My year in the third grade

I keep turning up these little time capsules in my old things. This one is a fill-in-the-blank memory book from the end of third grade, 1997, the kind where the school hands you the prompts and you scrawl in the answers. I was eight, turning nine, at Marvin Elementary. It was my last year there, because that summer we moved away from St. John, and the friends I named in it are the very ones I had to say goodbye to.

There is even a real photo of me from that year. The camera stamped it October 4, 1996, early in third grade, and there I am next to my class’s “What a TOADALLY Awesome Class!” board. It came along with a Student of the Week award I earned, the “Truly Awesome” one, for the week of May 19 to 23.

Here it is, in my eight-year-old words, more or less exactly as I wrote them.

My Year in the Third Grade

This book, My Year in the Third Grade, was written and illustrated by Todd H. Year: 1997.

The name of my school is Marvin Elementary. This is me sitting at my desk in my classroom. Our room number is 221. This is where I spent my third grade year.

This is my teacher, Mrs. Davis. One thing I will remember the most about her is she is a funny girl. I like her a lot because she was my third grade teacher.

My principal’s name is Miss Whelahan. She is a good principal because she helped us. One thing I remember the most about her is she is funny.

The librarian at our school is Mrs. Glen. One thing I remember most about her is she has a big plate.

This is a picture of my favorite book. I love to read books because the Wizard of Oz.

This is a picture of me in our art class. My art teacher, Miss Wynette, lets me make neat projects with her. My favorite art project this year was weaving.

This is my PE teacher, Mr. T. He is a good PE teacher because he is a joker. Some of my favorite things we did in PE were prison ball.

This is my music teacher, Mr. Arana. He was a good music teacher because he plays the piano to us. Some of my favorite songs from music class are the can-can.

My favorite subject in school is math. I like it because it is fun. One interesting thing I learned in the third grade was multiplication.

The best day I had in third grade this year was when we had a sundae party at school. The worst day I had in third grade this year was when I got in trouble. The most embarrassing thing that happened to me in the third grade this year was I slipped in PE and fell. The funniest thing that happened to me in third grade this year was I got buried in the rocks.

Some of my best friends at school are Pat, Amber, and Sara. We always like to play kickball, most of the time with more people.

Something special that I will remember about third grade is when

After the blank

And there it ends. The very last prompt, the one asking for the thing I would remember most, I left completely blank. I have no idea why eight-year-old me ran out of steam right at the finish line, but there is something almost perfect about it. A few weeks later we packed up and left, and whatever I would have written got swept up in everything that came next.

Pat and Amber and Sara, the kickball, room 221, the sundae party, all of it turned out to be the thing I remember most. Just not in a blank I ever filled in.