Back in the 5th Grade

by **Saphine** Wed Sep 23, 2009 2:57 am

I was just thinking of how we might actually be able to come up with stories if we look back at our own lives.

I don't particularly remember anything from my elementary school except a few things here and there (my memory isn't exactly the best), but I do recall playing with my neighborhood kids a lot. We used to play dodge-ball and race down the whole length of the street—stuff like that. I think one of the most memorable things we did, though, was when we had a "court session" when a couple of us were fighting.

In fact, I remember we decided that the person who spelled "bicycle" was the innocent one. LOL.

I also distinctly remember playing baseball and hitting a home-run riiiiight into someone's back-yard. It was like an adventure trying to get it back because we all thought it was the most "illegal" thing you could do to sneak into someone's back yard. And then there was the monstrous dog. Oh dear...

Anyway, my point is that we can draw inspiration from our own childhood days for our projects. I mean, I can imagine the whole baseball thing happening to the HA! gang. Gerald would probably tell a story about the three-headed monster dog, or something. You know how kids are... their imagination is their world.

So, does anyone have any memorable experiences from their elementary days?

by **funnybones021** Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:28 am

lol, I remember lots of things from my elementary school days.

Once in the fifth grade, our class did this fake news broadcast. We set it up like the local news (I was one of the anchors, but there were also field reporters, a weatherman, behind the scenes people, etc.) and our teacher taped us with her camcorder. The twist was that we were doing stories about historical events as if they were current events. So, it was basically a project asking, "what if they had the local news in 17th century New England?" We even had to dress up in Pilgrim costumes (the classic Thanksgiving black hat with a belt around it, I think).

by **Saphine** Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:37 am

Hahahaha, that's cute. My elementary school was very small, so we didn't have a PA system or anything of the sort. No TV's either (unless the teachers lugged in this huge, old-school TV, trailing a whole bunch of cords). I wish we did something like that.

I have to try to remember some things from my elementary school days. I'm sure there are some weird and funny stories. I mean, who doesn't have stories like that?

by **funnybones021** Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:27 am

I didn't go to a huge elementary school, but there was a PA system and TVs. I remember we had a computer lab with old Macintosh computers with green screens (although, I guess they weren't too old back then). I still remember a poster in my 1st grade classroom of Bill Clinton and it said something like, "The President of the United States".

I had a teacher who was very much a hippie. She wore a tie-dye dress almost every day of the week and she called everyone an "awesome possum", but she also said things like "hot rats!" (when she was happy) or "groovy man". She even had us tie-dye some t-shirts...but mine didn't turn out very well.

Oh, there's also science fair projects. In the 4th grade I did a science fair project that actually has a lot to do with the research that I'm involved with through my job at the universities today (just by coincidence).

by **Annemiek** Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:15 am

My elementary school wasn't very big either. There were two classes of every grade. So in 5th grade we had a 5A and 5B class. With both around 30 kids. And we were always competing with the other class. It was like tradition XD The B-class (that was our class) against the A-class. We made these (back then EXTREMELY awesome) rhymes to humiliate the other class, and to make our class look better XD And our class was very creative, so we had the most awesome lyrics in our song on how great we were XD We had so much fun!
And we had the best teacher ever! He looked a lot like Mr. Simmons btw. Very nice and caring and friendly. He was gay too XD And he always told us about his cute, white bunny LOL He took us outside lots of times to draw the trees and the view on the city. And he made up a card game.. Everyone could earn green cards with points when you were doing your best and paying attention, and red card when you were naughty XD And at the end of the day he counted the points you earned, and everyone got that amount of points in stickers on a collection-card. And when a card was full you could get a present, like a stuffed animal or something. It was so much fun! And everyone wanted to earn as many points as possible, so we were all paying attention and being good all the time XD Even though we had a kinda vicious class Razz

by **Saphine** Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:18 am

Ooh, you had a clever teacher, Annemiek.

Your story actually reminds me of something...

When I was in the sixth grade, we had this project that was supposed to teach us how to use money. So what the class did was split up into groups of two or three people, and the groups made things to sell. Some people made cookies, some people made pictures, whatever.

