Elementary school was a strange time for most of us. By now, it was so long ago we might’ve forgotten most of the details. Some of the things we never forget them. But other events get buried in the recesses of our minds…that’s until someone digs them out.
Remember what it was like starting school for the first time? You got up early in the morning, jumped on the bus, and went to class. You ate in the cafeteria and played with your friends at recess. Back then, that’s what you did every day, even though it seems like it was a lifetime ago.
And let’s face it. A lot of that stuff was kind of weird. You walked in lines — a lot. You had to ask permission to go to the bathroom. And you ate a BUNCH of unidentifiable cafeteria food.
We’ve all been there. Even though it’s been many years for most of us, we still remember the unique things that went on during that time of our life. Here are 75 things we all did in elementary school.
1. Earned a Weepul
Weepuls were the strange pom-pom creatures with googly eyes we all loved. We got them as prizes back in elementary school and then forgot they ever existed. Until now.
2. Got excited when the teacher used a pull-down map
It’s hard to explain why it was so thrilling when the teacher brought out the map. Maybe it was about the disruption from a normal classroom experience. Or perhaps it was because you knew that learning was about to get intense.
Do you remember how you’d buy packages of Valentine’s cards and then carefully save the best one for your friend or your crush? It was always a disappointment if you didn’t get a good one in return.
Those pinnies, also known as scrimmage vests, never got washed. So, they smelled like 10 years of kid sweat. Nothing was worse than being chosen for the team that had to pull those nasty things on.
If it wasn’t for good behavior, it was for getting a good grade on a test or improving a skill. No matter what it was for, you always felt incredibly proud when your teacher handed you a gold star.
Back in the day, it seemed like you could learn almost anything using flashcards. Maybe you made them yourself or your mom bought you some nice ones at the beginning of the school year.
Before the invention of fidget spinners, we’d make our own. That’s how we ended up with creations like this, the old pencil-on-the-ruler. Kids loved it and teachers hated it.
For some reason, every classroom in elementary school had these clunky cardboard clocks used to practice telling time. With analog clocks becoming obsolete, kids probably don’t even see them anymore.
If you didn’t have a school-provided analog clock, you probably made one out of a paper plate. It was a lot more fun creating them than it was using them.
Parents and teachers have used Dick and Jane books to teach kids to read for generations. They’re not interesting and they’re incredibly repetitive, which is the point. Once you learned to read, you never turned to these again.
Do you remember struggling to cut with these minuscule scissors? They barely worked and they hurt your fingers after just a few minutes. But teachers were convinced we loved them.
12. Met up with your friends at one of these sharpeners
Whenever you had to dish out some gossip to your friend, you’d meet eyes and nod toward the pencil sharpener. You usually had 10 seconds before the teacher caught on and made you sit back down.
Rarely are library books taken out of circulation. That meant when you checked them out, they had the names of students on the inner cover from decades ago.
More appropriately, we didn’t use scented erasers for their intended purpose. They were much better as a collection piece than for erasing anything since they didn’t work. Usually, the moment you tired, they split in half.
If you haven’t been in school for a while, you might not remember the strange feeling of having to ask to go to the bathroom. When you did, your teacher would give you a hall pass that allowed you to answer nature’s call.
At some point, while attending elementary school, each of us made a diorama in a shoebox. Although we worked so hard on those things, they just never measured up to our expectations.
These chairs were terrible. Not only were they uncomfortable to sit on but they also shocked us constantly with static electricity. And if you had long hair, you could expect it to get snagged on the bolts.
Well, you probably tried to use these stencils. The truth…they didn’t work very well unless you had a newly-sharpened pencil. Anything duller and you’d just get smudges.
Do you recall selling these chocolates for school fundraisers? Your mom would make you call your grandparents to make a sale over the phone. They tasted terrible and were unbelievably expensive.
When the holidays rolled around, it was time to plead with your parents to buy 10 rolls of wrapping paper. No one wanted it, but it was for a fundraiser, okay?
For some reason, we all made it our mission to sharpen pencils until they became tiny, impossible-to-use stubs. Why did we do that? Man, we were bored.
