past thinking, “You’ve been good to me Wayland”. I was such a cheeseball.

– For Christmas, I made my teacher, Ms. Johnson a hairbow out of shiny silver and red ribbon (not really the right kind for making hairbows). It was so dorky, but I was so proud to give it to her.

– Steven Green hit me in the face with a dodgeball (I hate how violent that game can be). it was the first day of me wearing my new sally jessy-like rose colored glasses. I cried and cried, but they temp. broke…they were able to pop back into place.

– I remember this was the year of those neon Nike windsuits. I remember Tiffany Sandefur always had new ones. I never was so lucky.

– Brandy Baize won a tree from McDonald’s for Earth Day and planted it out next to the school…I still have a clipping from the paper from it. The tree died and the little plaque commemorating it was taken down.

– We were rewarded for good behavior based on the “chip system” . We were given a blue chip if we were good, a white chip if we were a little outta line, and a red chip if we were bad. As a class, if you had so many at the end of the 9 week grading period, you got a pizza party and a dodgeball tourney. I don’t think it’s fair that that was the reward. What if you hated dodgeball? I know the boys were generally the only ones that were ever really into it.

– Our classroom was in one of those giant trailers. We thought we were cool cause we were away from all the other classes. In general, I don’t think trailers = coolness, but back then I guess I did.

– We were watching the Karate Kid part II or something one time for a party and there was a gigantic explosion like someone ran into our building. Just down the road a giant gas pipeline had exploded, so we had to be carted off to the high school for precautionary measures.

– This was the year that Ice Ice Baby was popular. This group of 8th grade girls (2 of which were Charlee Young…a girl…and Andrea Chinn) came to our class and did a parody called “Read Books Baby”…at the end they said, “Word to your librarian”. Again, I thought they were so cool, cause they were in 8th grade.

– I started to really get into New Kids at the beginning of this school year. All the rest of the girls were kinda getting over them. I got a NKOTB sleeping bag this year for my b-day and I had boughten a purple pencil pouch with the NKOTB logo. I also had 2 NKOTB shirts that I wore (one had neon colors and was one of those knockoff screen printed ones).

– I got chicken pox this year and was out of school for a whole week. I stayed with my grandma and she would put oatmeal on my back to make them feel better. I remember missing the D.A.R.E. graduation cause of it and was so disappointed that I couldn’t be there.

– Speaking of D.A.R.E., a state trooper named Steve Hewlett came to our class and taught our D.A.R.E. education. If you answered a question off the bat, you got to hold onto the D.A.R.E. bear for all of class. I never got to get it. I guess I wasn’t up on my drug education.

– I got a pen pal from California. I can’t remember his name, but I’m pretty sure he was disappointed to find out he got a girl. I remember at first his letters were nice (telling me he played soccer and about life in San Fran) but in the second or third one, he told me that he was dying of AIDS. I seriously don’t think this was the case. He was just annoyed by me and making up stories. It really hurt my feelings cause I had been so nice to him in previous letters.

– For a Halloween or Christmas party, my mom made oatmeal cookies. Not many kids like oatmeal cookies, so they were all fooled by them thinking that they were choc. chip. I remember my mom came to class that day and helped with that party. I was always so proud when she came and did that.

– I had a neon pink pencil box and covered the inside with all kinds of crazy stickers that I had collected throughout the year. I was so proud of those silly stickers that I adorned that box with.

– I had the biggest crush on Willie Snodgrass. He was a transfer from Centertown school and played basketball. I don’t think he knew or even cared that I liked him. I was always so shy and mortified if anyone I liked ever found out my true feelings.

– As a class project, our teacher made us research all the historical aspects of the song, “We didn’t start the fire”. As an added bonus, I memorized the whole song. I can recite pretty much all of it to this day.

What funny things do you remember about your 6th grade experience?

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa