2/21/2012 The entire Sixth Grade took time during their Language ...

2/21/2012
The entire Sixth Grade took time during their Language Arts
classes on the hundredth day of school to reflect on what it
might have been like to be a student when the doors opened
to Hamden Hall in 1912. What resulted was one story told with
more than 40 voices as each student contributed a line or two
to the tale.
“I wonder what this day will be like,” I thought to myself as I
entered my new school, Hamden Hall, on Sept. 3 rd , 1912. As I
walked into the grounds, they were filled with pine trees.
There were boys running into school like mad cows. The school
was filled with loud yells as the students were trying to find
their classes. When I walked into my classroom, the teacher
was greeting everyone. The boys were punished when they got
into the classroom because they were yelling. At the front of
the classroom was a blackboard with chalk. There were bits of
chalk and paper flying everywhere. It was a relatively small
classroom. As I look around I see a bunch of giddy boys at
their seats. The teacher wrote on the board, My name is Mr.
Glins. As the bell rang, announcing a new class, one of the
boys pulled out Oreo cookies. As he took his first bite into

the cookie, it was so good that in his mind he wanted to thank
the inventor of the Oreo. I walked up to him and said, “What
is that cookie?” He said, “It’s the new cookie that was created
just yesterday. My name is Trent. What is yours?” I replied,
“My name is James.” Trent then added, “Would you like to try
an Oreo cookie?” I figured that since I was at a new school, I
should try new things, and I took an Oreo. As I bit into the
cookie, I tasted a chocolaty, creamy goodness. I said, “This is
an amazing cookie and everyone in the world should have
them!” Trent responded, “Try eating it this way,” as he took
off the cookies and ate the creamy center. As the bell rang,
announcing the next class, we headed to the classroom right
next door. The teacher was Mr. Smith and this was Social
Studies class. Mr. Smith said, “Throughout the year we will be
learning about American history and American wars.” All the
boys were talking about how exciting it would be to learn
about the American wars. Mr. Smith was a fanatic about
Woodrow Wilson winning the presidential election. He said, “It
was a tough decision to choose the president, because both
Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt had good qualities.” After Social
Studies was over, we went to Math class. The Math teacher’s
name was Mr. Slamm, and today he was going to teach us how
to add fractions. I already know how to add fractions. I
wanted to learn something harder. Trent, however, wasn’t that
good with fractions. Trent kept thinking out loud, “This

doesn’t make any sense.” Mr. Slamm slammed Trent with a
ruler on his knuckles. “Ouch,” he said. Then Trent started to
cry. I felt badly for him. I whispered to him, “Don’t do that
again.” The bell rang shortly after Mr. Slamm used the ruler.
After class, Trent told me, “I wish I was as good as those new
Girl Scouts.” During English, one of my classmates forgot his
summer reading homework and had to write on the blackboard,
I will not forget my homework, 50 times. Next to the writing
on the blackboard, the teacher wrote her name. On the board,
her name spelled out Mrs. Horto. At lunch, everyone was
talking about the new baseball stadium, Fenway Park, opening,
and Mr. Smith was going to the opening ceremony. At the
table next to me, there was a debate about the Red Sox and
the Giants. More people liked the Giants better than the Red
Sox. After lunch was over, we went to the science room to
find many beakers on the table. The Science teacher, Mr.
Holmes, told us what we were going to learn during the school
year. “To start off the year, we are going to learn about air,”
he said. “Then for the second part of the year, we are going
to learn about the elements. I decided to give you a
background of the elements to give you a start on the next
semester; the elements are made of atoms which are
indestructible small things which you cannot do anything to.”
Soon the headmaster, Mr. Chizzo, walked in. Mr. Chizzo was
watching the new students adapt to their new school. Soon

the bell rang again and it was time for PE. There was a tall
physical education instructor named Mr. Awyer. He was
making the boys run laps around the courtyard. I jumped up
and hit the chain basketball hoop, but Mr. Awyer scolded me
because I was not allowed to hold onto the net, and he made
me do pushups. After doing 30, I was really tired. I then saw a
sack of red, bouncy balls for dodgeball. My buddy’s friend
went out of control because he really loved dodgeball, so Mr.
Awyer chastised him for bad behavior and he wasn’t allowed
to play dodgeball. Later, Trent told me that he saw one of
those really cool Fords on the road. After the excruciating
game of dodgeball, we had to go to Art. It was hard to paint
my picture because my limbs ached from dodgeball. I was
happy because our Art teacher, Mrs. Holmes, told us we could
paint a picture of whatever we want. I decided to paint the
new invention, the refrigerator. The person next to me
obviously was daydreaming because he was painting a picture
of an erector set. Since I was paying attention, I finished
before the kid painting the erector set, so I decided to draw
a slot car. I looked around the room and for the first time
noticed what all the boys were wearing. They were wearing
collared shirts, green and white ties, and beige, khaki pants.
When we finished coming back from Art, I noticed what the
teachers were wearing. The male teachers were wearing black
ties with white shirts with blue pants. The female teachers

were wearing sleek, long dresses. As I walked out of the Art
room, I saw 3 pine trees in the courtyard. I saw a child near
the trees so I approached him. He said, “My name is Bill, what
is your name?” “My name is James and I live in Hamden. I just
came to Connecticut from Ohio.” Bill said, “I am from
Kentucky and I just came here too.” Then someone else came
and his name was Fred. Fred said, “I overheard you saying you
are from Kentucky, and my cousin is from Kentucky, maybe you
know them.” Before he could say something, the bell rang for
reading. I walked to the classroom and I saw the teacher
named Mrs. Tread. Mrs. Tread told everyone to take their
seats so they could begin. She said that the new book would
be Shakespeare’s The Midsummer Night Dream. After reading
was over, we had a free period at the end of the day, so some
of my friends and I walked to the courtyard to play a game.
The football game lasted for about a half an hour. It was a
relatively new sport that I had not played very often. The
game was really fun and my team won. My team won because I
was playing wide receiver and I caught the winning touchdown.
Then we went back inside and packed our bags. While packing
up, the hallway was very hectic and loud. I showed my new
friends my new toy called a Dinky Toy. It was a tiny model of
a red car. My friends were all amazed because none of them
had ever had one before. When we entered the cafeteria they
gave us a piece of paper that had the school song on it. Before

we left, we had to all sing the school song. Mr. Chizzo made an
announcement that there will be a bake sale in 2 weeks. Then
we all walked out of the cafeteria. As I left school, I saw my
dad as he pulled up in his new Ford. I thought the school day
was really fun and I couldn’t wait to come back the next day.