Anyway, what the teacher did was give all of us a bunch of paper money (money that we made, and we called our currency some weird name, like some made-up word) evenly, and the groups took turns going "shopping." Some people spent everything they had, some people saved up very well, but whatever the case, we all learned something new, and it was pretty fun.

Haaa, if I had to put Arnold's class in that situation, I can only imagine what kind of stores the kids would open up. Helga would probably dominate the class like an evil loan-shark. Hahahaha.

by **Iffy** Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:16 pm

I don't remember much of my grade five. The only few things that I remember is I met my first love there, (Ironically he and I are together today).

Also, I remember in my science class, a bunch of clowns ran in and handed all of the kids candy. I started doing this little dance in my seat and made up a little song. I kept saying "I got candy, I got candy" over and over. A news anchor walked in and asked me to repeat it for the camera, so I did. The teacher told me to shut up. I failed that science class that year. I have no idea why either... I guess the teacher was jealous of me or something. She didn't like me either. I did all the homework, and passed most of the tests.

What else happened in fifth grade.... um... Okay... I have it...

This didn't happen in fifth grade, but it happened in seventh grade. We had a bomb threat, and they made the whole school go over into the giant field in between the kindergarten school and the middle school. They were taking away everyone's cell phones and searching everyone's backpacks. no one really cared though, we were just happy to get some time off from school. We were out there for most of the school day, playing, joking, having fun.

Also in my middle school days, the girls would watch the guys toss a football around in the morning. We would sit on these benches in front of our classroom and girl talk, while the guys tried to look tough. some of the girls joined in too... (like me and my friend Jewelz), but we made it banned from playing.
what we did, was we kicked the crap out of the football. My kicks were pretty straight, but Jewelz' not so much. She ended up kicking it and it hit a teacher in the back of the head (hard). the teacher was crying for most of the morning. The principal came by and asked us who did it. She thought I did it, but I was afraid of what my dad would do to me (if you knew my background, you would understand) so I ratted out Jewelz. She didn't get mad at me, which was weird, but welcomed. she manned up and apologized to the teacher and told her that it was an accident.

Also we made explosive candles.... they smelled delicious, but you couldn't light them. We tried to sell them, but the school wouldn't let us. That was in grade eight. the whole eighth grade got in trouble...

could we use any of that... just change the things around.

by **Iffy** Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:18 pm

he made up a card game.. Everyone could earn green cards with points when you were doing your best and paying attention, and red card when you were naughty XD And at the end of the day he counted the points you earned, and everyone got that amount of points in stickers on a collection-card. And when a card was full you could get a present, like a stuffed animal or something.

OMG... the card thing is what they did to us in kindergarten.
I didn't get very many cards because I was never there.

by **acemcjace169** Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:14 pm

When I was in the fifth grade, there was one day where we spent it with third graders. I can't remember what that sort of day was called but it was supposed to be something special.

by **Saphine** Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:52 am

LOL, candle bombs?? That sounds really awesome. I remember how the punks set off stink bombs regularly in stink bombs... and had I known about those candle bombs, I probably would have suggested that to them instead (he egg smell was just unbearable!).

Acemcjace, was it like a peer bonding thing? Where you gave a good example to the little kids? I remember when we had to help our younger peers learn how to read, myself.

by **acemcjace169** Fri Sep 25, 2009 7:36 am

Saphine wrote:Acemcjace, was it like a peer bonding thing? Where you gave a good example to the little kids? I remember when we had to help our younger peers learn how to read, myself.

Kinda, but it noe like sitting with them and watching a third grader do arts and crafts.

by **Iffy** Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:02 pm

LOL, candle bombs?? That sounds really awesome. I remember how the punks set off stink bombs regularly in stink bombs... and had I known about those candle bombs, I probably would have suggested that to them instead (he egg smell was just unbearable!).

