Students 100 days smarter

DAYTON - In case anyone's counting, Wednesday was the 100th day of school - a day that is marked annually at Sutro Elementary School.

One hundred marshmallows, 100 nails hammered in a board, 100 chocolate chips, 100 stars, pennies, peanuts, Barbie accessories, smiley faces, sugar cubes, google eyes. Anything, as long as there were 100 of them.

First- through third-graders, dressed as centenarians, hobbled down the hallways during the 100th Day of School Parade, while older students filed through the classrooms to enjoy the exhibits of all things 100.

But mostly, the day was about celebrating learning, with 100 as the focus in everything from writing to crafts to math.

"My class wrote a paragraph about what the world would be like 100 years from now and an essay about what they would do with $100," said Barbara Jones, first-grade teacher. "We also tried to write our names as many times as possible inside an outline of 100."

"They're learning math in a fun way," said Sono Allander, first-grade teacher.

"It doesn't matter what we bring, so I chose conversation hearts," said Sahara Burns of Carolyn Stoll's second-grade class. "Plus it's close to Valentine's Day."

Lane Anderson, a first-grader in Jones' class, brought 100 stars fashioned in a sky above a picture he'd drawn, because he said "my mom decided. Also, my teacher didn't dress up because she said she was already old enough."

Sarah Dabel, of Allander's class, was proud of her project featuring multicolored marshmallows glued into the shape of "100" on a green background.

"Mom gave me a choice to use 100 ribbons or marshmallows," she explained while peering over her granny glasses. The added benefit of marshmallows, is their late-afternoon snack value. That's not something you can get from ribbons, she said.

Dabel's deskmate Caber Smith explained the ink-spotted paper on his desk.

"I had to do it over on the paper because this is my original project," he said, pulling up his shirt to reveal red polka-dots on his tummy.

Kaitlin Gerhardson, also of that class, had a necklace made from macaroni. Slipping it around her neck, the "jewelry" reached to her ankles.

"I think it's about 100 feet long," she said.

Many of the teachers also dressed as 100-year-olds and hobbled alongside their students.

"My favorite part of the day is the parade and looking at all the different collections," Stoll said.

As Wanda Hanselman shuffled back to her classroom, she observed that "being old is hard on the back."

But the day was about more than dressing up and playing games.

"The name of the game is we're 100 days smarter in math, in reading, in writing," Jones said