In your one-room 19th-century schoolhouse, all the grades from one through nine or ten share the same teacher and the same room, so you have to learn to concentrate, because another class is usually up reciting their lessons to the teacher. Your teacher sets you a lesson to learn - so many pages of geography or history to memorize, so many sums to work out in arithmetic, so many words to learn to spell, a certain length of composition (writing). When your class is called, you go to the front, stand before the teacher, and answer the questions in turn. If you answer the most questions correctly, you're "head of the class." Reading, writing and arithmetic are the main subjects, but you aren't taught to "discover" or "question" unless your teacher is exceptionally good (or original). Instead, you learn by "rote," or by memorizing. You also take geography, history, grammar, agriculture, and other subjects. If you're thirteen and old enough to study for the "entrance" exam to high school, you might have to stay after school to study extra subjects like algebra, Latin and French.

The teacher's so busy that the older students often help the younger ones by hearing them read or spell. It's an honour to be chosen. Students didn't have to be the same age to be in the same grade or even in the same subject. They progressed through a set of readers, and depending on their abilities, were placed with other children with the same abilities. You didn't necessarily get promoted to the next grade at the end of the year, either. If you did well, you would just move up to the next class or the next reader at any time during the school year.

If you're done your lessons (or don't feel like doing them), you can get up to mischief. You might draw pictures on your slate or talk to your seatmate or try (as one of Anne's classmates did) driving a team of crickets up the aisle. A good teacher will notice and might keep you in after school - or give you the strap.