Lol... we melted the wax ourselves then stuck cologne in there. The teachers were afraid they would explode. we almost did set the classroom we were making them in on fire. They were teaching us about teamwork and how to operate a business. I was the one who designed the posters...

by **Helga4ever** Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:14 pm

When I was in the fifth grade which wasn't too far back they teamed us with kindergardeners so we can read to them a story, we can make a familiar story to that what if Arnold get a little clone of Helga, that keeps annoying him, and calling him football head maybe she could even start loving him like Helga and in the end she would maybe break up with him saying "srry Arnold but I'm not into you anymore" she would walk away and Arnold would say "did I just get dumped by a kindergardener?!"

by **Iffy** Fri Sep 25, 2009 7:19 pm

Helga4ever wrote:When I was in the fifth grade which wasn't too far back they teamed us with kindergardeners so we can read to them a story, we can make a familiar story to that what if Arnold get a little clone of Helga, that keeps annoying him, and calling him football head maybe she could even start loving him like Helga and in the end she would maybe break up with him saying "srry Arnold but I'm not into you anymore" she would walk away and Arnold would say "did I just get dumped by a kindergardener?!"

that just reminds me of Timberly Loves Arnold. no offense...

lol

by **Helga4ever** Fri Sep 25, 2009 7:21 pm

Maybe we could skip the part about her loving Arnold, maybe we could just focus on her being a little brat? Twisted Evil

by **Iffy** Fri Sep 25, 2009 7:42 pm

Helga4ever wrote:Maybe we could skip the part about her loving Arnold, maybe we could just focus on her being a little brat?

yeah that works... and the funny thing could be that it reminds him of someone but he can't put his finger on it because he's dense.

by **Helga4ever** Fri Sep 25, 2009 10:57 pm

Yeah he is pretty dense I mean Q-u-a-x? How more clearer could've Helga been? Rolling Eyes

by **Iffy** Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:54 pm

Helga4ever wrote:Yeah he is pretty dense I mean Q-u-a-x? How more clearer could've Helga been?

no clue... lol.

by **ger5632** Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:11 pm

Eh, I can only reply this thread for some reason...

But anyways:
When I was in 5th grade (actually, it was a whole school thing), we had an annual sports day. This was where the whole school meet up and then the different classes of the same level would compete with each other in various sport events. Like 2x50m run or 200m run or whatever. Winner gets trophy. Oh, and we were actually seperated into different groups which was mixed with different levels. Like Blue team had 5th to 7th grade. Sorry, is this confusing? Anyway, we had cheer competitions (which my team lose embarrassingly) and most of the time we end up in a quarrel. But we were forced to make up in the end so ;p

Or we have another sports day where the level would compete with each other at a certain sports.

Yea, my school's sports crazy. But, yep, those are the interesting things that happened when i was in 5th grade

by **tendra91** Fri Oct 09, 2009 4:29 pm

My elementary school was small. I remember that in Gr. 4, we only had 18 kids in our class. But yeah, we did have PA systems and TVs (those huge ones that you had to lunk around). Ironically, I remember Gr. 1, 3, 4, and 6, but I don't really remember Gr. 2 and 5.

funnybones021 wrote:I had a teacher who was very much a hippie. She wore a tie-dye dress almost every day of the week and she called everyone an "awesome possum", but she also said things like "hot rats!" (when she was happy) or "groovy man". She even had us tie-dye some t-shirts...but mine didn't turn out very well.

I would *totally* love to have a cameo of your teacher, funnybones XD Bet all the HA! kids would be like, "WTF?" while Eugene or Sheena would be glowing with awe and joy.

Saphine wrote:When I was in the sixth grade, we had this project that was supposed to teach us how to use money. So what the class did was split up into groups of two or three people, and the groups made things to sell. Some people made cookies, some people made pictures, whatever.

Anyway, what the teacher did was give all of us a bunch of paper money (money that we made, and we called our currency some weird name, like some made-up word) evenly, and the groups took turns going "shopping." Some people spent everything they had, some people saved up very well, but whatever the case, we all learned something new, and it was pretty fun.

Haaa, if I had to put Arnold's class in that situation, I can only imagine what kind of stores the kids would open up. Helga would probably dominate the class like an evil loan-shark. Hahahaha.

lol I actually want to do a HA! episode where it's a kid parody of the capitalist economy, where the "kid-economy" spins out of control and everyone is getting anal about lawsuits and copyrights (*ahem*). lol But yeah, I could totally see Helga being the loan-shark / monopoly-holder.

