This was me in 3rd Grade at Wayland Alexander Elementary in Hartford, KY.

They had a special promotion with school pictures that you got these cute Valentine’s with little stickers to stick in place. I loved these Valentine’s soooo much. I think it kinda shows that I had an interest in illustration and design and that it appealed to me even back then.

In 3rd grade, I was at the pinnacle of my popularity. I know this seems silly, but you know how it goes as a kid. You really, really want to fit in and feel like people and the other kids like you. I remember getting invited to several birthday parties and sleepovers this year. I also remember having a little bond with all the little girls in my class. After this grade, things changed in a weird way…I started noticing that I wasn’t one of the cool kids anymore. I guess I was about 10 here and I’m figuring this is the age when kids start really noticing things like clothes, personalities, what is considered “cool”, etc. I figure that they start trying to act “cool” instead of being themselves. I guess my personality just didn’t jive with them after this age. I don’t know.

Some funny things I remember about 3rd grade?

– My teacher really liked me at this age. I remember I always had to stay longer after school, because my bus was the last school bus to arrive. I crawled around the floor picking up little scraps of paper and trash. I was her little helper. She was a strict/older teacher and a lot of the kids in my class ended up going to another school cause their parents didn’t want them in her class. I’m sure there was a lot more drama to it than that, but I was too little to really understand.

– Because my teacher liked me, she really wanted me to be in the ADK competition (an academic competition in my county for kids from the different schools) to represent my 3rd grade class. I remember that she wanted me to win for penmanship, so I had to write in cursive over and over a paragraph on that lined blue and red dashed penmanship paper (you know the kind). I kept having to do it over and over cause I kept making mistakes and creating big eraser marks. She showed it to the other teachers and they determined that I could go for penmanship. I had to go to the high school to participate in the ADK competition, and I ended up placing 2nd in my grade behind Josh Jones in the county. Do kids even practice cursive penmanship anymore?

– My parents purchased neon papers for their business and I thought it was the coolest thing! They let me have a few sheets and I would create name bookmarks (bubble letter style)for the other kids with it and sell them for 10¢ a piece. I remember that I really felt confident about doing them, but then I misspelled the name Nathan wrong on a book mark (I spelled it Nathen) and for some reason it mortified me and I stopped making them. I don’t know why I just didn’t redo it. I guess I was a bit socially weird at that age.

– The little girls in my class would go in the bathroom and socialize. Well, we would go in there and talk, primp, etc. and I remember I always sat on the edge of the ceramic sink basin. One day, another girl sat up on it and it totally fell off the wall and broke into a ton of little pieces. We were so freaked out and ran back into the class not saying a thing. I don’t remember anyone really questioning about it or getting in trouble for it. I’m really surprised we didn’t get recess taken away or something!

– Some girls in my class named Korey and Jessica had a joint b-day party at Korey’s house and I remember stressing over what I was going to get them (I used my own allowance for the gift). Anyway, I remember finally picked out 2 packages of pop beads like this at Bob’s IGA. That night, I remember staying up really late (for me that was midnight) watching Goonies. I seriously don’t know if I’ve seen that movie since.

– We would play “Heads up, Seven up” in class and I really took it seriously. I would put my head down, thumb up, and close my eyes so hard that I would see stars. It was almost a semi-blackout. I don’t remember ever picking the right person and getting to be the one that got to put down peoples thumbs (if you don’t know this game, here is the descriptor). I later realized that the only reason that kids got to go up and be the thumbs down people is because they cheated…didn’t close their eyes all the way and would notice the shoes of the kid that picked them. I guess I was all about the rules back then.

– I got several packs of Garbage Pail Kids and my mom didn’t think they were very appropriate, so she made me give them away. I gave them away to a red-headed boy named Erik (he actually had a crush on me). He had the biggest collection in class!

– I remember my parent’s went away for a business trip and that their assistant babysat my sisters and I. I thought this was sooooo cool. She stayed with us and let us stay up, watch movies at home (I saw the “questionable scene” in Purple Rain), and take us to movies in Owensboro at the Plaza Twin. I remember that we saw “Like Father, Like Son” with Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains was huge at this time). I was so excited about this and bragged about it the next day to this girl named Kansas. I was always trying to impress her…I don’t really know why.

– My best friend was named Ashley and we both really loved Full House. I remember having long drawn-out conversations about the characters. We both had glasses and were pretty nerdy. I spent the night at her house a couple of times. I remember one time eating so many Milky Ways that I threw up on the bathroom rug. My mom had to come get me. I wasn’t used to eating that much junk food, so I got a major tummy ache. I also remember playing with Ashley and her neighborhood kids, which Kansas was the leader of. They wanted to walk across this huge field and go to Wal-mart. The field would have taken us over a mile to walk and was a lot further than Kansas said it would be. I remember feeling really uncomfortable and my stomach hurting because I was the only one saying that I didn’t want to go. Everyone in the end decided that we wouldn’t make the journey, but that was prob. my first major peer pressure experience.

– I really liked this boy named Blake and I thought he looked like a young “MacGyver”(which was also an addiction for me at the time). I remember that I was mortified at the thought of telling a boy I liked them, but my friend ended up asking him if he would “go with me”. He said he would if I didn’t tell anyone. I remember thinking that that was really lame and it hurt my feelings.

– I did end up getting asked to go with a boy named Jimmy in library during a movie (we watched a lot of movies like Apple Dumplin’ Gang, Bears at Yellowstone, etc.). I remember being really nervous about this and said I would. Later that night, my family went to a Just Say No Rally at the high school, where I saw him there and was totally mortified. I remember that at this Just Say No Rally, that this high schooler played The “Sesame Street Theme Song” on drums, which everyone thought was so awesome. In hindsight, I’m sure it was just ok. Anyway, we broke up the next day. It wouldn’t have worked anyway, we were both in different classes. Ha ha.

Here’s some other cute little Valentine’s I still have from my classmates.

Hope you had fun reading all about my 3rd grade memories! What do you remember about 3rd grade? Please share!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa