Did You Attend Carleton Elementary?

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Ok, now that that's settled, let's not let this die out! We've dredged up a lot of great old memories and need to keep it going with some other thought-starters! What else can we think up?

- The orange "E" or "hand" signs that people put up in windows signifying students could go to those houses for help in the event of problems encountered to and from school?

- Particular sights or businesses encountered along the walking routes?

- Favorite subjects and/or particularly memorable classes and classroom experiences?

Let's keep those thinking wheels churning!

I remember one of my favorites was science with Ms. Franke, especially the rare occasion when we got to go out into the conservatory [[pictured well in my photo of Carleton Between Casino Doors).

Sometimes some of the best learning occurred when teachers talked about things other than purely the curriculum. I remember Mrs. Theresa Wells, my homeroom and math teacher in third grade, one day telling us all about her daughter, who was twelve years old at the time and an insulin-dependent diabetic, and what she went through in terms of monitoring and self-injecting and so forth. We got quite a lesson in the ramifications, care, and treatment of that disease, and at the time it never even seemed like learning because it was all a fascinating story.

[grumpyoldlady]

I remember the "hand" signs! Hadn't thought about them in probably 40 years, lol. In those Carleton photos...the gym sure looks bad...the floor was a nice, light colored wood, and the lines were that reddish brown color. Now it just looks dirty, worn and neglected. The rest of the school looks tacky, too..with signs stuck all over the place...especially the ones by the stage in the auditorium. The risers for the choir to stand on that you can see on the stage look like the same ones we stood on way back when. The seats are the same ones, I'm sure. There wasn't carpeting in the aisles.

Back to gym class....that rope that reached to the ceiling. Very few kids could climb it, even half way up. We had one girl in class who asked to be allowed to try...back then all the girls wore dresses...and she wore shorts to school the next day under her dress. She made it to the top and made the boys look silly.

At lunch time those tables folded down and we'd eat our lunches accompanied by GLASS bottles of milk. Lunch cost 35 cents. Wednesday was always chop suey day, which I hated. I rarely stayed for lunch since I could walk home in about 5 minutes.

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I lived with my grandparents on Nottingham; every day my grandfather would drive me to school in the morning and also pick me up to take me home for lunch and then drive me back to school afterward. He worked at Ford on the afternoon shift so I walked home at the end of the school day, taking Roxbury to cross Morang at the light and then Morang to Nottingham. On the south side of Morang between Beaconsfield and Nottingham there was a playground/field which was part of St. Brendan's Church property, and it was known at least in later days as "Fr. Downing Field." There was a small church credit union building on the southeast corner of Beaconsfield and Morang.

That's all been torn down now and replaced by a mini strip mall featuring a video store. Guess the church needed the money and sold it.

Maranatha Baptist Church was [[and still is) on the south side of Morang between Roxbury and Beaconsfield. In the winter, when the snow was plowed from the parking lot, it was left in piles right beside the sidewalk. Sometimes these piles would reach HUGE heights [[at least relative to the height of elementary schoolkids) and it was always fun to climb up there and walk along the tops of the snowpiles, especially after they'd been packed down by dozens of other kids who had already done the same thing.

You really note a deterioration in the floor between my picture and the time you were there, but I wonder if you perhaps simply have built up the memory in your mind to over and above what it really was. I was personally there to take that picture and while I agree that the gym [[as well as the halls and auditorium as you mentioned) are cluttered with a lot of junk which certainly wasn't the case then, I didn't think that the floor itself looked that different from the way I remembered it. I would definitely agree though that the brown tables [[which pulled out of the wall like Murphy beds to provide the tables as the Gym was transformed into the Cafeteria at lunchtime) were definitely in better condition back when I attended in the '60s and '70s.

I remember the ropes but I didn't notice or remember that girls didn't equally participate in the activity. But come to think of it now I don't remember girls ever attempting rope climbing. I do remember that I was terrible at it and could never get more than perhaps one or two handpulls up and THAT was THAT. I used to feel really jealous of those who made it to the top.

Another thing I remember is regular calisthenics periods in most gym classes, and students would take turns each day leading and directing the exercises. We would do jumping jacks, situps, etc., and one activity was "arm circles" which involved standing with arms extended fully out to the sides and then moving them in small circles. We usually did about 10 or 25 of them but one day the boy leading the class that day decided to be a wise guy and assigned the class to do 100 of them. Mr. Ignasiak stepped in immediately and excused the class from that - but made that boy do 100 in front of the class on his own! And he did manage to do it! This same kid one time was showing off when Mr. Ignasiak was having us do chin-ups - he easily went through probably 50 or more - but then when marking down the count in his book, Mr. Ignasiak simply waited until the kid was done and said simply, "Zero." He hadn't followed the directions; we were supposed to be doing them gripping the bar with our palms facing away from us, and he had done them the opposite way!

