J. L. Giles Elementary, Floor 2...

Two years have passed since we toured the first floor of J. L. Giles Elementary School located in the South Park District of Beaumont. The dismissal bell interrupted us. At that time I promised you that we would return and tour the second floor. And remember that the school building is not there literally. They tore it down years ago to construct a Postal Service Center.

This means that the tour will be in my memory. And, as last time, I must ask you to step lightly and talk softly as I have a bit of a headache. Thank you.

As we leave the gymnasium and head up the steps we are coming out onto the second floor. The door to the right leads to the balcony of the school auditorium.

Across from that door is Miss Murrah’s classroom. She is the homeroom teacher for me and all the other 4th graders. The first floor is for first, second, and third grades. The second floor is for fourth, fifth, and sixth grades.

Miss Murrah is one of my favorite teachers. Even though I am a year younger than my classmates, she is going to let me have a lead part in the school Christmas play. This one act gives me more self-confidence than you would ever have guessed. I think she knows that I feel like a little runt compared to all of my older classroom peers.

OK, look across the hall. That is Miss Moore’s art class. They are busy working with all sorts of projects. Miss Moore is a good artist in her own right. Oh by the way, whatever you do, don’t make her mad. She has a very capable voice and when she gets upset you can hear her all the way down to the other end of the hall. Believe me. I have been there and done that and heard that.

Across the hall from Miss Moore’s room and down a bit is Mrs. Pietzsch’s room. She is my fifth grade homeroom teacher. I love her. She encourages me to write poetry.

One day while she was teaching us in her World History class, she saw me writing what should have been notes on our class lesson. She eased by my desk and saw that I was writing short poems. She took up my notes and told me to see her privately after class. I was scared to death. Would she have me kicked out of school or what?

After class I went to her desk. She looked over my notes and said, “Winston, these poems are wonderful and I hope you will write more of them. But I don’t want to see you writing poems again during my class time.” The way she handled the situation gave me great motivation to continue writing poems. But not during World History class.

Across the hall from there is the school library. Our librarian is Miss Syler. She is a quiet and fascinating person. See over there on the shelves along side the books? Those are coconuts. Her hobby of collecting coconuts always amuses me.

Then across the hall is Mrs. Reynolds’ classroom. She is my sixth grade homeroom teacher. Also, she teaches us arithmetic. Not bragging but I was the only one in class to make 100 on our multiplication tables. During that test I was stumped on the correct answer for 12 x 12 so I guessed 144 and got it right. That one guess got me the perfect score.

I regret that we have had to rush through our second floor tour but the dismissal bell is about to ring. We want to head downstairs before that stampede of kids gets turned loose.

Thank you for stepping softly…my headache is gone.

Winston Hamby
WinHamby@comcast.net