Some 1965-66 Nova Elementary School Memories, Part 4

Here are some more memories, in no particular order, that I've somehow kept of my fourth grade experiences at Nova Blanche Forman Elementary School in 1965-66, the first year of its existence...

--Individualized study was the norm at Nova, at least in the five-classroom section called "Suite C".  They had SRA (Science Research Associates) study lab kits that we were all supposed to be engaged with...there were Reading Lab, Spelling Lab, and Math Lab, if memory serves me correctly.  I tended to avoid SRA, though, which although a required activity, never got me into trouble with my teachers...convincing me that the faculty was detached from the students they were entrusted with teaching.  But later in the school year, I undertook to do another, more advanced SRA program, called Study Skills, which, unlike the other SRA kits, required library visits to do and which involved reading essays and stories...and then answering comprehension questions following them.  I did all of Study Skills, which had quite a few lessons and was a feat that very few students accomplished, and then turned in my folder to my teacher showing my completion.  I never got acknowledgement for my efforts and found my folder a few weeks later lying on a counter without any teacher's notes on it...as if no one had even bothered to look at it...

--We did have field trips that year.  One was a combination trip to Port Everglades and the Broward County Courthouse.  I think the teachers conducting it had in mind all of us boarding a ship as part of the excursion, but weren't able to swing it.  My highlight with the courthouse visit was standing on the high roof overlooking downtown Fort Lauderdale and seeing how close to the edge I would dare myself to stand. I think we also may have, at another time, visited the Seminole Indian Village on US 441 in Dania, but if we did my memory eludes me...

--In preparation for our school-wide Christmas assembly, each suite came up with a show.  Suites, A, B, and D each had skits they performed.  Our suite, though did something I thought was pretty cool: a Mexican dance, completely choreographed with partners, kicking and swirling, on an enormous scale.  I was paired with Eleanor, another student who would complete the Nova program all the way through senior graduation.  That dance, which the whole suite had practiced and practiced to a numbing degree, easily stole the show...

--Speaking of Christmas, many students at Nova Elementary were Jewish and celebrated Hanukkah in December.  Students were encouraged to bring in items pertaining to how they celebrated  the holidays, and I heard Jewish holiday songs and became acquainted with the dreidel, a top with the sides inscribed with Hebrew letters.   Another totally cool experience...

--I have some memory of Spanish being taught in the context of the story Goldilocks.  I also remember Marjorie getting the role of Goldilocks in the subsequent performance because of her ability to ham it up...

--Speaking of acting, later in that year we assembled in the cafeteria (officially called the "Multi-Purpose Room") to watch some other skits, one of which featured Paige, a classmate whose stage presence even at that early age indicated a promising future in entertainment, as confirmed by her role many years later as the voice of Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast...

More memories to come...