As I was picked up for lunch as described above, I never had a meal in the cafeteria so can't comment on the menu. [[I might have liked the chop suey as my family often had take-out chop suey from Pagoda's on Morang and Riad which I enjoyed!) However, when diagnosed with hypoglycemia in fifth grade in '71, I was put on a diet that required having a protein snack in the middle of each morning and afternoon, so I would go to the school cafeteria behind the gym and buy an individual half-pint CARTON [[no bottles in my day) of milk. The price was three cents.

Another fun thing we did once or twice a year was go on field trips to hear classical concerts at the Ford Auditorium, or to see the Detroit Institute of Arts.

And a final random memory - the observances of Veteran's Day each November 11 - they would play taps at 11 a.m. I also specifically remember Mr. Ignasiak one year making the announcement that that would be the last year Veteran's Day would be celebrated on Nov. 11, as the change to a Monday observance would be going into effect.

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Oh yes - two more memories.

Once in a while the principal Mrs. Swander would come in to observe the class. Obviously now I understand that she was primarily there to observe and evaluate the performance of the teacher, but back then we were really always careful to be at extra attention! Mrs. Swander also used to be a stickler about posture and sitting up straight. Of course, today I'm a sloucher and make no apologies for it, but even when I do it brings back memories of what Mrs. Swander would have had to say about it!

Other special days I always really looked forward to were the Open House days when parents could come and join the class. My mother worked, but always made sure she got those days off so she could come, and I was always so happy to have her see me in action. My parents also always made a point of being there for the Junior Chorus concerts and other activities. It's really a pity that so many parents these days don't seem to understand how important that is and how much it means to kids.

[grumpyoldlady]

I sent the Carleton photos to some of the class, and a couple emailed me back and commented on how dark the gym floor was, and how neglected it looked, so I am pretty sure it had changed quite a bit.

I remember the calesthenics being led by a student...jumping jacks, deep knee bends, arm circles, sit ups, squat thrusts, toe touches and more. And the yearly "physical fitness testing" that I hated because I was the fat girl and couldn't do any pullups that used those special pullup bar stands for the girls or a lot of situps. I could, however, do well in the softball throw. We had to do situps, pullups, standing broad jump, softball throw, 50-yard dash, and something where we had to run back and forth from one end of the gym to the other and pick up a bean bag and bring it back.

"Tomorrow, November 11th, is the newest holiday in the United States...It is called Veteran's Day...to honor the men and women who have served in our miliary. Please now bow your heads while Betty Puckett plays taps" I still remember the announcement I had to make over the PA system before that Veteran's Day playing of taps and noontime dismissal of school. I was elected because I had a distinctive voice that the teachers considered "radio material".

I was confused on my Carleton graduation year...it was '62, not '63. My '62-'63 year was at Arthur, and '63-'67 at Denby.

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You may have been "the fat girl" but don't assume that had anything to do with it because I was "the skinny boy" but wasn't any better at those exercises either.

Now you sound like a historical figure! "I was there waaaay back at the very first Veteran's Day,.." - LOL. I had always assumed there had been a Veteran's day since about, oh, 1919 or so....

But you mention the noontime dismissal of the school. How could I ever have forgotten that we got a half day off on that day! I honestly had lost all memory of it. Probably because there was no such early dismissal - not even the playing of Taps - at the school I went to after leaving Carleton. But I think the Carleton dismissal was shortly after the 11:00 taps playing - not at noon. Wonder if the teachers had to stay back and work on report cards or something while the students had that afternoon off?

So you only went to Arthur for one year? Arthur was only 7th grade? I had always thought that Carleton went through 6th grade, Arthur from 7th through 9th, and then Denby from 10th through 12th. Of course having transferred after fifth grade I wouldn't know.

The "beanbag thing back and forth" - yes, I vaguely remember, and wonder if as I suspect it was connected with the "relay racing" that I DEFINITELY remember, where we would lie stomach-down on these little flat square go-carts that were barely big enough to support just the abdominal area, leaving the rest of the trunk and limbs hanging over the ends - and maneuver ourselves back and forth across the whole gym using just our arms. That was probably the only activity that I actually enjoyed enough to lose all track of how much work my poor arm muscles had to do to achieve it! And that is especially saying a lot because I was just about always the tallest boy in the whole class so I had that much more upper and lower body to have to center and balance on that tiny little square cart!

[grumpyoldlady]

I stand corrected on my statement about that being the first Veteran's Day. I know better. It was being referred to by my teachers as the "newest holiday", and I got confused. And when I said "noontime dismissal", I didn't mean at 12:00...i meant the regular dismissal before lunch, which I think was at 11:25. I do believe the teachers stayed there and did paperwork. One year I stayed and helped Mrs. Knapp in the Library with the book inventory. I was one of 2 "Future Teachers" assigned to the Library. We had our little felt arm badges with the "FT" on them.

We didn't have those little cart scooter things, but they sound like they would have been fun.

At the time I went to Carleton, it went throught the 8th grade, and Arthur was 9th grade. I know it changed shortly after that. Denby had been a 9th through 12th school until they decided to make Arthur a Jr. High.