Valentine’s Day was a big deal back in elementary school, which is odd. We were all too young for relationships but that didn’t stop us from dressing up and exchanging cards.
Usually, the teacher was the only one allowed to use the special chalk holder. They said it was for carpal tunnel syndrome. Occasionally, you got the honor of trying it out.
The wooden rulers were classics of elementary school education. They were cheap and easy to graffiti. And they always had the single strip of metal protruding to stab unwary students.
You probably haven’t thought about these things in years. Teachers used them to make straight lines for music lessons or penmanship. If you were lucky, you got to draw with them.
Back in the day, celebrities were into teaching us how to read. I guess they thought we’d be more motivated if Britney Spears and Shaq were our mentors.
It might make you weep to learn that most schools have now banned chocolate milk from their cafeterias. We drank these tiny, impossible-to-open cartons almost daily.
We can’t call it pizza, because it didn’t taste anything like it. At least not pizza we had anywhere else. Regardless, once you ate it, you can never forget the taste.
Why did our school cafeterias insist on giving us sporks to eat with? Was it a budget thing and they couldn’t afford forks and spoons? Or did they just not trust us to know how to use utensils?
Whether you were playing kickball or dodgeball with these suckers, you’ll never forget the pain when one slapped you in the face — or the sound they made when hitting the concrete. And of course, that nasty rubber smell.
It seemed as though every elementary school classroom had a bottle of glue at least 30 years old. It didn’t work, but it was bottomless because it never got thrown away.
Speaking of glue, do you remember covering your hand in Elmer’s glue and letting it dry? Then, you’d slowly peel it off. Your teachers thought it was disgusting, but no kid can resist doing it.
Your teacher probably had an electric pencil sharpener on their desk. Every now and then, it was your job to clean it. You had to try to keep the explosion in the trash can and avoid cutting your fingers off.
Tetherball was a great way to spend recess…or rather, the first five minutes of recess. At that point, the ball would get wrapped around the pole so you’d to take a break to reset it.
Foursquare was an intense game — few things got a fourth grader’s heart pumping as hard. There was nothing like being hit with a cherry bomb when you were least expecting it.
Every classroom had this same lettering sign back in the day. Not all of us were lucky enough to copy it very well, but we sure tried. Then we learned to type and forgot all about it.
Lunch wasn’t just a time for eating, it was also a time for socializing. One part of that? Showing off your cool lunch box to all your friends, of course.
It was a long time ago since you first learned to write. Back then, your teacher probably told you to lay your finger down between each word to make a space.
Our parents and teachers weren’t quite as concerned about our diet when we were kids. They didn’t care if we ate pizza crackers and brownies for lunch every day. And we did — boy did we.
Every elementary school classroom had these calculators. And one student was always tasked with handing them out. For some odd reason, it felt like an honor.
Try as you might, it was impossible to keep your crayons as pristine as they were when you first opened the box. But man, those first few days of coloring were a delight.
Why did every elementary school have a sink like this one? We’ll never know. But it made handwashing an oddly communal event, which may or may not have been a good thing.
Scented markers were a big thing back in the day, which was fun. But it also meant a lot of kids were high on huffing them. That made going to art class a wild experience.
If you were lucky, you had slightly fancier foaming hand soap in your school bathroom than this. But most of us had an odd pink goop that felt slimy and smelled anything but clean.
Was there anything more exciting than the day of the Scholastic Book Fair? You walked into a room with a couple of dollars in your pocket, feeling like you were on top of the world.
You can laugh if you want, but it inspired us to read. So many elementary schoolers discovered their favorite books all on the quest for a personal pan pizza.
Getting picked to lead the line in elementary school was just the best. It felt like a privilege that you took seriously. Unfortunately, it was a short-lived moment of glory.
You’d get the menu at the end of the previous month and eagerly look through it to see when your favorite meal would be served. Pizza Day was always a favorite, but there were plenty of other good ones.
50. Pretended to inject yourself with a mechanical pencil
If you were going to school during the age of mechanical pencils, you probably did this at least once. Life was full of simple pleasures back then, most of them out of sheer boredom.
Every elementary schooler loved it and every art teacher hated it. It distracted kids, made a mess, and usually ended with someone getting hurt. That’s why it was a blast.
