Keith Kretchmer

Five years old.  I had been to pre-school.  But going to South School for Kindergarten was the big time.  There were all kinds of fun things to play with—including a box with a giant steering wheel like a bus has—that captured my attention.  I may have been a little clingy when my mom dropped me off, but Miss Steinke was warm and welcoming.

I don’t remember much about daily activities then.  Finger painting and other painting on easels, for sure.  We had to bring one of our dad’s old shirts to use as a smock.  There was recess, of course.  We had rest period each day on the rug.  We also had a snack which often was Salerno butter cookies.  We used to put them on our fingers and eat all of the bumps off the edge first before eating the rest of the cookie.

One day we had a project with clay.  Each of us had a knob of clay which we flattened to about ½ inch thick.  Then each of us stood up and made a handprint in the wet clay.  Our teacher used a stylus to write my name on the underside of my piece, along with the month and year.  Mine says “Keith Nov. 1956.”  It’s an impression of my right hand.  Once it dried or was fired (I don’t remember) each of us painted our piece.   Mine is yellow.  This memento sits on my bookshelf to this day.

Do any of my classmates have theirs?