My First Grade Teacher and a Valentine

My first grade teacher was named Mr. Bradstreet. All of the kids, including me, thought he was a great teacher. He was always engaging us in a fun and exciting manner. Mr. Bradstreet is the reason that I have such neat handwriting. In my little town, there weren’t enough kids to have two first grade classes and two second grade classes. The administration decided to put the more advanced first graders (that’s me!) with the not-so-advanced second graders in a combined class.

Doesn’t that sound fun? A bunch of 5 – 8 year olds in one classroom. Poor Mr. Bradstreet. He was charged with teaching two curriculum, keeping half of the class quiet while teaching the other half, and ensuring that everyone was learning at the proper pace. I learned cursive writing in his class – while he was teaching the second graders I’d always turn my head and look at what they were learning. I already knew how to print, and couldn’t help myself from sneaking a look or two.

You may have heard that New England winters are pretty harsh (Did you see my Instagram feed from the weekend?), and because of this we couldn’t always go outside for recess. Mr. Bradstreet taught us to play “Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down” (you sat with your head on your desk and your “thumb up,” while another student made their way through the rows of seats putting your “thumb down.” I can’t recall the lesson we were supposed to learn, but I am sure there is one. I played my first round of Hangman in his class, I’m sure that game isn’t allowed any longer. He took us to the gym for dodge ball, which I know isn’t allowed any longer.

On Valentine’s Day that year, we all decorated shoe boxes or tissue boxes for Valentine’s Day. We used colored tissue paper and heart shaped stickers. There was glitter and glue available, too. The final touch was putting our names on the front of the boxes. Somehow, Mr. Bradstreet attached them to the front of our desks and each classmate – whether friend or foe – slid a cute little Valentine in the cutout slot.

I was excited to bring home my Valentine box and sort through all of the cards. I don’t remember if there was candy, but I’m sure there was. Holidays always seem like they revolve around candy or food, don’t they? I wish my mom had saved that box or the Valentine cards, it would be so fun to look back on them now. {That’s why I save ALL of The Boy’s artwork!}

This year, I wanted to be sure to share a little Valentine with you.

Thanks so much for being here day after day. Reading and commenting, encouraging me and keeping me in line!

This post was written as part of BlogHer’s NaBloPoMo February 2013 challenge. Today’s prompt was “If you could send out valentines this year as you did back in grade school, what type of valentine would you send out to your blogosphere class?” Sign ups to participate in this month’s Blog Roll have closed. You can still check out the participating bloggers and the daily prompts. Daily writing prompts can often become a great source of inspiration and encourage you to write about things you haven’t previously explored.