Inspired by my own thread: Do they still make/use filmstrips in school?

[grinningghost]

Remember filmstrips? Do they even still exist anywhere? You used to turn the knob to the next frame when the little "dinger" went off? I think I fell asleep during these more than once.

 

[FOJMO]

According to your profile, I'm 13 years older than you and I don't know what you're referring to??

Never heard of them, much less had them in school. Anyone else???

 

[grinningghost]

Oh wow. Don't tell me this was a regional thing? They were actually strips of film, that frame by frame told some type of story, or explained something educational. They were put in a special filmstrip projector that you operated manually, by turning a knob to advance to the next frame. They were usually accompanied by a tape or record that provided the audio. And when it was time for you to move to the next frame, a little "dinger" sounded.

They were great for two things. Not having to listen to the teacher talk and naps.

 

[caitycaity]

i'm going to be 25 in november and we had those in my elementary school in upstate ny.

 

[sandramaac]

Omg, filmstrips had not thought about them in years---right up the with mimograph paper (everyone take a deep breath now). Do you remember the SRA reading system where you went to the card box and picked out a certain colored story based on your reading level.

And hey I remember Dick and Jane too, and Spot and my favorite Puff. And way back in kindergarten (I was born in 1962), I do remember doing air raid drills, where we went under our desks, or in the bomb shelter of the school. But I only remember doing that in kindergartenm it stopped after that.

Anyone remember getting their vaccinations in school, and then the oral polio lozenger. Remember the litle mark the vaccination use to leave on certain people arms.

 

[mouseclick1]

I remember filmstrips as a kid, and I remember using them once when I was student teaching in '88. Haven't used or even seen them since then! I should look around my school and see if I can find any old ones. I'll bet they have all been pitched by now.

 

[daannzzz]

There was a specialfilmstrip projector for them and you had to turn the film one frame at a time, by hand. Wow. I hadn't thought about the SRA for a very lond time. I think they had that when I was in second or third grade, back in 1963!!!

 

[stevenpensacola]

I remember the old gray colored film strip projectors which were shaped kind of like a 1940's dodge sedan. We then "progressed"
to the black and green bell and howell projector.

Remember when watching an actual movie, when the film
would jump off one of the little sprockets and the picture would jump and the sssooouuunnnddd would be stuttered. This would
require one of the nerd students bestowed with the honor of being on the AV (audio-visual) team to rethread the film.

I had a teacher who used to let us watch some of the shorter filmstrips in reverse.....hilarious.

Anyone remember "Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land"?
or how about "Bartleby the Scrivener" ....at this moment I would prefer not to....

I also remember using this device in which you would insert this large round piece of paper. There were little windows in the device in which you would read a question, and another window in which you'd write the answer.

On occasion, we'd get to watch "The Electric Company" in black and white on the TV mounted on top of the huge roll-around cart.

Anyone ever have a music teacher who used an "auto-harp"?
What an annoying instrument.

 

[grinningghost]

I sure am glad I'm not the only one who remembers filmstrips! I remember they had them in the library and kept them in a special file cabinet. There they would be, hundreds of little film containers (looked like what 35 mm film comes in now) - with a little label on the cap that said what the title was.

I really am showing my age!

 

[caitycaity]

Anyone ever have a music teacher who used an "auto-harp"?

OMG YES!!! my elementary school music teacher did!

jeez, i feel like i grew up in a time-warp or something. i'm only 24 and i am relating to all these things. i guess it's not a wonder that my favorite band is the beatles.

 

[Disney Ella]

We had filmstrips and the SRA reading system, but the cruelest thing of all was those handwriting awards. Don't know if your schools had them. We would have to make an oval and trace around and around it and then write the alphabet. The teacher would send the handwriting samples into some company and the kids with the best handwriting would get certificates! With gold seals on them! I really, really wanted one of those certificates, but those mean people at the company didn't love my lefthanded, backhanded writing. The terrible emotional trauma of not winning an award must be why I am not a nuclear physicist or wealthy stockbrocker.

 

[sap1227]

I am 25 and I remember most of these things as well. We did not have air raid drills or vaccinations in school, other than that we had all this stuff

Christy

 

[Kteacher]

we watched a filmstrip today- "My Brother is a Pumpkin"

 

[Jhondy(210)]

in my high school we still have film strips. i swear the film strip wants to just break because the picture is soo fuzzy! my favorite isn't the film strips but the film strips put onto a vhs. most the time they still have the beeps in them. its soo pathetic.

 

[stevenpensacola]

What about those "portable" record players they had at school that were the size of a suitcase?

We also did some sort of reading program where we wore these really cheap headphones. There were probably 5 or 6 of these headphones plugged into a central box. The headphones were white, with different colored earpads. They were so cheap it was almost as if the headphone wires were really just a piece of tubing transmitting the sound to the headphone "cup".

Do you remember how to use the Dewey Decimal System?

 

[GeorgeG]

Yup! The film strips, the teacher with the autoharp, the mimiograph...

Not long ago I had to explain what a 45 RPM record was to my sister-in-law.

I wonder if kids still get a new pencil box every September... I guess it's a new laptop these days.

 

[grinningghost]

Kteacher - how cool - a pumpkin filmstrip! I guess the old days aren't totally over yet. And I bet your kids didn't fall asleep either - the pumpkin story sounds way more interesting than some of the boring filmstrips I had to watch.

 

[Mimi Q]

I hadn't thought about filmstrips in years. We used to get so excited when the teacher would show the class one.

 

[disneyangel7488]

I remember using the filmstrips in kindergarden. I remember us having to watch one on fire safety, and others, too. But, the year after I was in kindergarden, the school got rid of the film strips and replaced them with TVs and VCRs.