A PERSONAL NEW MEXICO HISTORY
PAGE TWO
ENTRY: School isn't so bad, afterall....
Well, I was wrong. I don't know why I raised such a fuss last week. This school thing is fun. Everyday is fun. We start off each day singing "Good Morning to You." Idon't know who we're singing to. I thought at first we were singing to Miss coffee, but she always sings along with us, so now I'm not sure. Then we pledge leegents to the flag. But the best part of every day is when Mrs. Recer comes to our room. She's our music teacher.
She has a funny little round
harmonica that she doesn't play very well; but she can really sing....and
play the piano, too.
Today she taught us a new song about a little man who stands in the woods.
I don't think we have any woods around here.
Iknow I've never seen any. She also played a record for us which I didn't
understand. It wasn't even in English. She kept telling us over and over
again that it was car man, but I know a woman's voice when I hear it.
Miss Coffee always leaves the room when Mrs. Recer comes. And when Miss Coffee comes back, Mrs. Recer leaves. I don't think they like each other.
When we got out our "Big
Chief" tablets for writing today, I opened mine very carefully. Yesterday
I opened my tablet to find a naked lady drawn on the whole page. (well,
not quite naked, but almost) My sister Joan (that's pronounced Joann)
is a good drawer and she puts naked girls everywhere. She's old. She's
twenty. I'm going to have to be careful about opening my notebooks from
now on. (Actually, for the next twelve years)
(Joan is ahead of her time. All her girl drawings bear a striking resemblance
to Julie Newmar, who hasn't been invented yet.)
click here for sample
See why a first-grader would be concerned with having these
pop up in his notebooks all the time?
We get to draw and color a lot, too. Today Miss Coffee gave us a picture of fall leaves to color. I like getting the pictures, especially if they're kinda damp (just off the press). If you sniff them they make you feel kinda funny. Miss Coffee said, "Jalfalfa, get your nose outta your picture and get busy with the crayolas." We're suppose to color the fall leaves bright red, orange, and yellow. That seems kinda silly. I've seen fall leaves before........they're all brown.
Cheryl, the little girl behind me, colored ALL her leaves red, and tried to get me to do the same. Sometimes I wonder about her.
We are all learning to read.
We each get a newspaper called MY WEEKLY READER---something
else that my mom can save. She saves everything. The big news
in this issue is Mickey Mouse's birthday party. He's twenty-five years
old. That's older than my sister. I've been practicing drawing him. There's
a comic strip in My Weekly Reader called "Hops".....about Hops
the rabbit and Frisky the squirrel. It's pretty dumb! I'd rather read
Li"l Abner and look at Daisy Mae. (Probably has
something to do with all the exposure to my sister's drawings)
I can tell time. The big clock
on the wall says that it's almost time for recess. Next to music, that's
the best part of the day for me. Twice---once in the morning and once in
the afternoon.
"Course, the time right after lunch is just like a third recess.
I don't know why it's called recess---It's just playtime.
One of the best things about recess is that we get to play with our new
friends from the other two first-grade rooms---and sometimes the kids from
the other grades.
Some of my new friends from
Mrs. Shockley's room are:
Denny Brewer, Ronnie Holsey, Elsie McCall, Charlotte Mathis,
Carl Nelson, Patricia Oldham, Betty Jane Porter, Annette Requa,
Charlotte Stewart, and Jerry Thompson.
My new friends from Mrs. Thigpen's room are:
Eileen Bickley, Jeanette Brooks, Anthony Cass, Mary Land
Dana McLaughlin, Harry Mikel, June Newberry, Patsy Rose Smith
Don Tibbets and Charles Waybourn.
I also have some new friends in my own room now:
Gary Addison, Wanda Brown, Michael Coleman, Sue Hoyle,
Cheryl Reid, and R.A. Walls.
We have a lot of fun together
at recess. I'll tell you all about it later. Right now I have to go outside
and find Annette Requa.
I'm not sure why, but I just have to.
(copyright 1998, by Jalfalfa)