The Fourth Year

Fourth grade found our class at the end of the second wing of the school; our final year as "little kids."

Fourth grade also brought new challenges in Science and Art. We worked on expiriments with magnets and created ceramics using plaster molds and a magical, goopy substance called "slip."

Except for backsliding in citizenship, it appears to have been a good year.

The Third Year

Here we are all grown up! That's our story and we're sticking with it.

Mrs. Gray's class. Alas, no Mrs. Gray in the picture. What's up with that?

As I recall, Mrs. Gray was doing double duty. Not only was she our teacher, but she was moving to a new job as principal at a different school. We all liked Mrs. Gray, but for most of the year we had a marvelous substitute teacher, a veritable clone of Mrs. Gray named Mrs. White.

From my report card I can tell that 3rd grade was a banner year for me in terms of Citizenship! Apparently, during this Prague Spring of my youth I learned to obey school rules.

And like Prague Spring it wouldn't last forever.

There were two aspects to the Third Grade that I recall. First, we moved from the first wing to the second wing. We had access to a different part of the playground but not the back area where the fifth and sixth graders hung out. We were sort of in the middle. But, we were moving up and in a few years we would be kings, all of us.

Second was the Twilight Zone. As a third grader I was deemed "old enough" to watch the Twilight Zone every Friday night. It came on at 9pm which means my bedtime had been extended. In fact, I was allowed to stay up past 10pm on a Friday which meant I could take in the monster movie that came on after the Twilight Zone.

Being able to watch the Twilight Zone was a very big deal because it was the main topic of conversation for much of the subsequent week. This was 1959 and the episodes were new, never before seen and the Twilight Zone was by far the most exciting show on television.

The 1959-1960 season had some of the best Twilight Zones ever:

One for the Angels with Ed Wynn.

The Lonely with Jack Warden.

Time Enough at Last with Burgess Meredeth.

Third from the Sun about escaping TO Earth.

The Monsters are Due on Maple Street with Jack Weston and Claude Akins.

A Stop at Willoughby with James Daly.

It was a sterling season for Rod, that's for sure.

The Big Toy

I'll probably write a few stories about the Big Toy because it was a Big Deal at Riverside Elementary.

The Big Toy was a set of playground equipment installed in 1961; I was in the 5th grade.

This was not just any playground equipment. No sirree! We had swings and we had the jungle gym and we had the baseball diamonds, but we didn't have the Big Toy.

As it was explained to us, the Big Toy wasn't a toy. No, no no! It was an Obstacle Course designed by (educational scientists?) someone to improve our fitness, agility and spatial coordination.

OK. Yeah. Right. Spatial whatzis.

The Big Toy took a month to install. There were holes to dig, pipes to set, concrete to pour. But, finally, it was done. As I recall it consisted of 6 or 7 pieces of playground equipment designed to work different parts of our body. In fact, the Big Toy came with an instruction manual and that's where the fun really began.

Unlike the concrete pipes, galvanized jungle gyms and swings, the Big Toy was galmorous. Tubular steel, bright colors in enamel and quite something to look at.

Finally, at long last, the Big Day came and we would be allowed access to the Big Toy. However, that day was painful beyond our wildest expectations because we were told we had to follow the guide. You see, the Big Toy wasn't just a toy, it was something to improve us and blah, blah, blah, so we had to do it right.

What is right?

Right is like the guide says to do. You start at the left side and work your way to the right, then circle around and do it over again. The Big Toy consisted of a climbing tower with chain linked ladders, balancing beams, a horizontal bar and other bits and pieces that I can't remember. The climbing tower and horizontal bars constitute my most vivid memories.

According to the "guide" we had to line up in single file, then follow the course in order: walk the beam, climb the tower, do the next thing, cross the bars, and blah, blah, to the end.

We did that once.

Once.

After that it was a free for all! We climbed! We jumped! We balanced! And most of all we didn't follow directions because we were kids and there were "rules."

In the end, kids win and rules lose when it comes to something like the Big Toy.

Postscript: When I visited Riverside in 1993 the last part of the Big Toy was being removed. I think it was one of the balance beams, but I can't be sure. I do know that thousands of kids had a great amount of fun on the Big Toy and I am grateful to whomever funded it and had it installed. Of course, as kids we never think of those things.

We just have fun.

The Second Year

I don't remember much about Second Grade.

By all accounts, Mrs. Mathieu was a kind and patient teacher, two necessary qualities to teach second grade.

However, I might have been a handful. On the grading scale used at that time a 1 was good and a 4 was bad, but surprisingly not the worst.

The explanation of the code numbers reveals:

1. Effort and progress are high.
2. Effort and progress are satisfactory.
3. Effort and progress are unsatisfactory for promotion.
4. Progressing, but has ability to do better.

