Students celebrate 100th day of school
With more than half the school year over – and summer vacation a mere hop, skip and a jump away – area students celebrated the 100th day of school with a variety of activities.
From dressing like 100-year-olds to learning about life 100 years ago, students immersed themselves in the spirit of the day.
“It’s just a day to put down the grind and pick up that little bit of fun that can really go a long way, said Nicole Bockstoce, K-2 principal at Washington Park Primary School. “It’s a day that everybody can chill out a little bit.
“One hundred days of learning for a child is a lot. That’s a big number for a kiddo. Just to celebrate that and bring everybody together can be more powerful than what we do everyday.”
The 100th day activity dates to 1979, when Lynn Taylor, a teacher in Livermore, Calif., decided to underscore what 100 actually meant for her students, so she made the point through emphasizing the 100th day of the school year.
Kindergartners at Washington Park were treated to a visit from representatives of The Bradford House Museum.
“The Bradford House ran several different stations that our kindergarteners rotated through,” said Nicole Bockstoce, K-2 principal. “It kind of represented how things were done 100 years ago, which was really neat. They churned butter and played with old toys. They talked about why we build roads, wrote on chalkboard plates, talked about fashion in colonial times and listened to a story. It was a nice little event for our kindergartners to take part in.”
At Grace Academy in Carmichaels, students marked the day by dressing up as centenarians.
“We are past the halfway mark of the year,” said Beckie Cannon, principal of Grace Academy. “There’s 80 days left, so it’s just a fun way to celebrate. It usually happens at the beginning of February, end of January, and at that point the students are ready for something fun.
“We had lots of little old people running around, which was so fun,” Cannon said.
Students at Marshall Elementary School in the Laurel Highlands School District engaged in a similar way.
“The kids had the option to wear the 100th day of school shirt they created or they were able to dress like they were 100 years old,” said Dr. Jessica Scott, principal.
Marshall also celebrates the school’s 101st day of the year with a 101 Dalmatians theme and the 1,000th day of school for the fifth-graders.
Many schools, such as Trinity East Elementary, base their lessons on the number 100 for the day, where students participated in various activities ranging from math problems to art projects to writing stories about what it would be like to be 100 years old.
“The kids either dressed like they were 100 years old, or they wore 100 of something. They had a lot of fun,” said principal Courtney LeViere.
Kindergarten mini-sleuths at Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School celebrated Detective Day, working to solve the case of the missing pencil sharpener. Each student was given a “Top Secret Folder,” which led them on five 100-day missions to eliminate suspects and find the culprit.
“Our detectives completed their missions and cracked the case,” said Sue Ann Headley, kindergarten teacher.
At Ringgold North Elementary Center, Glow Week highlighted the milestone celebration, and included a special assembly to celebrate the school’s 100th day.
“We’re saying our students are 100 days brighter,” said Ross Ference, principal.
The week is dedicated to celebrating teachers of subjects such as art, physical education and music.
“The students go through a whole rotation of themes and this year, it was dinosaurs,” Ference said. “With the dinosaur theme, they work with iridescent paint so things glow in the dark. The students really love it when the lights go out and things are glowing.”
Charleroi Elementary Center students were given the option to dress as superheroes.
“We’re all going to be decked out as superheroes to defend our school on the 100th day,” principal Adam Brewer said in the lead-up to the day.