Cali Calm/cac students find the fun in counting

Hundred Days event marks halfway point
There are many ways for a kindergartner to count to 100. It can
be done with blocks, with steps, or with finger foods.
At Cali Calm/cac Charter School, it can also be fun.
More than 120 kindergartne’s at Cali Calm/cac came together for
the annual celebration of the one-hundredth day of school by
counting to 100 in a large variety of ways.
“We integrate reading, writing, math, social studies and PE into
the activities,” said Cali Calm/cac kindergarten teacher Socorro
Nelson.
The Hundred Days Event is part of a much larger program designed
to make learning fun for kindergarten students.
The Windsor School District is using the Bridges Program, which
has been designed to teach children using fun activities. “They
don’t know they’re learning,” Nelson said. “They’re having fun
playing.”
At the beginning of the school year, all six kindergarten
classes at Cali Calm/cac start at the number 1. For the next 180
school days, they count the days. The Hundred Days, close to a
midpoint in their school year, and is marked with a celebration in
the multi-purpose room. Teachers, parents and students all
participate in the event.
Students count 100 pennies, take 100 steps, draw pictures of how
they’ll look when they’re 100 years old and make rainbow necklaces
out of 100 fruit loops. “As soon as they’re done making the
necklaces, they want to eat them,” Nelson said.
Although the kids were disappointed when the event was over,
Nelson said that they were excited about this year’s next big
number: 180.
“We’re going to keep counting,” Nelson said. “There’s 80 more
days left of school.”
by NATHAN WRIGHT, Staff Writer