The 5 Ws

Several years ago a visiting family member introduced us to a fun little game. Each person has a piece of paper and writes the 5 Ws spaced out down the page:

 

Who

What

When

Where

Why

 

Leave enough space between the five words to write your answer.

“Who” – any person. Real or fictional. Celebrity or someone you know. The neighbor’s dog, etc.

 

“What” – an action of some kind.

 

“When” – any time period. Day, month, year, holiday, etc.

 

“Where” – where the action took place. Can be a specific place or building, planet, street, countryside, etc.

 

“Why” – reason the incident took place.

 

After you write the first answer, fold the paper over your answer and pass it to the next person. Do this until all 5 answers are done and you read the story.

 

Here are some of the answers we came up with:

 

“Armstrong and Getty ate a bullfrog during the Civil War in the upper room because the solar eclipse had just concluded.”

“Dorothy dearest made a sacred pilgrimage after the zombies won the zombie apocalypse at the Arc de Triomphe to gain a higher state of consciousness.”

“Captain Kangaroo danced like a prima ballerina during the harvest celebration in the bathtub because you can’t trust anything you read on the Internet.”

“Our local vampire coven joined the ranks in the dead of night in Nome, Alaska because city folks just don’t get it.”

“The King of Siam wore racy lingerie when the saints came marching in down in the basement since the rates went up.”

“Olga Korbut ran a gauntlet 2pm after lunch on the town square in Paris, Texas to get a promotion.”

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So try it out with your friends and let me know what you came up with.

 

 

Never Forget

                                        

September 11, 2001

 

OK…I’m Old! – School Days #3

 

Last one in this series. I hope you’ve enjoyed the memories…

 

 

This was the first writing paper we had in grade school. It made sure you knew where all the parts of any letter went to make sure you had clear printing. Later on, it was to see if your cursive was up to snuff. I’M LOOKING AT YOU, MRS. BERG! She was a real stickler for penmanship.

 

 

Secret notes!!! So much fun! I preferred the rectangle notes, but the triangle ones were more fun to throw. I wish I had kept some of these. I did show Lia how to fold the rectangle ones when she was little and she was amazed at the cleverness of them.

 

 

EVERYBODY had these, but I don’t know of any who actually used them. They were fun to keep pencils in, but I don’t recall ever using the ruler part. I did think the times table thing was fun.

 

 

The soap granule dispenser was USELESS!!! It was like rubbing hard little cake sprinkles in your hand, trying to work up a lather. Blah!

 

And that’s it. Goodbye elementary/grade school. Not even gonna address the hell years of junior and senior high school.

 

One last time I will mention Mrs. Norma Vanderley, who I adored. First grade teacher at Parkview. Throughout the years I would visit her classroom on Back to School Night and say hello. She came to my wedding.

 

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Random Thought:

Who was the smartest insect at school?

The spelling bee.

 

theend

OK…I’m Old! – School Days #2

 

Some more steps down memory lane…

 

 

The mimeograph machine!!! Remember that wonderful smell? Damp purple ink freshly printed. Nothing like it.

 

 

Mucilage. Terrible stuff. Hated it. You always got too much or too little on whatever you were using it for. Although it was better than that white paste crap.

 

 

Yup. The picture says it all. I don’t remember ever getting to use it myself, but my mom had one at home. Used it all the time. Even cut the side of my left index finger off.

 

 

I had completely forgotten about this! I think we were all given toothbrushes and these pills. Fourth grade. I remember John Dodge was the lucky student who got to chew one of these pills and go around the class room showing his teeth…

 

 

My desk in first grade looked like this. I don’t remember if it was carved on.

 

 

Later on, the desks looked more like this one.

 

Random Thought:

What do teachers eat for a snack?

Academia nuts!

 

OK…I’m Old! – School Days #1

 

Yup, it’s that time of year again… *sigh*

Some of the things from my elementary school days. Mainly 1960-1966.

 

 

I LOVED the school library at any of the elementary schools I attended. I didn’t really start using a card catalog until I was maybe in 5^th or 6^th grade. But I enjoyed looking through the card catalog at either school or the local library. I really miss it.

 

 

When I checked out a book, I liked seeing who had read it before me. I don’t recall ever seeing a name I recognized.

 

 

Blackboards! I was disappointed when they switched to white boards that you’d have to use a marker on. Mrs. Malloy (4^th grade) would draw a birthday cake on the blackboard with all different colors of chalk. Then the class would sing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy or girl.

 

 I loved the pull-down maps! Not only the United States, but a bunch of different countries. The teacher would use the pointer to indicate the area we were studying.

 

 

There was also a blank screen that could be pulled down to watch a film. And I loved informational films, like how crayons were made, or how strawberry jam was made. I remember one about marionettes.

 

 

The screen could also be used when there was something to be shown from the overhead projector. Usually not as much fun as a film. I thought it was magic how you could have a small image that would be big on the screen.

 

Random Thought:

Q: Why was the math book so sad?

A: It was full of problems.