Newtown Students Celebrate 100th Day Of School

By Laurie Borst

Newtown’s four elementary schools celebrated their 100th day on Friday, February 2. Each school had a variety of activities planned.

Students at Middle Gate School passed through a gigantic “100” cutout on their way to their classes that morning. All of the students were invited to stop by the Science Room before classes started to see the “Collections of 100” assembled by the youngsters in kindergarten through fourth grade. More than 375 different collections were on display.

A tape made by student Kyle Watkins played in the background. Kyle played the melody of “100 Years” by Five for Fighting on the piano.

A variety of collections were presented. One hundred candies, pennies, Legos, and pinecones were stuck to poster board.

Another student used 100 nails, with rubber bands connecting them, to spell out “Middle Gate.” A list of 100 Women in History was accompanied by a binder with short biographies of each one. Balls of rubber bands were created by several students.

A scroll with 100 endangered animals hung on the wall near a poster of 100 cats and kittens available for adoption at the Animal Center.

Patrick Berger, from Linda Baron’s fourth grade class, showed 100 places he had visited in North America by identifying them on a large map.

Fourth grader Jacob Nezvesky and first grader Liam Jones gave their collections an altruistic spin. Liam brought 100 quarters to be donated to the school. Jacob had bags of dog bones with a note directing the school to donate the biscuits to the dog pound after the celebration.

“We have two dogs and lots of treats for them,” Jacob explained. “We bought this variety pack but the dogs didn’t like them. I didn’t want them to go to waste.”

Head O’ Meadow school had many lessons based on the number 100. Carol Howard’s kindergarten created 100 penguins, which adorned the wall. Gail Diminico’s kindergartners goal was to collect 100 cans of food (114 were brought in), which were donated to a local food pantry.

At Sandy Hook School, the first graders made paper bag vests with stickers or pictures of 100 items. The children paraded around the school in their vests. Many classes had a snack that day consisting of 100 items.

Hawley School teachers also based lessons around the theme for the day. The counting of school days shows students other ways to work with the calendar. The number 100 is the basis for place value and place holder lessons.

Some students mentioned that they were more than half way through the school year on the 100th day.