Fifth grade

A lot happened then. I finally got my first wooden shoes from Holland. I made sure I wore them for at least a day. They made a lot of noise on the marble floor. My class was on the second story.
I was fortunate enough to have Ms. Becerra, who drove an older Mercedes Benz to work. She was a sweetheart. How could she ever put up with me. She taught us Spanish, although not on the curriculum. I loved it. I always got in trouble because I had the last word in everything. I was naughty and found way to get out of it. Just don't show up. She would have a spelling Bee, which I won. We had to spell accommodation as the final word. We played musical instruments. I figured out how to play the zither and led the class. I loved it. I copied the article from the store-bought encyclopedia. The topic was sea amonities. Whatever. I won. Probably no one else put in their chance to win. The price...Get to lead the =school to the Pledge of Allegiance for a week. The flagpole was outside. To me, it was a big deal, at the time. I wouldn't be caught dead today.
I was in a quite advanced fifth grade. A few of us were sent to GATE classes sometime. Among others were Rita Hovakimimian, (my best frend, Irving Lee (who I had a crush on, and Stanley, whose father was a Captain in SFFD. It was a great year, especially compared to the year before.