Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Filed under: Anchorage

My Daddy's Life in the First Grade (1973)

This is Mina’s Dad, I attended the First Grade in 1973.  Our family lived in a city called Anchorage, Alaska.  Alaska is the 50th State in the United States and Anchorage is the largest city in the state.   Alaska is also the biggest state and the farthest North.  It is over 4,000 miles from Orchard School. 

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I attended First Grade at Government Hill Elementary School.  It was a new school because the old school was destroyed in a large earthquake in 1964.  Earthquakes were very much part of our school life.  Most schools have Fire Drills, but we would also have Earthquake Drills where we would learn what to do if an earthquake happened.  We would  learn to climb under our desks in a ball and wait until the shaking stopped. 

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First Grade for me was very similar to first grade today; we learned about art and studied reading and math.  My favorite books were “Fun with Dick and Jane” and “See Spot Run” by an author named Zerna Addis Sharp.  We also had school plays and festivals throughout the year.  Very much like you have today.

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I lived very close to the school so I would walk across a big field each day to get there.  My favorite activities were Art, Gym and of course recess.   When we had recess, we would play games like Marbles and another where a ball is tied to the top of a pole and we would hit it around and around the pole to our friends.  We played Hop-Scotch in the Spring and Fall, but the Winter was the most fun of all.

 

Because Alaska is so far north, every year it gets lots of snow.  At school, we would play outside for recess even in the snow!  We wore Jackets in the fall, and in the winter we would wear clothes called “Snow Suits” every day.  These were big jackets for our whole bodies.  In first grade, we also went on a fun field trip to learn about what to do if you are trapped outside in the snow.  We learned about how to stay warm, and how to find shelter from the cold weather and build shelters made of snow called Igloo’s.

 

My life in the first grade was very fun both in school and outside of school.