If you were sitting beside a friend (usually during a school assembly), you had the chance to play MASH. Then the two of you could giggle over the thought of getting married to your crush and living in a Port-A-Potty.
What were pencil toppers used for? Essentially, nothing. They weren’t erasers. They had no function except to make pencils more exciting, which admittedly isn’t that hard to do.
It was a big day when you completed the course and got your D.A.R.E. T-shirt, promising not to do drugs. We’re not sure why they were teaching elementary schoolers about drugs, but hey.
55. Signed each other’s shirts on the last day of school
When the school year ended, you and your classmates faced three months of being apart. So, you all had to sign each other’s shirts with funny messages.
When you had a particularly slow day, your teacher would announce you could play Heads Up, Seven Up. There was nothing better than choosing your best friend.
The day your Scholastic order form arrived was exciting. You had some serious choices to make, and that meant hours of careful perusal. It wasn’t a task to take lightly.
Being a hall monitor was a temporary but important honor. You probably took the job seriously. Of course, you still laughed at all the other hall monitors.
When the big colored parachute came out, it was the best gym day ever. Who could ever forget the feeling of sitting in a rainbow bubble with 20 other giggling kids?
We never quite knew why we had these things, especially since they were so dangerous. So many elementary schoolers pinched their fingers or were flung off of…whatever these were.
Was there anything more frustrating than an eraser that didn’t do its job? You’d reconsider an answer on a test, try to erase it, and the whole thing would smudge. What a mess.
Do you remember learning your fractions using these little colored cubes? Well, that was the idea in theory, at least. In reality, you and your friends mostly just played around with them
Losing teeth is a weird part of elementary school, and it wasn’t uncommon for one of those suckers to pop out during class or recess. Luckily, our teachers were armed with these special treasure chests.
You knew it was going to be a good day when the teacher rolled this bad boy into the room. Sure, usually you were watching something boring, but it was better than the normal class curriculum.
When you read a lot of books or improved at reading aloud, you might’ve received a special sticker from your teacher. It was just a sticker, but it felt amazing.
67. Made a full picture of yourself and hung it on the wall
At some point, every elementary school student made a full-size drawing of themselves, followed by hanging it on the classroom wall. Why? We’ll never know, but it was fun.
Was there anything more stressful than having to do timed math worksheets? You’d only have a minute or two to complete as many problems as possible. Talk about putting third-graders at risk for a heart attack.
If you were lucky, your school had a Fruitopia machine in the hallway. Your parents would give you a couple of quarters for your choice of a sugary beverage.
Why did we do this in elementary school? For some reason, it was almost instinctive among young kids. We don’t know why we drew the sun, we just had to.
Elementary schoolers spend plenty of time walking up and down the halls. And naturally, they want to touch everything within reach. You’ll never forget the feeling of the concrete under your finger.
Movies make resting your head on a bus window, well, restful. But as you might remember from your school days, it caused enough rattling to give you a concussion.
Chicken Sandwich Day in the cafeteria sounds good in theory, but the reality was usually this. It was a tasteless patty plopped between two buns. You’d describe it as “spectacularly disappointing.”
If you were bored enough in class, you’d find anything to stay entertained. For some reason, one of our options was to jab pencil lead into an eraser. Who knows why?
75 Things To Bring Back Memories Of Elementary School
Cedric Jackson
02.13.20
Elementary school was a strange time for most of us. By now, it was so long ago we might’ve forgotten most of the details. Some of the things we never forget them. But other events get buried in the recesses of our minds…that’s until someone digs them out.
Remember what it was like starting school for the first time? You got up early in the morning, jumped on the bus, and went to class. You ate in the cafeteria and played with your friends at recess. Back then, that’s what you did every day, even though it seems like it was a lifetime ago.
And let’s face it. A lot of that stuff was kind of weird. You walked in lines — a lot. You had to ask permission to go to the bathroom. And you ate a BUNCH of unidentifiable cafeteria food.
We’ve all been there. Even though it’s been many years for most of us, we still remember the unique things that went on during that time of our life. Here are 75 things we all did in elementary school.
