Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer and the start of the back-to-school season. Each year approximately 78 million of child leave their beach buckets and lazy summer days behind and head back to school. Check out these fun back-to-school facts for kids.
School History
Did you know that not everyone was allowed to go to school? It’s true! Not until the late 1800s was school opened to all children in the United States. Prior to that only wealthy children got to attend school.
What do Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, Samuel Adams and William Hopper have in common? They all signed The Declaration of Independence and attended Boston’s Latin School. Boston’s Latin School is the United States oldest public school. It opened on April 23, 1635.
Can you image a time where teenagers didn’t go to school? High school didn’t exist until the 1930’s! High school started during the Great Depression. Due to lack of jobs it was decided to keeps teenagers in school and out of the workforce so more adults with families can get a job.
Teachers
Teaching is one of the most important jobs and it isn’t an easy one. Teachers are the ones who set children up for success. Teachers help children learn to read, write, add and subtract the list goes on and on. There are about 3.7 million teachers in the United States. Teachers attend college for four years and earn a bachelors degree in education and a teaching certificate. In most areas teachers are then required to attend two years of graduate school to earn their masters degree. Some teachers will continue to attend school for another 2 years and earn a doctorate degree.
Some people believe that teachers have an easy schedule, working only 6 hours a day. This isn’t true at all. Most teachers work 10 hour days. They do everything in the classroom with the children then go home and contact parents, make lesson plans, grade papers, and purchase supplies needed for the classroom.
School Bus
In the U.S approximately 480,000 school buses bring children back and forth to school each day. School buses are yellow because yellow attracts more attention than any other color. They are meant to stand out so that other drivers notice them. School buses have a red stop sign that comes out when they stop. This is to remind cars to stop and wait for children to safely cross the street. It is very important for children to stay seated on the bus and not to distract the bus driver. Bus drivers have a very important job, they keep the children safe while transporting them to school.
Crayons
In 1903 Crayola started making crayons. They originally only came in 8 colors: blue, black, brown, green, orange, red, violet and yellow. Now Crayola makes 120 different colors! In 1962 Crayola changed the color flesh to peach. The change happened to recognize that skin tone comes in a variety of colors. By the time a child turns 10 years old it is believed that they have worn down 730 crayons!
Pencils
The word pencil may have come from the Latin word penicilius meaning little tail. Worldwide more than 14 billion pencils are made every year. On average a single pencil can be sharpened 17 times and write 45,000 words! Pencils can write in space with zero gravity, under water and upside down. It is believed that a single pencil can draw a line 35 miles long. Pencils have the ability to write with a mixture made out of clay and graphite.
The eraser was added to the pencil in 1858. Before erasers it was common for people to erase pencil using crumbs from white bread. Teachers originally did not want pencils to have erasers because it was believed it would encourage children to make mistakes.
Fun Back to School Facts for Kids
In the 1300’s a pencil was originally a fine paintbrush made of fine animal hair.
The tradition of giving apples to teachers originates from 16th century Denmark. Parents would pay the teachers with food because teachers didn’t’ earn much money.
2.4% of children worldwide suffer from Didaskaleinophobia which is the fear of going to school.
