St. Christine kindergartners celebrate 100 days
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Kindergarten teacher Maria Gentile (right) completed a math lesson on the differences between the size and weight of collections of 100 items during the 100th day of school celebration in her classroom on Feb. 7. Students Christian Morrison (left), Alyssa Ray, and Arianna Wendt helped out by showing off their collections.
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Kindergarten teacher Amy Savich (left) celebrated 100 days of school with her students by completing reading and math exercises. Students Carter Simons (left), Gabe Saunders, and Casey McNally showed off collections of 100 things they brought to school for a math lesson on Feb. 7.
By SARAH FOOR
When the kindergartners at St. Christine’s began school in early September, teachers Maria Gentile and Amy Savich said their students were shy and scared to start tackling new subjects.
Only 100 days later, on Feb. 7, the teachers say the students have matured and grown into great little learners.
Since that first day, Savich has kept count of school days with a row of 100 stars that has spanned two and a half walls.
“I pointed out my count and I remember my students telling me that we would never make it to 100 days, but here we are. It’s been great to see my students become so independent during that time. Now that we’re at 100 days, I like to tell the kids that they’re closer to being first-graders than they are to the beginning of kindergarten,” Savich said.
The class enjoyed their 100th day with games, stories, and themed lessons around the happy number. The students listed 100 words they knew and counted to 100 by multiples and then one at a time. The kindergartners brought in collections of 100 things to show to their classmates.
Similar fun happened in Gentile’s classroom, where the teacher used the 100 collections to teach her students about the differences between the size and weight of the items in the bags. She taught her students to use math words like more, less, heavier and lighter to describe the differences between a bag of 100 pop tabs and 100 marbles.
Gentile spent her morning showing her students some of the work they did their first day of school.
“They love to compare how they were at the beginning as much as we do. Their handwriting is so much better now that some are denying the work is even theirs,” Gentile said.