My parents purchased a home that was close to both an elementary and a secondary school: Oakridge Elementary School was a few hundred meters down the road at the end of Belton Blvd. where it hit Oakridge Ave.
We started with Miss Curry in kindergarten, and there the two items I remember most were the sand box and painting. I found I was okay at art, but I never really excelled or perfected my skills in that area. C'est la vie. I'm also told by my mother that I read more books in the kindergarten library than any other student Miss Curry had seen. There may be some truth to that story, but parents are known to exaggerate. Miss Curry had a home that was on the edge of Lake Ontario in Niagara-on-the-Lake at the end of one of the many "Firelanes."
In Grade 1 and 2, I had Miss Monica Stevenson. She was a great teacher, and I learned later that she had also participated heavily in the development of the elementary school curriculum in Ontario. I remember the "Geometry Tool Kit" we used, and I understand that she was the person who devised the contents of that kit. I remember that in Grade 1, I had one friend, Alan Alexander, who then left Oakridge that year, and then there was Burt Coiler, who also left after Grade 2. In Grade 1, I already learned my interest in statistics. We were asked to count the number of different makes of cars in the school parking lot. I used a bar graph, and another student used a line graph. I argued against using a line graph, for what was the significance of a point half-way between Ford and GM?
In Grade 1, I remember I had to go to Speech Therapy. There I learned how to pronounce an "s". This was useful, as I could not even pronounce my sister's name, Sylvia, and my nickname for her was "Tiv."
In Grade 3, I had Mrs. Gagne. During that year, she read to us the story of the The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles. It was also at that time that I traced a tiger instead of drawing it freehand, and when I proudly presented it, she quickly put me in my place. I really appreciated that afterwards, but it stung when she said it.
In Grade 4, I had Miss Holbert. My only memories from that class were sewing and a Darth Vader costume for Halloween. Miss Holbert thought I had blue eyes and thus could not recognize me through the mask. I remember that she drove a Corvette.
In Grades 5 and 6, I had Mrs. Redpath. Was it Elaine? She was great. Grade 5 was at the end of the hallway, just next to the doors that lead to the Grade7 and 8 hallway. I don't think I ever went down that hallway, except, maybe, to go to the principal's office. I think I would have preferred to have cut through the gymnasium. Then again, the school "Lost and Found" was at the end of that dreaded "Grade 7 and 8 corridor." Grade 6 was across from the library, and that year we had a lot of new students from Decew Elementary School. I think it was in Grade 5 that we had such a party that the music was played so loud that the principal called us out. They were playing "We don't need no education" by Pink Floyd.
That reminds me, my two principals (short for "principal teacher," I assume, as it is the adjective form and not "principles") were Mr. Ken Teshima and afterwards Mr. Fretz. I don't remember much of Mr. Teshima, as he only showed up once in a while, and spoke at assemblies in the school gymnasium. I do, however, have fond memories of him, so I guess all my interactions with him were positive.
In Grade 7, I had Mr. Islam Khilji. My greatest regret in my life was waiting too long to say thank you to him. He passed away a few months before I finally took the time to look him my. He was the science teacher, and in his class I sat next to Phillip Kelsey. There were three "Douglas" so there was one Douglas, one Doug, and I was Mr. Dougie.
In Grade 8, I had two teachers: Mrs. Shimky and Mr. Kenneth Grosskurth. I think Ken was really new to teaching, and so he was shadowing Mrs. Shimkey. He introduced me to "The Hobbit". I was so bored of it until we got to the third chapter, and then I read the entire book in one night, getting to sleep, I think, at 4 o'clock in the morning.
Oh yes, it was then that I learned the art of bullshit, for as part of the final report for "The Hobbit", we had to explain why the black arrow killed Smaug. I had some crap about magic and the good arrow versus the evil Smaug; however, a few years later, I realized my mistake: the reason to "Look for the hollow of the left breast as he flies and turns above you!” and Bilbo thinking “Old fool! Why, there is a large patch in the hollow of his left breast as bare as a snail out of its shell!” is now obvious. The rhythmic pounding of the heart would have, over time, dislodged the gems that formed the shield directly over the heart, and it was through this opening that the black arrow penetrated the shield and struck his heart.
Mrs. Shimky taught my my life-long love of classical music. Before that, I was only interested in classical music, and as Star Wars was the first movie I ever saw, I was trained to think that classical music is the only good music out there. My mistake. I also remember that I was not thrilled with the movie Flash Gordon because the music was "rock" and not classical. It would take a long time to understand otherwise.
I learned something about racism when I watched Battle of the Planets and Star Blazers. I was faced with names in the credits, many if not all of whom were Japanese. I did not think something as amazing as cartoons such as these could come from somewhere other than European culture. I think I have a lot to thank Mr. Teshima and those cartoons for, for they forced me to face many stereotypes I had as a youth. It was many years later that I purchased the full seasons of Star Blazers. They were playing at 8:30, and school started at 8:50, so at 8:45, after watching half of the show, I'd race to school. I seldom got to see a full episode.
For lunch, we always went home.