Third Grade

Third grade was just across the hall from second grade and the teacher was Miss Geddes. I have the vague feeling that later on she married someone locally.

I specifically recall only one incident from being in third grade. One time we has a drawing (art) assignment and it consisted in part at least of snowflakes falling from a dark blue sky. The sky was the blue of the blue composition paper that had been furnished us for the exercise and we were making the snowflakes with a white crayon or a piece of chalk. Most members of the class, including myself, proceeded to do this with quick, vigorous stabbing of the crayon on the paper but two members of the class (the Stillman twins) proceeded to draw in a more deliberate fashion. Miss Geddes noticed this and brought the difference to the attention of the class, comparing rather negatively our approach to that of the Stillman twins. I felt vaguely chagrined. Whether pictorially our efforts were not as good as those of the Stillman twins I don’t know at this point – certainly out approach was less a considered one.

In the art classes which I have had in retirement, there has always been an emphasis on spontaneity as being a highly important, if not a dominant factor in producing a superior artistic statement. I haven’t always “bought” this concept, concluding that consciously or unconsciously there are mental decisions that control what is being produced.

The conclusion has probably been influenced by the attitude engendered in my training as an engineering where there us a premium placed on the deliberate approach. So I am not sure if art instructed would agree with Miss Geddes’ opinion although I would tend to agree with her.

I recall playing with the Stillman twins a couple of times — they resided about a block west of my grandmother’s house. The family left Gowrie sometime when I was still in the elementary grades; one of the twins died in WWII and the other has also died I think.

In the third grade my seat was on the right side of the room, facing the teacher and very close to the back of the room. I might mention at this point that the first three grades had recess all at the same time (recess lasted fifteen minutes and was at bout the middle of the morning and afternoon parts of the school day). I think we were also expected after recess to line up in a queue fir a drink of water at the water fountains (which were in the hall) before going back into the classroom. I think we were also expected to make a stop at the rest room in conjunction with recess.

Recess for grades 4 through 6 was at a later time. When the weather was nice recess was always out of doors. The playground was to the south of the building and had swings, a merry-go-round and perhaps a slide.

Originally the swings had two steel rods for the two attachments of the swing to the bar above, but these had a tendency to be bent (from children “pumping” up so high that some sort of torque was placed on the rods near their point of attachment to the overhead bar). The replacements were linked attachments, the links being 6 to 8 inches long. The swings were not of a type really suitable for young children.