While the Janet and John and Dick and Jane books are probably the primers most of us remember, there were several other, widely used school books that taught thousands of us to read. One such series was the 'reading for meaning' books written by Paul McKee.
Dr. Paul McKee (October 1898 - November 1974) was a university professor, an author of children's books, and was regarded as one of the most eminent scholars in his field. McKee earned a doctorate at the University of Iowa before joining the faculty at the University of Northern Colorado.
Wikipedia
Pictured are four books from the Reading for Meaning series, Book 1 Tip, Book 2 Tip and Mitten, Book 3 With Peter and Susan and Book 4 Up and Away. The ribbon tied books are from The Beacon Reading Series. For information and prices of these and other early readers and school text books, please visit March House Books
I wonder how many of you remember your first day at primary school or kindergarten. I have vivid memories of mine. There were no pre-schools or nurseries in the 1950s so my first day was also the first time I’d spent any time away from home. This was going to be a big day! I knew that because dad took the morning off work even though it was the busiest time of the year for a farmer. Mum dressed up in her Sunday best, and made sure I was wearing clean socks and knickers! When we arrived at the school dad declined to get out of the car even though he was wearing his ‘good’ suit. So it was left to mum to half drag, half carry me through the double doors of a terrifyingly large building.
Once inside we were met by a scary looking woman who quickly ushered mum out with the words “come along mother time to leave". I decided there and then that this thing called school wasn't for me, but a firm grip on my shoulder prevented my escape! I don’t think I've ever felt quite as lost as I did in those first few hours, but it wasn't long before I was into the swing of things. I loved sitting at my desk pencil in hand busy ‘doing sums’ or sitting on the floor with the other children listening to the teacher reading stories. I soon began to recognise the simple words in the Janet and John books and the Beacon Readers, but I don’t have any recollection of actually learning to read. Do you remember your first day at school or the first book you read?
The Beacon Reading Series background design courtesy of our little granddaughter Lilly.
Lilly will be three in May so no school just yet,
but her big sister Zoe started at kindy (nursery school) earlier this year. Just two days a week at the moment, here she is on her first morning happy and excited to be going.
This photo makes me smile, the frozen backpack is almost as big as Zoe.
Just to round things off, this is me with my dad and my older brother and sister. I’m not sure of the date, but I would guess September 1953 just before the start of the new school year and my first term. My brother and sister are quite a bit older than me so by the time I started at primary school they had already moved on to seniors.
Thanks for looking.
