You Guys talking about your old country school makes me remember my school days in District #79 in Chippewa Co.  It was located in the same quarter section as the farm we lived on, so I could go cross country in the spring and fall...In the winter our neighbor to the north would take us by horse and bobsled with us kids wrapped in horse hair blankets lined with flannel.  It was very fancy to ride like that.  
We also had games we played and "work-up" was the way we played softball.  We had a fat teacher and someone hit a grounder and it hit and bounced up and caught up between her legs and didn't come down again.  She never played ball with us anymore; too busy doing paperwork I guess.
We used to have a game called Prisoner's base.  There was a line drawn across an area and somehow or another if you were touched by an opponent across the line you had to go to a jail and could only be rescued by some daring fool coming across the line to the jail.  There was safety there for him and you could both run back across the line if you were not tagged.  This went on for days and everyone resumed their positions when a new recess or noon hour started..
I do also remember the Christmas productions.  We practiced plays and made a stage with curtains that could be drawn and withdrawn.  Family members of all kids attended this Christmas function and the lighting in the school was by kerosene lamps with reflectors.  There was also a gift exchange, I believe, by a drawing of names and the school board furnished popcorn and peanuts.  Probably broke the budget in the 30's.  
We also had industrial arts where we sawed all sorts of things with coping saws and dipped old mustard jars into oil paint floated on water.
Then there was the thing called the peanut shower for the teacher.  Everybody zinged the teacher with individual peanuts until she turned around and then we just sort of shook our bags of unshelled peanuts at her and that was the end of school for that day..
We didn't have anything as hi-tech as Gene talked about. Magnifying glasses oi vey these people are used to luxury.
The person on whose farm the school house stood thought ahead and said that whenever the school house ceased to be use for school purposes it would revert to the landowner and so when consolidation came about the building was brought to our farm site and made into a granary (with maple floors even).  This was a Fanberg that wrote those rules.  Grand father of your mother Jim.  

By the way there was an article in the Kerkhoven Banner of 50 years ago about the birthday of A. P. Bergstrand and it said that "little Jimmy Rodi sang Happy Birthday Grandpa".  I meant to scan it and send it to you James but I don't see that paper around here now.  Alice loves to keep current on throwing things out having seen what can happen in other places.  We are lucky to see yesterday's paper  around here. Can't really fault her..
Buddy - June 1999