Life in the classroom

[amethyst]

Primary school
The old type desks,where you would keep your books inside,inkpots on the right hand side,pink blotting paper,we did have blue bic pens also.

I think the pencil sharpeners were on the teachers table much better than the old plastic ones in our pencil case,that were useless.
All lead pencils were in red.
Crayons were always kept in their right cardboard pockets.

When drawing things we were giving plain white sheets of paper

Modelling clay came in a variety of colours.

We had 2 blackboards in the class.one fitted against the facing wall,then the tall free standing one that could be moved about.The wooden block duster to wipe off the old chalk.I think the teacher would allow pupils to clean the boards.The white chalks were always kept seperate from the coloured ones.

Did you find chalk in school was much better quality than the one you bought in shops for personal use

[darren]

Re: Life in the classroom

those old style tables where you could reach down and stick tons of chewing gum as well as books,crayons,blotters etc.

It saved a lot of room for us.

Yes i remember those free standing blackboards we had them as well as the ones on the wall.

Chalk had a funnyish feel to me when id get the chance to use it at school i found it tough to write with.

Never used chalk for personal use.

[amethyst]

Re: Life in the classroom

Were you ever caught with cchewing gum darren?

What I mean chalks and personal use one xmas I got a blackboard & easel with boxes of chalks,the chalks in school were much better

[Richard1978]

Re: Life in the classroom

I remember using PVA glue coming in plastic bottles with nozzles, or else old film containers with those plastic spreaders.

[darren]

Re: Life in the classroom

nope i was a good boy.

Those tables had grooves in them at the top where you could put your pencils etc.


Now i think of it i think i did have a blackboard for personal use at home

i dont think the chalk was as good as school chalk.

PAPER PLANES WHIZZING THRU THE AIR TOO.

were you ever caught with cchewing gum darren?

What i mean chalks and personal use one xmas i got a blackboard & easel with boxes of chalks,the chalks in school were much better

[Arran]

Re: Life in the classroom

Hand cranked pencil sharpeners mounted on a desk.

Sliding block paper cutters.

A container of blue straws for the milk in KS1 classrooms.

Computers on desks with castors that were rarely ever moved.

Acorn Archimedes computers on the desks that were later replaced with PCs.

Encyclopedias etc. on CD-ROM.

Rolls of rough coloured paper used as a backing paper for wall display boards.

Cupboards filled with various toys and table games - more common in KS1 classrooms than KS2 classrooms.

Stopclocks. Ever classroom seemed to have one on a shelf.

[amethyst]

Re: Life in the classroom

A map of the UK on one of the walls with other various things.The crate of milk for morning break.

[staffslad]

Re: Life in the classroom

I think we were only allowed to use pencils at primary school--those red HB ones. Yes, the hand-cranked sharpener was on the teacher's desk. Our wooden desks had lids and we kept our books, pump bag etc inside. Being marched up in a line to the dining hall at lunchtime, and standing outside until the dinner lady said we could go in. In geography lessons, again standing in a line by the teacher's desk while he/she used an ink roller to put a drawing or map in your book--maps of Australia were very popular. I agree that school chalk was better than the chalk you could buy for home use. Also, my home blackboard was inferior to the school ones--mine went shiny quickly and difficult to write on.

[Arran]

Re: Life in the classroom

There were loads of maps on the walls at school.

Did you encounter a Peters projection world map at school? It is probably the most controversial and ideosyncratic map projection around but they were supposed to be quite popular in schools in the 1970s and 1980s, especially amongst teachers of a politically left stance. I can remember some dispute between teachers at primary school where one of them believed that the Peters projection map should be the official world map for schools and another who opposed it due to its poor dimensions and claims that it is a political propaganda piece developed by a person with no knowledge of cartography. The Eckert IV projection became standard for the National Curriculum in 1994 but is rarely found anywhere outside of schools.

[Richard1978]

Re: Life in the classroom

I remember one map in a Geography room looked odd because it made everything north of the equator much bigger than that to the south.

Greenland looked about the same size as the whole of Africa.

[Arran]

Re: Life in the classroom

That's a Mercator projection. Used for navigation because an angle on the map is the same as a compass bearing but it's not elegant as a display map because it expands distances towards the poles. Mercator maps were the commonest maps around until the 1970s despite the existence of several much more attractive display maps.

[darren]

Re: Life in the classroom

Some of my classes had as many as 30 pupils i remember that one class had just 3 girls in it and 27 boys.

To big a class for one teacher to handle.


Woodwork metal workclassrooms had a vice fixed to tables.

[Pussywillow]

Re: Life in the classroom

Some of my classes had as many as 30 pupils i remember that one class had just 3 girls in it and 27 boys.

To big a class for one teacher to handle.


Woodwork metal workclassrooms had a vice fixed to tables.

30 ? is that all ? I was in a class of at least 40. One teacher. None of this teaching assistance rubbish, you have nowadays.

I remember those wooden desks. I think you were assigned one in your tutor group. I never EVER left anything in mine, because it would be cleaned out by thieves within 5 minutes of leaving it.

[darren]

Re: Life in the classroom

wow 40.

We had a class of 32 with just 3 girls did u have a class which was so outnumbered by one gender.

Im amazed teachers could handle so many pupils.
Dont think u get such big classes now.

30 ? Is that all ? I was in a class of at least 40. One teacher. None of this teaching assistance rubbish, you have nowadays.

I remember those wooden desks. I think you were assigned one in your tutor group. I never ever left anything in mine, because it would be cleaned out by thieves within 5 minutes of leaving it.

[staffslad]

Re: Life in the classroom

In our metalwork room we had a container holding acid sitting in the corner. I have no idea if that would happen now, nor if metalwork/woodwork is taught extensively anymore.