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Memories of One-Room Schools
Memories of One-Room Schools
Memories of One-Room Schools
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Memories of One-Room Schools

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Hopefully MEMORIES of One-Room Schools will be enjoyed by anyone that ever attended these schools, knows of anyone that did or is interested in history.
Some of the things included are a brief history of one-room schools and the special state program that was legislated to solve the teacher shortage. Some topics covered in the book are:the different languages spokensporadic attendanceclothes wornhickory stick disciplinegetting to and from schoolsleigh/bob sled rideshorses ridden to and from schoolwhere the teacher stayedwater for the schoolbuilding and banking firesschoolhouse pestsouthouseslard or syrup lunch pailssnowbound at the school housesubject taughtspelling beesYCL songspecial daysschool picnicsdescription of classroom and some of the recess and indoor games played by the students.
But the highlight of the book is the humorous, interesting memories of former students, parents and friends. Baked potatoes and the game Anti-I-Over appear to be favorite memories.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherAuthorHouse
Release dateJan 21, 2014
ISBN9781491849699
Memories of One-Room Schools
Author

Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney

The draft and “baby boom” during WW11 and the Korean War resulted in a teacher shortage in one-room rural-schools that prompted the South Dakota Legislature to enact a special program. As a result of this program, Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney was able to begin her thirty-eight year teaching career as a seventeen year old high school graduate, in a school where her eighth grade boy was only three years younger than she was. Though at times she misses teaching and the students, she now has the free time that comes with retirement, so that she can enjoy doing some of her long postponed hobbies and projects. Other books available by Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney are TEDDY and TEDDY THE SEQUEL about life on a 1940s farm with her beloved Border Collie, Teddy.

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    Book preview

    Memories of One-Room Schools - Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney

    2014 Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney. All rights reserved.

    No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

    Published by AuthorHouse 01/17/2014

    ISBN: 978-1-4918-4967-5 (sc)

    ISBN: 978-1-4918-4968-2 (hc)

    ISBN: 978-1-4918-4969-9 (e)

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2014900246

    Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

    and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

    Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

    Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

    Contents

    Dedication

    Foreword

    Chapter One My First Day Of Teaching

    Chapter Two Rural Schools Where I Taught

    Chapter Three My Path To Becoming A Career Teacher

    Chapter Four Early One-Room Schools

    Chapter Five Subjects

    Chapter Six Extracurricular

    Chapter Seven Special Days

    Chapter Eight The One-Room Classroom

    Chapter Nine Games

    Chapter Ten My Memories

    Chapter Eleven Memories From Students, Parents And Friends

    Chapter Twelve State Fair

    Chapter Thirteen

    Dedication

    To my niece, Deb Jorgensen-Gerlach

    Without her gentle prodding and determination this book may never have been written.

    To all my students that I’ve had the privilege to teach in my thirty-eight year career.

    To Eleanor for her special editorial expertise.

    To Alice and Jim, Deb, and Tami for sharing memories, proofreading and editing.

    A big thank you to:

    Arlene, Bonnie, Charlotte, Darlene, Darlys, Dennis, Don, Dorothy, Dwight, Fred, Gen, Jim B, Lucille, Nancy M, Nancy R, Patricia, Phyllis, Sheila, Shirley, Wanda and Wayne for contributing their memories and photos. Also to Tim Ferrell of the USD Music Dept. for helping me research the YCL song and to Lisa Scholten, Coordinator/Curator of Collections at SDSU South Dakota Art Museum for authorizing the use of Harvey Dunn’s After School.

    Foreword

    It was a great pleasure to read Lorraine’s manuscript and the memories of her former students and friends. The one-room schoolhouses of our childhood seem very far away as we turn on our computers only to discover that now you can get a Ph.D. on-line from a virtual university without ever encountering another human being. One of the most noticeable themes that recur in Lorraine’s account of her long career in teaching is the strong bond that was formed between students, teacher, parents, and other community members when the little schoolhouse was the focus of the rural community. Not only did a seventeen year old girl have to teach her students basic life skills, she also introduced them to a wider world of art, literature, music, history, and geography. The little schoolhouse marked the passing seasons and their celebrations for the entire community, transmitted the values that we cherish in our civic life, and opened windows of opportunity for many of its students. In many ways, the school and its teacher were the glue that held isolated rural communities together. I’m not sure that virtual professors can bring the same shrewd insight and gentle humor to their students that Lorraine brought to the many children of rural South Dakota whose lives she touched. To Lorraine and her students and friends who shared their memories—thanks for reminding us of the real value of education!

    Eleanor Seabrook Mundhenke,

    Ferney, South Dakota,

    November 26, 2013

    painting.jpg

    After School, Harvey Dunn, image courtesy South Dakota Art Museum

    SCHOOL DAYS

    Words by Will D. Cobb; Music by Gus Edwards

    School days, school days,

    Dear old golden-rule days,

    Readin’ and ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic

    Taught to the tune of the hick’ry stick.

    You were my (I was your) queen in calico;

    I was your (You were my) bashful, barefoot beau

    And you wrote on my slate

    I love you, Joe (so),

    When we were a couple of kids.

    Driving along the back roads or through the small towns of South Dakota you may have noticed the peeling remains of the little one-room schoolhouses sitting isolated near the road surrounded by fields of grain. Maybe nearby a bent flagpole still stands or a dilapidated barn and leaning outhouses. It seems improbable to imagine that the building once formed the social center of so many rural communities in this State. Or that on a cold, snowy winter night the windows were alight with lantern glow, because the community was gathered to celebrate the school’s Christmas Program.

    Can you picture them sixty plus years ago as a crowd of children from six to sixteen years old flocked to the door summoned by a teacher, perhaps one or two years older than her oldest student? See in your mind’s eye the teacher ringing a big brass hand bell and calling her students to the education that formed the lives of many of us who learned our readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic in the little schools of South Dakota’s past.

    The Enabling Act provided for the division of Dakota into North and South Dakota and enabled the people of each state to form a government and to be admitted to the Union.

    Two of the provisions of The Enabling Act covered establishing schools.

    One was that public schools shall be established, open to all children of the state and not controlled by any sect.

    The second was that lands set aside for the schools shall not be sold for less than $10 per acre. The money from the sale of these lands shall form a permanent school fund. To it shall be added 5% of the net proceeds of the sale of the United States land within the state.

    *     *     *

    The school district system was originally modeled after that of New England. Later the township system was introduced with one school board having control of all schools within the township.

    Each South Dakota Township had sections #1 and #16, out of the thirty-six sections, set aside by the state for the state school fund. A section is a square mile of land. Each section of land was known locally as The School Section. South Dakota thought that the money from these lands would be sufficient to fund the schools, but soon learned otherwise. To this day, the rent money from this land still goes to the state school fund.

    Many changes to the school system have been made over the years. The one-room schools are becoming a thing of the past.

    When the one-room rural schools closed and consolidated with the town schools due to finances and dropping enrollment, it took away an important part of the rural sense of community.

    And later as the schools closed in the small towns due to consolidation, businesses were affected. Parents no longer came into town each school day to drop-off or pick-up their children. Town loyalties and school pride was now transferred to the larger schools.

    Chapter One

    MY FIRST DAY OF TEACHING

    On a sunny, crisp

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