School days

Slate and chalk

The little slate was a small blackboard in a wooden frame, about the size of an exercise book, used for practising writing. A child sat up straight, wrote the letter “a” in white chalk and held it up for the teacher. If she nodded you wiped it clean and carried on; if she shook her head, you wrote it again.

By the end of the lesson every kid had chalk dust on their sleeves and even the tip of their nose. A slate could be wiped clean, wasting no paper or ink, so it suited the very first classrooms. Many people still remember the squeak of chalk as they wrote, a sound both ticklish and endearing.

Do you remember? What was the first letter you practised on a slate?

💬 Everyone's memories

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