Today is the first full day of school for students in our school district.
Many families have been busy buying school supplies. When I was in high school, one must-have supply was a Pee-Chee. The ones I remember can be found on Wikipedia here. It was impossible to keep from decorating/personalizing them.
I recently found one that my Grandmother, Stella Fredrickson Hawes, used to keep letters in (according to her tidy note on the front - I'm not accustomed to seeing a Pee-chee without lots of graffiti!). I can't really figure a way to date it. Pee-Chees first came in to being in 1943. I'm just guessing - but this is possibly from the 1950s.
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One school related conversation I had with my Grandmother was about an old tune she recalled called, School Days. She recalled and sang for me the chorus:
School days, school days Dear old Golden Rule days 'Reading and 'riting and 'rithmetic Taught to the tune of the hick'ry stick
Before she died in 2004 at age 98, I found and shared the rest of the lyrics again with her.
I have since found a video of the audio - the song was written in 1907!
This is my Grandmothers 4th and 5th grade class about 1917 at Smith School in Bremerton, WA - she is far left on the bottom row.
Of course I have some Life Magazine ads to share for "Back to School" - school supplies from the 50s . . .
Pedigree pencils 39¢ a dozen August 29, 1955 Life Magazine
Pedigree pencils 44 ¢ a dozen August 27, 1956 Life Magazine
Tercel Tape September 12, 1955 Life Magazine and August 27, 1956 Life Magazine and September 9, 1957 Life Magazine
Scripto Pencils and Pens September 9, 1957 Life Magazine
Off they go. It was a short summer. But it's always exciting getting "Back-to-School" August 26, 1957 Life Magazine
Our district is starting up again today, the day after Labor Day. I enjoyed this cover of the September 12, 1959 Saturday Evening Post. I love working at an elementary school, so I'm going back-to-school myself. But, wouldn't it be nice to relax on the sofa with a cup of coffee for some alone time?