I never did the "shopping" thing at school, but I did do it at home with my sisters. 'Twas fun. Very Happy

acemcjace169 wrote:When I was in the fifth grade, there was one day where we spent it with third graders. I can't remember what that sort of day was called but it was supposed to be something special.

I remember in 6th grade where we were paired up with 1st graders as reading buddies. I was paired up with a foreign kid because we were of the same ethnicity, but my kid was nice. He gave me a small present after all the reading-buddy sessions were done. :3

For me, the "good old days" were good because back then (now I feel old), we could play rough. Like play physical sports like dodgeball (with those REAL dodgeballs that stung like a ***** when you got smacked, not those flimsy foam dodgeballs D:<), hockey, Red Rover, football, ect. lol I don't know, I think kids should be able to run around and play freely (within reasonable circumstances, of course. They shouldn't be running around with real shotguns Razz

). lol This just reminds me of this forwarded email that I got a really long time ago. I'll post it if you have the time to read it:

Spoiler:

lol I'd totally be up for a HA! episode where the school becomes a safety-control-freak and don't let the kids do *anything* in fear of getting the kids hurt. Don't know how Eugene would respond lol He would either be extremely paranoid ("This is too good to be true" *shifty eyes*) or overjoyed like hell.

by **Iffy** Fri Oct 09, 2009 4:48 pm

lmao.... that is hilarious.

by **funnybones021** Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:46 pm

lol, yeah she was a pretty groovy teacher. I'm surprised she hasn't been in trouble for teaching kids how to make hemp soap or something like that.

I really like the idea of the school getting really paranoid about safety issues. I remember just after I graduated high school, I heard about how hard the school was cracking down on safety. They prohibited wearing jackets or sweatshirts to class, they wouldn't let students wear red or blue shoe laces, you had to have a key in order to use the elevator, and other stupid stuff like that. I got out of there just in time lol.

by **funnybones021** Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:40 pm

tendra91 wrote:lol I'd totally be up for a HA! episode where the school becomes a safety-control-freak and don't let the kids do *anything* in fear of getting the kids hurt. Don't know how Eugene would respond lol He would either be extremely paranoid ("This is too good to be true" *shifty eyes*) or overjoyed like hell.

I just saw this article on Yahoo! and it reminded me of this topic. Check it out, there are some potential ideas in here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/education/12discipline.html?no_interstitial

by **tendra91** Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:22 pm

What the? That is a messed up reason to get suspended. I understand if it's something more serious like a real Swiss Army knife, but considering the fact that the kid is 6 years old, I don't think the Cub-scouts would give him a dangerous knife. And it's a eating camping utensil, not a "use this to stab a bear in a life-or-death situation" kind of knife. >< That is, like, the equivalent of getting suspended for bringing a scissor to school. Hell, make that a safety scissor.

And the cake thing? Don't you usually use a bread knife or a knife that's equally blunt to cut a cake? I don't think you would use a butcher knife or something like that...

That's a pretty stupid reason to get suspended, but the article was kind of vague in that it didn't really describe the knife. If it's a super sharp knife, then okay... but if not, O_____________o;;;

by **funnybones021** Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:42 am

Yep, that seems like a pretty messed up situation. I think that zero tolerance is good in theory, but it's not very practical, and schools need to be able to be flexible enough to examine things on a case by case basis.
Almost anything can be used as a weapon, but I wouldn't ever expect to see schools banning pointy pencils (then again, maybe that's right on down the road).

Since we're on the topic, I remember another thing that happened to me in elementary school (not 5th grade, probably more like 2nd or 3rd). I was actually stabbed in the eye with a piece of hard candy with a very sharp point (it was an accident, and I think the kid who did it felt really bad). The doctor said that I'm very lucky that it didn't affect my vision at all. Despite that incident, I don't remember candy being banned from school.

Anyway, back to that 1st grader who brought the cub scout camping utensil to school: I'm happy to report that his punishment has been lifted.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091014/ap_on_re_us/us_zero_tolerance_boy

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