So, was a 3 worse than a 4? You would think that a 3 would be progressing and a 4 unsatisfactory. Very confusing!

However, back to the story. I received 1's and 2's in academics, and a solid strip of 4's in Citizenship, especially Observing School Rules.

What rules? We don't need no stinking rules!

Ah, perhaps that kind of thinking was part of the problem.

As We Were Then

First Grade

Mrs. Merhant's class.

There were two First Grade classes in the inagural year of Riverside Elementary. Shreveport was growing and the subdivisions to the south of the school would continue to expand over the next six years. Cotton fields would be replaced by housing tracts and the wild, open spaces we explored would become streets full of homes. My street, Meadowbrook, was right on the edge of "civilization." Nothing but fields and cotton to the east and south. That would change sooner than later.

The Bookmobile Cometh

As a kid I loved going to the library. I still do, for that matter, but the Internet has become my library and for an information sponge like myself it's like living in a library!

To be honest I don't recall whether Riverside had a library or not. I don't have any memories of a library other than the branch library in Shreveport where I checked out books every week and even participated in a summer reading club. I remember a library at Youree Drive Junior High, but not Riverside.

I do remember the Bookmobile!

The Bookmobile came to school every few weeks and we were allotted some time to go inside and check out books. My passion was (and still is) Science Fiction and in a few months I had exhausted the offerings in the Kid's Section and had crept over into the Adult Section.

The Adult Section of the Bookmobile was roped off. You weren't supposed to go past the rope. But the SciFi shelf was near the floor and I found that I could sit on the floor in the Kid's Section but read the SciFi titles in the Adult Section. It didn't take me long to realize that with a little stealth I could whisk a book off of the Adult SciFi shelf and check it out big as you please.

It was through the Bookmobile that I was introduced to the great science fiction of the 50's: Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Bova, Simak, Bradbury, Verne and Wells.

I read the Invisible Man and War of the Worlds, Mysterious Island, Dog, I Robot and many adventures about Mars.

Then came the fateful day. It comes to all who skulk in the shadows. Eventually.

I got caught.

Red Planet Handed.

While sneaking another book off the shelf I suddenly noticed a pair of feet. The Librarian. I dropped the book in shock and, panicked, I looked for a way out, but the aisles were filled with kids and the Librarian was blocking the exit at the front. I was trapped.

Then the Librarian knelt down and asked me a couple of questions. Did I enjoy reading? Why did I like science fiction? What's wrong with the fiction books in the Kid's Section? I told her that I really loved reading and that science fiction really interested me and I had my own telescope and everything, and that there was nothing wrong with the books in the Kid's Section only I had read them all.

The Librarian smiled and asked me to stand up. Shaking, I complied. OK, I thought, here it comes, another trip to the Principal's Office.

But, no! The Librarian unhooked the rope and told me to step into the Adult Section. It was OK. I was invited. In fact, she had some other books I might be interested in. Then she introduced me to some of her personal friends: Dickens, Bronte, Hemingway, Williams, London, Twain, Conrad and others.

I learned that it could be just as engaging floating down the Mississippi River on a raft as it was rocketing to the moon. I discovered biographies and spent months reading about Washington, Franklin, Boone, Crockett, Bell, Watt and many others.

So, maybe Riverside didn't have a library, but those adults who supported education provided us with opportunity and encouragement to stretch our wings as far as we could.

To the unknown Librarian on the Bookmobile, thank you! You helped to develop in me a lifelong love of learning that continues to this day.

The Riverside Letter.

A mark of pride for the Riverside athlete.

I earned my letter in baseball which was the only sport that offered a letter at the time! Lucky me.

I played center field although it turns out that I was a very good second baseman. The coach once remarked that I was helpful to play in center field because the Mom of the second baseman was a real pain in the ass.

Maybe that's why I got my letter. Not so much service to center field, but service to Coach's piece of mind.

Well, whatever it takes.

Not quite. I have one thing to get off my chest after 50 years.

I was a damn good pitcher, not that I got the chance. The coach had alread pegged me for a lousy outfielder. Yeah, that's because I was nearsighted, which wouldn't be discovered for another 9 years! However, I had a great infield arm and could pitch hard and fast.

During one practice, and I remember this as if it were yesterday, Coach called me off the bench to pitch a few, that is, if I could get a couple of balls across the plate.

The first batter came up to the plate and I struck him out. Then the next came to the plate and I stuck him out, too. And the next, and the next. Finally, Coach came to the mound and told me I didn't have "team spirit" and sent me to the outfield.

Ah, the 50's. Not like today. Yeah, right.