# How many of your first grade classmates can you name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 9, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694 "2006-02-09T16:34:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/21 "2006-02-09T17:38:11Z")
I have a picture of my second grade; I can name just about all of them after over 40 years. Without the picture, I could probably name at least half off the top of my head. Of course, we were in a small school and I graduated with nearly all of them, too. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/22 "2006-02-09T17:41:33Z")
I don’t remember a single person from before Grade 6. I could already read and write when I got to kindergarten, which was a crisis for the school board. So after Grade 2, they moved me to the school across town (where I didn’t know anybody), where I took grades 3, 4 & 5 in two years, then I went back to the other school for grades 6-8. By then, I was a grade ahead of the people I hadn’t seen in two years, and a year (or two) younger than the rest of the people in my current grade. So I don’t have any memories (or pictures) of anybody from Grade 1, and that was 42 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/23 "2006-02-09T17:51:10Z")
Eek, at first I thought none, but after some hard thought, I came up with two. First names only – Joel, because he sat next to me, and Vicky, because she was the only girl in class who carried a little pocketbook to school every day, which I thought was very classy. > [@eleanorigby](#): > > Of all the kids I went to school with, it is the elementary school ones that I remember most vividly. Along these lines, if the OP had asked for second grade, I could name almost all of them (first and last names). I think this is because I switched schools between 1st and 2nd grade, so the 2nd grade kids stayed with me throughout the rest of school. Our school district had a large regional high school, and several small elementary schools. At my most recent high school reunion, I realized that the people I remembered the best were the ones that had been at my elementary school as well. With the elementary school people, I could still remember the names of their siblings, where their parents worked, what kind of dog they had, etc etc. This was the case regardless of how friendly or close we were in high school ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/24 "2006-02-09T18:04:44Z")
Almost all of them. Same for grades 2-6. I know because prior to last year’s reunion, the person who coordinates the reunions asked for identifications of people from elementary school. I don’t go to reunions, but I got in on it because my class photos were lost years ago, and this gave me a chance to get a new set. Maybe 60% of the people were no big deal, as I was in several classes with them. But there were quite a few one-year people that I remembered. And it’s been 50 years. Just don’t ask me one thing I did yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/25 "2006-02-09T18:04:45Z")
Bento, Peiran, Ivana, Waseela, Alen, Eva, Aung Zaw, Queenie (actually, I think she was from another class), Eric, Jubilee, Busabacone, Patricia, Zoran, Anna, Ruslan, Alice. Yeah, we were an ESL class. Digging up my old photo album, I see that I missed 8. Two thirds ain’t bad. Peiran is the only one I still have regular contact with, and that’s because we’re family friends. Oh, and I somehow ended up at the same school as Eva despite me changing schools twice before moving to freaking CANADA and back. That was weird. Oh yeah, we had a pair of Russian twins in the class with the last name of Baker. That’s not very Russian, is it? :? ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/26 "2006-02-09T18:06:33Z")
None of 'em. I was in first grade in 1972. I think. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/27 "2006-02-09T18:21:12Z")
I started right out with four and worked my way up to ten. Which would be about half. I’m pretty sure they were all in my class; I know they were all in my grade. It helps that it was a small town and we all went to the same school pretty much through high school. The kid I had a crush on The kid who cried The kid who took her shoes off The kid with my name The kid who turned into my best friend The kid who picked up thumb tacks with his arm The kid who shared my birthday and later got left back And a couple others That was 1961. Oh, my! ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/28 "2006-02-09T18:26:10Z")
None. I was only in first grade for one week… and the year after that, I moved away. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/29 "2006-02-09T19:36:57Z")
Probably just the 4 guys I was close friends with and a couple kids in the neightborhood who went to different schools. In third grade I moved but I can probably name a good portion of those people since I went to school with them pretty much up into high school. Here’s something odd though. I was supposed to meet my parents and a family we were friends with. So I’m waiting for them in Rockefeller Center in NYC and somehow their son whose about my age (30s) who I haven’t seen first grade somehow recognizes me. (my parents weren’t there yet so it wasn’t like they pointed me out). ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/30 "2006-02-09T20:06:18Z")
