At the end of her 100th day of kindergarten, Morgan Eskra finishes a portrait of herself at age 100. Submitted photo

Twenty — that was the first day of kindergarten, Aug. 20.  

Thirty-nine — that’s how many youngsters entered Arendell Parrott Academy’s two kindergarten classes that day.  

And 100 — that’s the number of school days those kindergartners celebrated Jan. 29.

The day-long festivities unfolded in the school’s E. Ray Wooten Kindergarten Building. Excited students donned crowns that said “100 Days of Kindergarten” and made multicolored necklaces with exactly 100 Fruit Loops strung onto a lace.  

Working from a template that had 10 circles drawn on it, each student put 10 pieces of cereal in each circle. Counting skills were at a premium and students could visually grasp how ten 10s could make 100. Then fine motor coordination came into play as each child carefully threaded all 100 cereal circles onto a lace.  

Once the teacher tied the lace ends together and placed the necklace on the kindergartner, it was all about self-control: “Don’t eat your necklace,” one little girl warned her table neighbor as they got ready to march to the cafeteria for lunch. Later, the kids ended the day with an art project, creating self-portraits of what they might look like when they are 100 years old.

“Yes, we’re 100 days smarter, and this is a very special day for us, ” said kindergarten teachers Deb Connolly and Eva King.  They admitted it’s been a bit of a struggle since students missed a number of days due to Hurricane Florence. But they’ve worked together after school almost every day to merge and re-structure lesson plans without sacrificing key concepts.  

For their students, nothing’s been subtracted from their first “real school” experience.  They’re eager to tell their favorite thing about kindergarten.

“Counting,” Winnie Cheek said.

“Yeah, the numbers,” Bennett Brodish added.  

Kylee Andrews’ favorite thing is “to go on the playground,” and Hazlee Pridgen loves P.E. Mason Hale enjoys learning his ABCs, while Anneliese VanFosson said her favorite is “today — the 100th day!”   

“One hundred is a long time,” reflected 6-year-old Caroline Tetterton.  “Everything is my favorite.”

Headmaster Bert Bright said, “This is another reason for us to celebrate and be excited.  It’s great for children to be in an active learning environment, and this 100th day celebration helps our kids develop number awareness,  and get a sense of quantity and a concept of time.”