ELEMENTARY BOARDING SCHOOL

The days at school were very busy, from the time that I woke up, to the time that I went to bed, I was constantly on the move, in the classroom and in the dorm at night. The dorm parent would turn on the over head lights at 6:00 am, to wake us up in the morning. I would get out of bed, put on the clothes that I had laid out the night before on my bench, brush my hair then make my bed. By 6:30, I am in the living room, watching some television, waiting for the dorm parent to say that it is time to leave for breakfast. At 6:50, she tells us that it is time to leave for the dining room. We all line up to walk to breakfast together. The dinning room is across the hall from the elementary school dorms. We walk across the hall to the dinning room, we stand around in the hall waiting for them to let us in to eat breakfast. At 7:00, they let us in the dining room, My dorm walks to our assigned dorm table for breakfast. For breakfast there is a variety of cereals to choose from, juice, toast, bacon or sausage depending on what the menu said. When you were finished eating, you had to sit at the table until everyone was through with their food. When everyone was through eating, the dorm parent said it was time to leave the dining room. We all walked back to the dorm together. By 7:30, we were back in the dorm getting ready for school. I went to my closet to get my tooth brush and tooth paste. When I got to the bathroom, I talked to my friends while I waited in line for an open sink to brush my teeth. After I brushed my teeth I went back to my closet to get my books for school. Then I went to watch some television in the living room, until the dorm parent dismissed us to school for the day.

At 7:55 we leave for school, school starts at 8:00, as we leave the dorm, I say good bye to my dorm parent. In the elementary school, the classrooms are right above the dorms. My third and fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Hughes. The first 20 minutes of the day is spent turning in homework, then discussing any problems we had with the assignments. In Social Studies we learned about all the states and the levels of government. Mrs. Vorice was my Gym teacher, the gym was at the other end of the school. In Gym we learned volley ball, roller skating as a group, interpretive dance, we ran track and field down by the cub scout house and gymnastics. After gym we went back to the classroom for Science, we built a model of the solar system, out of foam balls and tissue paper. The last subject before lunch was Math. Math was my hardest subject, all the numbers got turned around in my head, I was in the fifth grade, with the Math skills of a third grader.

Lunch was at 11:00 am, I was glad, that Lunch was after Math, so that I got a break after a hard class. You were allowed to sit wherever you wanted to during lunch, my friends and I sat at a table towards the front of the dining room. As we ate our lunch we would make plans for after school. The food at school was good usually. The school made great lasagna, pizza and turkey sandwiches. After lunch we went to recess. In the play ground outside the elementary school dorms, there was a sandbox, slide, jungle gym, merry-go-round, and swings. In the center of the play ground was a tree house. To get in to the tree house, you climbed a tall ladder, through the floor of the room above, you stepped in to a room with windows, a door leading to the balcony, and slide to get down to the ground again. The swing was my favorite thing to play on at recess, I liked the thinking that I could touch the sky, if I could just go a little higher.

After a little while, the teachers said that it was time to go back to school. Reading was the first class after lunch. Reading was my favorite subject, I was the most advanced reader in my class. While my class was working on the third grade reader, I was working down the hall with Mrs. Romanos reading class, on the fourth grade reader. After reading I went back to my class to put my books away before we left for music class. The music room was at the other end of the school, on the third floor above the gym. Mrs. Olmsted was the music teacher, we spent most of the year learning how to read sheet music, learning songs to sing at the Christmas, Spring and graduation concerts. I am not a very good singer, I am tone deaf. The last class of the day was Art. The Art room was on the first floor in the stinky maintenance area. I made a clay cup, a paper mache tambourine and a line stitch pillow. The last bell of the school day rang at 3:15, I said bye to the teacher, then returned to my dorm.

When I returned to my dorm, I checked in with the dorm parent, went to my locker to put away my school books. At 3:30, it was time to leave for recreation hour. The recreation staff put out a list that listed what activity we would be doing each day after school. Some of the activities we participated in were: name that song, you win candy if you could name the song, swim in the school pool, bowl in the school bowling alley, roller skate in the school roller rink, play board games, win candy if you win the game, watch a movie in the auditorium and some days we just played on the play ground outside the dorms.

At 4:30, we returned to the dorm to wash our hands and brush our hair for dinner. At 4:50, the dorm parent tells us that it is time to leave for the dining room. We all line up to walk to dinner together. We walk across the hall to the dinning room, we stand around in the hall waiting for them to let us in to eat dinner. At 5:00, they let us in the dining room, My dorm walks to our assigned dorm table for dinner. When you were finished eating, you had to sit at the table until everyone was through with their food. When everyone was through eating, the dorm parent said it was time to leave the dining room. We all walked back to the dorm together. By 5:30, we were back in the dorm getting ready for study hall. I went to my closet to get my tooth brush and tooth paste. When I got to the bathroom, I talked to my friends while I waited in line for an open sink to brush my teeth. After I brushed my teeth, I went down stairs to check the list to see what my dorm job was for the week. A dorm job is a house keeping type job that you do every night for a week. Dorm jobs include: emptying the bathroom and kitchen trash, wiping down the study area tables, vacuuming the living room carpet and sweeping the kitchen floor.

After my dorm job was completed, I went back to my closet to get my school books for study hall. Study hall was for an hour and started at 6:00. Twice a week, high school students came to the dorm to help us with our homework, if we had any questions on an assignment we asked them for help. When you finished your homework you went to watch the news in the living room for the rest of the hour.

After study hall we had free time for a hour, At free time I liked to sit and talk to my friends, read a book or go play Nintendo in the spare room. At 8:00, the dorm parent said that it was time to start getting ready for bed. I went to my closet to get undressed and take my shampoo and towel to the bathroom. When I went to the bathroom, I talked to my friends while I waited in line for an open shower. After my shower, I went back to my closet to get dressed, put away my shampoo and towel. As my friends were coming back from the shower, I grabbed a book from my closet, to read until lights out. As I was reading, I listened to my friends getting ready for bed. At 9:00 pm, the dorm parent came to tell us that it was time to go to bed, she turned off the over head lights and closed the door. I said good night to my friends, closed my eyes and went to sleep. As I went to sleep, I felt comforted by the routine of school life.