The entrance to Mapleshade School during the 1955-56 school year, five years before we started third grade there.

Aerial of Mapleshade School during the 1955-56 school year. Classroom wings to the left and right; gymnasium in middle in back; administrative offices and cafeteria in foreground.

Back side of Mapleshade school during the 1955-56 school year. Classroom wings on the left and right; gymnasium in the middle.

Classrooms and sidewalk along Mapleshade Ave. in 1955. These were our third grade classrooms in the 1960-61 school year.

Gymnasium and classrooms in 1955. These were our fourth and fifth grade classrooms in the 1961-63 school years. Birchland Park Elementary and Junior High School on right.

The view from Birchland Park Elementary and Junior High School during the 1955-56 school year. Classroom wing on the left; administrative offices and second story of gymnasium in the middle; cafeteria on the right. 

Looking out a window in a classroom wing at the administrative offices in the foreground and the cafeteria in the background. Photo taken during the 1955-56 school year.

Inside a classroom during the 1955-56 school year. Date on the blackboard is January 3, 1956.

Another view inside a classroom during the 1955-56 school year.

Inside the gymnasium during the 1955-56 school year.

The cafeteria which served us hot lunches, as it looked during the 1955-56 school year.

Another view of the cafeteria during the 1955-56 school year.

The school stage inside the cafeteria during the 1955-56 school year. We had our plays, took music lessons, and played in the band there.

 

School principal Mr. Melvin Coons. Photo courtesy of Arlene Breau. 

Paul Battige, Peter Blyth, Robert Bradley, Debra Campanella, Bradford Cook, Henry Dickinson, Patricia Donovan, Dorothy Edwards, Steven Gagner, David Gallerani, Dale Goddard, John Haetinger, Janice Holuk, Douglas Keith, Allison Lipp, Earl McKenzie, Jean Montana, Gregory Naylor, Leonard Parent, Jane Passburg, Michele Roy, David Sand, Debra Simons, JoAnna Sturtevant, Gail Taylor, Donna Tranghese, Nancy Vallett, Phyllis Vogel, Jarl Weyant, Nancy Yacovone, Anthony Zampiceni.

Miss Pappas

Mark Anderson, Patricia Berard, Jean Bonin, Christine Bortle, Nancy Bryson, Jeffrey Burton, Cathy Chapman, Harry Coles, Alison Cox, John Dlugos, Bruce Duncan, Christopher Edwards, Linda Farrell, Constance Garvey, Andrea Hastings, Brian Higgins, Nancy Jenne, Valerie Jimenez, Nancy Lavertue, Timothy Lynch, Karen Martin, Douglas Milroy, Thomas Murray, Ross Overlock, David Radebaugh, Joseph Roy, Stephen St. Marie, Jean Symmes, Felix Tranghese, Teresa Villamaino, Kurt Whitney.

Miss Shapiro's third grade class during a picnic at her mother's home in Springfield, MA. Sitting, front row: Nancy Cauley (looking sideways), unknown girl (holding balloon), Paul McNamara, Wayne Scully, unknown boy, unknown boy (holding balloon), Malcolm White. Sitting, row 2: Donna Fiorentino, Ellen Bonneville (partially hidden), Carolyn Buck, Lisa Italiano, unknown girl, Jack Evans, Carol DuBois, Rick Maurer, Joanne Rinaldi. Standing: Scott Moore, Peter Ouellette, Sue Jasinski, Bev Dion, unknown girl, Miss Shapiro, Pamela Murphy, Andy Farquharson, Janice Breen, Karen Albright, Doug Goodrich (with hands raised), Armand Gamache, Steve Viger. Photo courtesy of Donna Fiorentino.

 

Combined program for third grade plays of Miss Shapiro's Room A and Mrs. Hall's Room G.

Miss Shapiro had us send a postcard to our home.

Mr. Egan

Mr. Egan in 1961 (college graduation photo).

James Aubin, Patricia Berard, Andrea Burger, Debra Butler, Debra Campanella, Arthur Cook, Beth Davidson, Valerie Davis, Julia Devine, Barbara Ducharme, Bruce Duncan, Christine Flore, Steven Gagner, James Gilmartin, Richard Grimaldi, Theodore Harper, Patricia Hendrick, Carl Larson, Marilyn Man, Richard Maurer, Stephen Newell, Susan Petronino, Joanne Rinaldi, William Scheumann, Sharon Soares, Donna Sumner, Gail Steen, John Stolecki, Jeanne Symmes, Regina Truitt.

