From bottom, clockwise, Peggy Heller leadership students Liesl Schwartz (7th grade), Melanie Martinez (7th grade), Lauren Melander (8th grade), Emma Flores (8th grade), Amara Rhodes (8th grade) collected food items from classes across the school to celebrate the 100th day of school.
From left, Merced County Food Bank Driver Terrance Storey picks up food items collected by Peggy Heller leadership students Emma Flores (8th grade), Amara Rhodes (8th grade), Liesl Schwartz (7th grade), Melanie Martinez (7th grade), Lauren Melander (8th grade). The students celebrated the 100th day of school by giving back to the community.
Carrie O’Bara, a Transitional Kindergarten teacher at Peggy Heller School in Atwater, created a fun and educational celebration of the 100th day of the school year for her 19 students, which they enjoyed on Jan. 25.
The 100th day of school is an exciting time for elementary students. It is an opportunity to reflect upon significant milestones in students’ academic accomplishments, and is a great way for elementary school teachers to celebrate the various mathematical concepts that can be taught using the number 100.
O’Bara told the Times, “We count each day of school and celebrate when we get to 100. We introduce the number 100 in a way that makes sense to them, although it is not a TK standard.”
Jan. 25 was the 100th day of school. TK students practiced doing various activities with 100 — using 100 cups to build, painting 100 dots, making a necklace with 100 beads, counting 100 pebbles, making 10 stacks of 10 Unifix cubes totaling 100.
The students made and wore blue “Thing One hats” with 100 sequins. It was fun pretending to be Thing One, a mischievous character from Dr. Seuss’ famous book, “The Cat in the Hat”.
The children also collected 100 cans of food for the Merced County Food Bank and built a structure with them.
Inspired by Peggy Heller’s leadership class, the food drive was another way for all students on campus to celebrate the 100th day by giving back to the community.
“The whole school was amazing with their participation. Many of the classes were able to get to 100 or very close to it and the transitional kindergarten class even built a tower as they collected their cans,” said Peggy Heller Associated Student Body Leadership Advisor Liz Schwartz. “Every day I was stopped in the hallway by students telling me how many cans they brought in.”
The schoolwide fundraiser collected more than 1,700 food items and the 4th grade classes alone raised the most with 448 items. All food was donated to the Merced County Food Bank.
“We are thankful for the love and support from Peggy Heller,” said Joe Hypes, development director at the Merced County Food Bank. “With so many in our community currently still dealing with food insecurity, this amazing generosity will go out to our pantry sites to help feed the people in our community.”
O’Bara, who enjoyed seeing all her students participate joyfully in the 100th day celebration, exclaimed, “Everyone did everything!”