A Look Back:Public school week; Huntington High’s upcoming picnic

Summer is nearly half over and the weather has been unusually warm, but that won’t stop students and faculty, past and present, from attending this year’s Huntington Beach High School’s Hometown Picnic on Sunday.

This year, the picnic will be held on the campus of the high school instead of Lake Park.

Speaking of teachers from Huntington High, last week I met the school’s legendary band director, Galen Vogel, who taught music at the school from 1972 to 1990.

He had come to visit former band member Andy Arnold, and while he was there Galen mentioned the names of students that were in his band more than 30 years ago, proving that teachers never forget some of their favorite pupils.

Last week, we began looking back at the activities of our young students in Central Elementary School during Public School Week and their open house in the evening on April 25, 1945 for parents and friends.

We left off with the second-grade classes, and now we’re heading for the third-grade classroom of Miss Greenwald, where the class had a display on the life of the American Indian and their culture. Each child in Miss Greenwald’s room had made an Indian doll and dressed it in native costume.

They also created a display about life in the Navy, and each pupil wore on their shirt a rating badge of honor.

Mrs. Hadley’s class learned about transportation through the ages with interesting displays of covered wagons, stagecoaches, trains, planes and automobiles.

American Indian history of the Southwest was the theme in the classroom of Frances McKelvey, where her students created a display of original stories, painted jars and Indian dolls that were mounted on yellow and orange display cards.

Her pupils had on display a large hanging frieze showing Navajo life that depicted their hogans and Indian girls weaving and making jewelry.

There were on display collections of Indian baskets, beadwork, stone tools and even an Indian headdress for the parents to see.

Heading now to the fourth grades, we arrive at the classroom of Mrs. Black, where her students had created a wall-hanging frieze of China that was made by the boys in class.

There was a Chinese wind chime and a Chinese calendar on display about the room.

The girls in Mrs. Black’s class created their own display, a frieze of Mexico, and had assembled a display of native Mexican musical instruments.

The pupils in Mrs. Scales fourth-grade class created a large cloth display depicting scenes and customs of China and stories about Chinese silk, from the silkworm to the fabric.

Agnes Snasdell’s students had a display of seashells and wildflowers along with an exhibit of life in both China and Mexico.

On each of her student’s desks were examples of their arithmetic, art and penmanship.

California history figured prominently in the classroom of Margaret Elliott and her fifth-grade students.

They had on display a collection of travel folders of our state, and on the wall hung a cartoon map of the “Golden State.”

Posters were hung on the walls in her classroom to show the American lifestyle and on the tables were proudly displayed some of the hobbies of her students.

The development of America from its Colonial roots to the present day was the theme of Mrs. Kelly’s class and showed the importance of our state to the rest of the country.

Artwork by the students in Mrs. Russell’s fifth-grade class was on prominent display along with real flowers brought in by her pupils to accent the colors of the children’s drawings.

I’m sure your feet are getting tired by now, but we still have a few more classrooms to attend before the night is over.

“The Port of Good Friendship” was the main theme in the classroom of Mrs. Shipp’s sixth graders, and on the walls were hung works of art that her pupils created during the school year.

Depicting the history of man ? from cavemen, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans and on to the people of the Middle Ages ? the class of Alice Sturgeon learned of the great men who contributed to each period in history.

Paper dolls in appropriate costume formed a parade of history in the classroom of Miss Watkins.

Her class learned about ancient people and how they evolved in history.

Displays of soap carvings, mounted insects, and student artwork in chalk, crayon and watercolors were placed around the room.

With this, we’ll stop and rest our feet for now as we return to the present time and the teachers of today’s generation in all of our schools.

Remember, if you do attend this year’s Homecoming Picnic you might run into one of your former teachers who remembers you as the one who threw that spitball at the blackboard some 40 years ago.

So let’s hope you were a good student in class.