Mrs. Ogilvie

Paul Battige, Donna Bitzer, Peter Blyth, Laura Bradley, Jeffrey Burton, Marlene Cabana, Alicia Coles, Lawrence Cooper, Denise Descheneaux, Ralph Donohue, David Farioli, Dolores Finch, Donna Gaudenzi, Julia Gorman, Marilyn Gour, Douglas Howe, Eileen Jordan, Lynne Kinney, Cynthia McIntosh, August Maserati, Kathleen McCarthy, Susan McGill, Gregory Naylor, Priscilla Perusse, Cynthia Richards, Maria Siano, Mark Simone, Nancy Steitz, Paul Stilphen, Felix Tranghese.

Donna Bitzer in fourth grade. Photo courtesy of Arlene Breau Wolfe.

We were issued Certificates for Reading during fourth and fifth grades.

Leslie Bergeron, Koby Borodkin, Stephanie Chmielewski, John Dlugos, Lois Dusenberry, Linda Farrell, Nancy Galvin, Eddie Goguen, John Haetinger, Kenneth Hall, Andrea Hastings, Patrick Hughes, John Keane, William Lowe, Candice Marino, Patricia May, Earl McKenzie, Bruce Moore, Ralph Nooney, Robert A. Price, Linda Redin, Michele Roy, Wayne Scully, Debra Simons, Dorothy Stellato, Ann Tesoro, John Vigliano, Melinda Wheeler, Nancy Wrinkle, Anthony Zampiceni.

Program for Salute to Spring - - - a play by Miss Ruel's grade class.

Program for Gold of the Marshes - - - a play by Miss Ruel's class.

Bruce Moore's Certificates for Reading. The last word is "merit".

 

Left: Mrs. Stanley in the classroom. Right: Mrs. Stanley with Dale Goddard. Photos courtesy of Arlene Breau Wolfe.

Mrs. Stanley's class. Front row: Janet Betterley?, Bruce Lindwall, Nancy Bryson, Kathy LaBerge, Linda Bates, Dale Goddard. Row 2: Bob Wenning,  Paul Duquette, Scott Coles, JoAnna Sturtevant, unknown girl, Derek Larsen, Dave Carpenter, Paul Lieberwirth, unknown girl, Kendra Bowker. Row 3: Allison Lipp, Carolyn Buck, Cathy Chapman, Carol DuBois, Diane LaFave (partially hidden), Nancy Birtwell, unknown boy (hand over face), Doug Keith (tall and partially hidden), Dean Florian, Scott Moore, Rich Malmstrom, Marsha Coons. Photo courtesy of Arlene Breau Wolfe. 

Dean Florian's fourth grade report card.

Program for Captain Hook's Last Battle - - - a play by Mrs. Stanley's class.

Mr. Heffernan

Mr. Heffernan in 1961 (college graduation photo).

Paul Battige, Koby Borodkin, Richard Bjorklund, Andrea Burger, Alicia Coles, Ralph Donohue, David Farioli, Linda Farrell, Christine Flore, James Gilmartin, Eddie Goguen, Kenneth Hall, Patrick Hughes, John Keane, Ernest LaMountain, Mary Lynch, James Manferdini, Stephen Mascaro, August Maserati, David McCallum, Pamela Murphy, Priscilla Perusse, Robert A. Price, Linda Redin, Joanne Rinaldi, Christina Rowlston, William Scheumann, Maria Siano, Sharon Soares, Nancy Steitz, Jeanne Symmes, John Vigliano, Melinda Wheeler. 

Mr. Jackson

Mr. Jackson in 1954 (college graduation photo).

James Aubin, Leslie Bergeron, Laura Bradley, Debra Butler, Marlene Cabana, Susan Circosta, Beth Davidson, Denise Descheneaux, Bruce Duncan, John Faust, Dolores Finch, Nancy Galvin, Richard Garrett, John Haetinger, Theodore Harper, William Kenyon, Patricia May, Bruce Moore, Ralph Nooney, Carl Porcelli, Kathleen Price, Cynthia Richards, David Sand, Wayne Scully, Kenneth Sheret, Debra Simons, Gail Steen, Christine Stewart, Susan Sullivan, Felix Tranghese, Jane Viveiros, Edward Warren.

