Among my mother's belongings, we found a deck of vocabulary cards that I had apparently created in the fifth and sixth grades. These are so-called "3 x 5 cards", 3 inches high by 5 inches wide (76 mm x 127 mm). This is a standard "index card" size in the United States, although in this computerized age, cards like this are used less and less.

On each card, I wrote a vocabulary word on the top line, broken into syllables. Many of the words also have diacritical marks to specify the pronunciation of the vowels. This is followed by a definition, and then a sample sentence containing the word.

I then added on each card an illustration to go with the sample sentence. I can't recall if this was something that everyone had to do, or if I just decided to do it on my own. I recall that I had taken an after-school course given by a local cartoonist. If you flip through the 21 cards contained in this entry, I think you'll find that the drawings betray my scientific and technical orientation, even at the age of 11. ^Note 1 

My teacher in the sixth grade was Mrs. Attanas. I think my handwriting leaves something to be desired, but then these days, cursive writing is on its way out anyway.

The images below show the title card, and one card in the deck (for the word "amount"). I've scanned 20 additional cards. You can flip through them in alphabetical order by starting with the link just under the below images, or you can jump directly to any particular word using the index, also below.

Note 1:   The title card of the deck shows "Mrs. Attanas' class", which was the sixth grade. This is confirmed by dates late in 1952 and early in 1953 written on the cards (I turned 11 on January 11, 1953). Since the dates are mostly in red, I think they were written in by the teacher, not by me. We were probably required to hand in new cards, perhaps a certain number each week. I don't know why some of the cards have two dates on them, as if they were handed in twice.   [return to text]