Some of the best days of my youth were spent inside the classrooms of Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School. Thanks for the memories, JMES.

1. Big Bertha

Mr. Headlee always had the coolest gym class activities planned for us. He was seemingly able to train a hula hoop, taught us how to make an igloo out of a parachute and had the most intense obstacle course. But nothing compared to the excitement of seeing Big Bertha out of the equipment room. Sadly, I heard she popped a few years back. R.I.P Big Bertha.

2. Substitutes

Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved all my elementary teachers, but you could always rely on a substitute teacher to mix it up for the day. I would assume I wasn’t the only one pumped to see Mr. Flynn and hear his word of the day during a teacher’s absence.

3. Colored iMac G3s

Before the sleek and slim computers that can now be found in the elementary school's computer lab, there were iMac G3s. These beautiful pieces of technology were frequently fought over for their different colors. Eventually, teachers figured out that assigning computers instead of having a classroom full of little kids fighting over them was the safe choice.

4. Mr. Hopton's Art Cart

There is a good chance if you went to Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School, your mom still has quite a few of your art projects displayed throughout the house. On days where we weren't creating masterpieces, we had free reign of the glorious art cart. Buckets of Mr. Sketch markers, stencils, crazy scissors. You name it, it was all on the art cart.

5. Half-day kindergarten

I am not quite sure when kindergarten started being a full day, but I remember kindergarten at JMES only being half a day. You were either a morning kid or an afternoon kid. The best part about this was making new friends in first grade because they weren't in your half of the day.

6. Haywood Bucks

Mr. Haywood is a JMES legend. For those lucky enough to have him as a teacher before his retirement, you know the immense value a Haywood buck carried. Plus, he photo-shopped himself on to a one hundred dollar bill. How awesome is that?

7. Field trips

I am still a bit salty about not getting to see the Nutcracker ballet in first grade on an account of bad weather, but I guess other trips made up for it. The Pittsburgh Zoo, Meadowcroft and Laurel Caverns are just a few places I have fond memories of.

8. Mrs. Perri and her reading chair

You knew some good story telling was about to go down when Mrs. Perri grabbed a book and told everyone to go sit down in front of her chair. She was hands down the best story teller in the world.

9. Scholastic book orders and book fairs

As soon as the teacher passed out the book order sheet, I circled every book that caught my eye and later that night went home to bug my mom for money.

10. Mrs. Mancini's magic fuzzies

I hope I am not the only one who remembers Principal Mancini and her fuzzies. She would give them out for good grades and exceptional behavior. Word is they would even grow.

11. Mrs. Barger's Phrases

We lived for Mrs. Barger telling us something we made in computer class was "cool beans," or if you were having a bad day, you could always count on her to tell you "turn that frown upside down."

12. Play Day

An entire day full of games, obstacle courses and prizes? Sounds like the perfect way to end the school year. Play Day was an elementary kid's dream and luckily when we got older we could participate in track and field day.

13. The playground

Many recesses were spent running around with friends on the primary colored playground behind the elementary school. It is sad to think it was not always there, but, luckily for my class, it was a brand spanking new addition that came along with the 2001 renovations.

14. When the school gave us PlayStations

I am not quite sure how this was made possible (I'm assuming a grant), but in the first grade everyone was given a PlayStation to take home for the year. We even got educational games to go along with it too. Needless to say, I spent most of my time playing a PS1 Rocket Power game on it.

15. Mrs. Gurtiza's introduction to every music class ever

Mrs. Gurtiza singing: "Good morning 2-C"

Classroom full of kids shouting/singing: "GOOD MORNING MRS. GURTIZA"

Good times.

So who is to say youth is wasted on the young? Because of Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School, our childhood was that much better and memorable.