What were you doing in third grade?

Mike was among the denizens of Dartmouth Elementary School in Aurora dutifully learning multiplication tables and sentence diagramming, while longing to play outside with his friends and wondering when the next class party at the roller rink might be.

Erin was living in a double-wide trailer in a field north of Fruita, riding the bus to Shelledy Elementary School, reading her way through the Little House on the Prairie books and begging her parents...