Patricia Berard, James Bourque, Jeffrey Burton, Stephanie Chmielewski, Lawrence Cooper, Julia Devine, Barbara Ducharme, Steven Gagner, Donna Gaudenzi, Douglas Goodrich, Garnett Hall, Andrea Hastings, Patricia Hendrick, Mary Holotka, Thomas McCabe, Marilyn Man, Richard Maurer, Thomas Mineo, Stephen Newell, Susan Petronino, Robert A. Price, Albert Raimondi, Susan Regnier, Michele Roy, Susan Saacke, Mark Simone, William Soares, Dorothy Stellato, Donna Tranghese, Phyllis Vogel, Anthony Zampiceni.

Arlene Breau in fifth grade. Photo courtesy of Arlene Breau Wolfe.

Diane LaFave in fifth grade. Classmates' bicycles in the background. Photo courtesy of Arlene Breau Wolfe.

Donna Anderson remembers, "I had Mrs. Olin in third grade - Room B at Mapleshade - and I loved her as a teacher. She was a very old-fashioned teacher. Every morning we sat at our desks with our hands folded and had a moment of silent prayer, and then we said the Lord's Prayer. Then came the Pledge of Allegiance. After that, we recited either the 23rd Psalm or the 100th Psalm. All of us had to remember both Psalms!

"Before we went to lunch we had to say a prayer thanking God for our food, and at the end of the day we sang a song that started, "Father, we thank Thee for the night. And for the pleasant morning light ..." Can't remember the rest of it. THEN we were allowed to line up in the gym to wait for our bus to go home. Can you imagine a teacher trying to say the Lord's Prayer in class today?

"She was a very dear lady who rarely got flustered."

Marilyn Gour Kelly and Scott Moore recall playing marbles during third grade recess, with the cat's eyes, clearies, puries, and boulder marbles.

Marilyn also remembers playing with a ball that belonged to Donna Bitzer and having it land on the school roof and not being able to retrieve it.

Susan Circosta Mancinone remembers in third grade "the boys chasing us girls around on the playground at Mapleshade and trying to pull up our dresses and skirts." Diane LaFave (Cirignano) recalls, "This went on for many recesses until the teachers put a stop to it."

Bruce Moore remembers an incident in Mrs. Ravosa's third grade class: "During the school year everyone in the class got recorders, which were plastic musical flutes. We learned a few songs, so Mrs. Ravosa thought it would be a good idea to invite the fifth grade class next door to hear us. They all came in the room and spread out around the perimeter. I was in the front left row, so older students were all around and very near. Somehow, (I'm not at all musical) I hadn't mastered the songs, so I pretended to play the songs. No one seemed to notice, and the reason I probably have the memory is the potential was there to have a really embarrassing moment if someone actually heard my scratchy playing."

Fourth Grade

Scott Moore remembers his fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Stanley's favorite phrase: "stick-to-it-iveness."

Bruce Moore has several memories from fifth grade, where he was in Mr. Jackson's class: 

"When Valentine's Day was approaching, everyone in the class gave one another a card. I gave a romantic one to Susan Circosta (puppy love for me) and signed it "from a boy." During the class party when all the cards were handed out she got it, and went around to all the boys to see who sent it. I denied it and suggested it might be from Ted Harper. Well, Susan, I'm now fessing up that I did send you that card.

"The whole class was lined up outside waiting to go in when Butch Garrett grabbed my Ludwig Von Drake lunchbox and broke the handle. I punched him in the stomach. We were immediately sent to the principal's office for fighting. Asked to tell my side, I remember crying, as this was traumatic (going to see the principal) at the time. When Butch told his side I was astounded at how calm he was (not knowing he'd been in this situation a few times before). We shook hands and became friends. He was new to our school and became popular.

"A lot of students played marbles at Mapleshade. Mostly we made a hole in the grass just where the blacktop ended. You decided before each game how many marbles you each would risk, usually the smaller ones. One day I came to school with a couple of pure boulders (usually they were cat's eyes). Bob "Albert" Price talked me into a game using one of them. He had a favorite pot near the school in the blacktop. I ended up losing one of them. I stressed over that for a long time as they were hard to get. I still have the other one.

"David Sand and I had a pencil lead collection in each of our desks. The goal was to get the largest piece possible. We destroyed dozens of pencils, mostly by hand, doing this, and weren't able to get a real good one. One day, in Bill Scheumann's backyard, in an old leaf pile, there was a whole green pencil. Being there a long time, it had decayed to the point where the two sections separated. There, inside, was a whole unbroken piece of lead. This was the biggest one we ever got. Mr Jackson discovered what we were doing two thirds of the way through the school year, and made us dump our hundreds of pieces out. We tried again to get another collection started but it wasn't as good as before. Leslie Bergeron should remember this."