I was in 1st grade in 1964. I can remember 75% of their first and last names since we stayed together through 8th grade and some went to H.S. with me too. Please skip next section - I’m naming names for my own pleasure. Mark Clement Shirley Taylor Joanne Annette Terrence Robertson David Miller (nose picker) Radamez Acevedo Susan Morris Sheilah Walthall Dorothy Wallace Michael Adams Neal Brady Gregory Ena Sherman Jennifer Morris Karen LeMelle Felicienne LeMelle Adrian Nurse Miguel (Mikey) Suarez Charles Segure Earl (the Pearl)\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Kenneth ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/31 "2006-02-09T20:28:36Z")
All of 'em. I’m from a [del]small[/del] \*tiny \* town. Graduated with most of them, except a couple that fell behind. Only two moved away, but I still remember their names. We gained a few more later, to make my graduating class a whopping 85 people. ---
**Author:** ![Fringe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5a626/32.png) [@Fringe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fringe)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/32 "2006-02-09T20:46:24Z")
I can name every single one of them. However, it was a small class, and I went to school with most of them until high school graduation, and I’m 21. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/33 "2006-02-09T20:47:30Z")
I remember eight of the twelve kids I went to kindergarten with in 1976, inlcuding my first girlfriend and best childhood buddy; only about three in first grade, when I moved to Michigan. But I moved a lot. Eleven schools in four states in thirteen years. Looking back now, I have a hell of a time remembering what grade and city I was in at a particular age. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/34 "2006-02-09T21:03:16Z")
Two - Jessica and Aaron. We worked together (along with another kid I can’t remember) on a group project about Panama. We made a Panamanian flag and got to wear Panama hats. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/35 "2006-02-09T21:15:00Z")
None of them. As a matter of fact - I can’t recall much of anything. I remember one kids name, because he & I had the same first name and I accidentally got his paper back from the teacher one day. I don’t remember _him_ at all - just the name. I remember the time I spilled red paint in the yellow & made orange. I vaguely remember a demonstration of centrifugal force involving a bucket of water. And that’s pretty much it. What a waste my childhood was…I can’t remember it ☹ ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/36 "2006-02-09T21:20:19Z")
My family moved in the middle of first grade, so I have two sets of classmates to try to remember. Sept-Dec 1973, Syracuse, New York: 0% Jan-June 1974, Bourneville, Ohio: ~25% I do remember both teachers’ names (Mrs. Whitelaw and Mrs. Cushing). I also remember chasing girls on the playground and, when I caught them, looking down their shirts. Catching them became mysteriously easier as recess wore on. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/37 "2006-02-09T21:29:59Z")
All of 'em. Except Wendy, who moved away during the school year. I don’t remember her last name. ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/38 "2006-02-09T21:52:52Z")
Well, there was the guy I had a crush on (Greg), the two Emilys and the two Nicoles, my cousin David, the Jewish guy who told us crazy story about this weird holiday like Christmas, but with no Santa and no presents and some candles or something, which just BLEW OUR MINDS (Steven), the girl who dressed like a boy and we all thought was a boy, for awhile (Anna), and the twins who didn’t look alike (Amanda and Leah). So really I only remember the people that kinda confused my young mind (no Christmas? Twins who look different?), and my cousin, cuz I knew him. This was about 17 or 18 years ago, so I guess I should remember more. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/39 "2006-02-09T22:32:13Z")
First grade would have been… 1982, I guess. I went to the same school from first through eighth grade, so some of the kids I remember from later years might have been in that first class, but the only one I definetly remember was Vijay Palmiswami. And the only reason I remember his name is because his name was Vijay Palmiswami. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694/40 "2006-02-09T22:45:44Z")
Greenbelt Elementary, Greenbelt, Maryland. 1981, I think. I can remember the teacher’s name; it was Mrs. Fields. But I can only remember three of my classmates: 1. Jean Davis, first girl I ever kissed. Blonde hair, blue eyes. 2. Bjorn Johnson, who was my best friend back then. We exchanged a few letters after I moved to Idaho. 3. Alex Colman, also a good friend. And that’s it. Damn. I ended up skipping third grade a couple of years later and then moving away after fourth grade, so I never kept in touch with anyone (except for Bjorn, as noted). Wonder what happened to 'em. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-your-first-grade-classmates-can-you-name/343694.md?page=3)