School Daze: Second Grade

Day 129

2nd grade had to be one of the strangest grades while attending Sifton Elementary School. I had a strange teacher who had a strange way of doing things but I it was also one of the most creative grades where I felt I was pushed to do more.

My teacher was Mrs. Bernard and I thought she was a tad bit off. And at other times I thought she was crazy. She would lose her temper and totally scream at us. Not raising her voice or yelling but literally screaming! We probably at times deserved it though. There were a couple of tough kids (between Jehad and Mark) to deal with in that class. Jehad is the one standing next to my in my class photo.

I hated Jehad. He was such a bully. Sifton had a great park which was a blast to play in. We also made a set of dirt holes in the ground so we could play marbles. Jehad tried to steal my marbles one day and we got into a pushing fight and I was the only one that got in trouble. I also remember a time when my friend Michael and I were at the park on a Saturday and him and his stupid brother was there. They grabbed me and tried to beat me up. Luckily I was able to convince my way out of it. My family and I found a missing kitten which we saved which ended up being Jehad's cat. I told him that he was lucky that I saved his cat and they let me go. In hindsight, knowing that it was Jehad's cat, I should have gotten rid of it.

There were a couple of cool friends that I liked to hang out with. I was friends with Kirk and Leanne from the 1st grade but I became friends with Mike, Alexis and Doug. And of course I had my share of crushes on girls. At some point I had a crush on Tracey (the blonde girl in the middle of the front row) but the 2nd grade is where I kissed my first girl on that fateful overnight trip to Calgary.

One of my favorite memories was when our class went to Calgary on an overnight trip. Now for those that may not know, I lived in Edmonton and Calgary was about three hours away. We went to Calgary by train and that was so much fun. Sitting with my friends and just having a ball. I can't imagine what it was like for Mrs. Bernard and those poor parents to be in charge with us. We did cool things though, we went and saw the Calgary Tower. We got to go up into the tower and see the view.

On the bus is where I managed to have my first kiss. I was standing next to Lori Egdar (the girl in red on the top row from the left) and I thought I was being extra sneaky. Every time we would hit a bump of some sort, I would pretend to run into her and I would kiss her. And it was mostly on the shoulder! I cannot believe I am admitting this.

That night we stayed at a school and we all slept in a gym, boys on one side with the girls on the other. I remember one kid, Brian Waritsky yelling across to the girls "We strike at midnight!"

And then he fell asleep! Not much of a plan Brian! Some of the kids wouldn't be quiet (I was one of them at one point) and so me and another kid (I cannot for the life of me remember who it was; I think it was Doug or Mike) went to find the teachers. We were so macho that we had our shirts off.

One day Mrs. Bernard just disappeared for the afternoon. We had no idea where she was, we assumed that she was just in the office. So we all went wild. I remember one girl (Shari) really going nuts. I thought she was already nuts but she flashed her underwear to everyone. And then when we told the teacher she denied it all and we got in trouble for making up such a terrible lie.

What I liked about Mrs. Bernard is that she was creative in teaching. We had a lot of stations where we would learn math by doing hands-on type of things. She also made us keep a diary where we could write whatever we wanted. I am sure I still have it somewhere at my mom's house. But we could draw in it and really be as creative as we wanted to be in it.

And I am much like my son Logan. He has the same "social" problem at school as I did. I would fly through my work when I had to so I had time to be social.

Second grade was one of my favorite grades.