Third Grade: Then And Now

THE ANN ARBOR NEWS

Section Three              Pages 23 to 34

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, February 11,1974

Mrs. Attwood Chats With Eberwhite school’s third graders.

Third Grade: Then And Now

By Mary Jo Frank
(News School Reporter)

When Frieda Attwood was a third grader at Tappan School in 1912 her teacher commanded silence.

If students got restless the teacher literally waited until she could hear a pin drop before continuing.

"As I look back on it I don't think it was such a good idea,” Mrs. Attwood confided to the third graders at Eberwhite Elementary School last week.

Students in Room 129 and Mrs. Attwood compared notes on what school and life was like when she was a girl and today.

Mrs. Attwood’s visit was a highlight of a history of . Ann Arbor unit the Eberwhite class has been studying.

Barbara Shalit's students took about a week to write personal letters to '29 persons who were third graders at Perry and Tappan schools between 1909 and 1912.

"We would like to see any books, reports, pictures or clothes you might have. A letter telling us about your third grade would be nice too,” was what student Mike Flynn requested when he wrote Mrs. Attwood, who lives at 2222 Fuller Rd.

The grandmother of six who wears her long hair braided at the nape of the neck was the first to respond. Since then students have heard from about 75 per cent of those they wrote to, according to Mrs. Shalit.

Students were prepared- for Mrs. Attwood’s visit. Report cards and textbooks from 1909 were on display, girls wore long dresses and ribbons in their -hair and students rearranged their desks in straight rows so it would look “old fashioned." The students usually sit in groups of four.

Some students even remembered to sit with their hands clasped on the desks as they had seen in pictures.

The Tappan School Mrs. Attwood attended is no longer standing. It was located between East University and Church. The U-M physics building now stands there.

Unlike Eberwhite, Mrs. Attwood said her school had only seven classrooms — no gymnasium, auditorium, library, music or art rooms.

Mrs. Attwood, 70, who lived in a large home on Oakland, reminisced about Friday spelling bees, braids in ink wells and games she and her friends played as children.

Boys and girls weren't allowed to play together during recess when she was in school, Mrs. Attwood recalled. Girls played swing-tag, jump rope and jacks while boys preferred tops, marblers and mumblety-peg.

“We had lots of fun with the Sears and Roebuck catalog,” she said, dreaming of things they would like to buy.

Her family used the same catalog to order many of its staples and supplies.

The family seldom went to a store. What they didn’t order from the catalog, her mother baked, grew and canned, or it was delivered.

Milk, ice and meat were all delivered by men driving horses and wagons. A woman delivered butter and eggs.

Skating was a popular sport winter and summer, Mrs. Attwood said. Children roller skated in the summer and in the winter her father, who taught at the University, built a skating rink on the front lawn for her family and neighborhood children.

Once a year her family would rent a sleigh and go for a sleighride to the railroad station and down to Island Park, she recalled.

Other pleasant memories she shared were the once-a-year-trip to Detroit on the train, the circus parade every summer and hayrides.

“Ann Arbor was quite different when I was a girl,” Mrs. Attwood said. “But it was an awfully nice place to live.”