As a child you look at the world with bright, hopeful, innocent eyes. The world is at your fingertips and the possibilities are endless!
My second grade year was most definitely my favorite school year and one of my most memorable. We did a lot of fun things that year and learned a tremendous amount. My favorite thing about my second grade year was my teacher Mrs. Barthell. She was an amazing woman with an outstanding talent for teaching young kids. She loved her job and all the children loved her back.
I remember like it was yesterday, the night before my first day of second grade. I was worried about going into the class my older sister, Denee just left before summer began. In my mind I had the unspoken duty to uphold or rise above the success and mannerism of my sister who was always known for having straight A’s and being the teachers pet. She was very intelligent. I confided this to my Mom and she surprised me by telling me that Mrs. Barthell personally asked my Mom to put me in her class. She had seen the type of student I was and wanted me in her class. Hearing that, I went to bed at ease, eager to start school again.
On the first day of school I had many different emotions running through me. I felt excited, nervous, and anxious all at the same time. We boarded the school bus in the morning and arrived at school. As we walked toward our designated line up area my sister Denee told me it was going to be awesome and I was going to love it. Little did I know at the time that she was absolutely right!
We spent the first day getting to know our teacher and each other as classmates. We had a bunch of fun playing the name game and also the telephone game. By the end of the day, I was looking forward to the rest of my second grade year.
There were many things that Mrs. Barthell did with us that were fun and educational at the same time. One of my fondest memories of her was when she read James and the Giant Peach to us. She made that book come to life with different voices for all the various characters in the book. I looked forward to reading time everyday because we read a chapter a day. The end of the book came and Mrs. Barthell surprised us with a pizza party and she brought in the animated Disney movie adaptation of the book James and the Giant Peach. It was just the sort of thing that won 7 year olds’ hearts and she really did.
I remember so many things we did that year in Mrs. Barthell’s class, but my fondest most memorable experience in her class was our camping trip. Every year the second graders in Mrs. Barthell’s class took a three-day, two night camping trip to Camp Joshua Taylor. I will never forget that experience, because it was the first time in my life I was going to be on my own for that long period of time. I felt independent and mature and extremely excited. I remember packing my favorite clothes and pajamas and my Mom was stressing out, checking my list rechecking my bags asking me if I remembered this and that. Finally, when my Mom was satisfied enough to let me leave, we drove to my school and she dropped me off. We took role in the lunchroom and boarded the bus. After what seemed like forever on an endless bus ride, we finally pulled into the campgrounds. We got out and entered the dormitory style building where we walked into a huge open space on the inside. There were beds everywhere and we were told to pick one with boys on one side and girls on the other. We all scrambled to our spots and as I was unpacking my sleeping bag to make my bed I overheard some girls talking about one of the girls in our class named Jessica. They didn’t want her by them and they were being really mean. She went off to a bed by herself with no one around. I thought about it for a second and then packed my stuff back up and headed over there. I set my bed up next to hers and told her not to worry about them they were just ignorant.
After setting our beds up and unloading our stuff, we went outside to barbeque some hotdogs for lunch. Let the fun begin! After eating, we chose buddies and walked down to the beach. I asked Jessica to be my partner and we set off for the beach. The beach was beautiful and we explored and turned over rocks to find crabs and poked washed up jellyfish with sticks. We were allowed to bring two things back from the beach to take home and I decided on a sand dollar and a pretty hermit crab shell. I still have both of them, although the sand dollar is glued together from being broken a couple times.
That night was amazing. It was the first time I had seen fireflies before. I was amazed. We had a huge campfire that night and it was so fun singing camp songs and telling stories. We got to top the night off by roasting marshmallows and making huge, gooey smores. I can’t lie and say that night it was kind of scary sleeping in that huge room, but we had snuck candy and we stayed awake as long as we could with the tiny flashlights hidden in our sleeping bags so we wouldn’t get in trouble.
That fieldtrip was one of the best ones of my life, and I was sad to see it come to an end. We were all moping as we packed up our stuff and cleaned up the camp. We were quiet on the way home due partly of being sad and also of exhaustion. All in all it was a phenomenal experience.
Time went by and the school year came to an end. I cried along with the rest of my friends at the end of year celebration. Second grade had been a year I would never forget. I wish I could say that I still talk to Mrs. Barthell, but we lost touch over the years. The last time I spoke with her she was planning on retiring. She touched many lives over the years including my little sister, who had her as a teacher 5 years after I did. If you ever had a chance to talk with Mrs. Barthell, she would be happy to tell you about “the Baker Babes” as she nicknamed my sisters and me. She has deeply touched my life and she is what inspired my career choice to be a second grade teacher. I can only hope that I am as good as she was!
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