Students celebrate 50th day of school
Students in Tara Vincent’s kindergarten class dressed up in 1950s attire to celebrate the 50th day of school.
When you’re an elementary student still getting used to going to school, many things that seem uneventful on the surface can be big milestones in these children’s lives.
Several teachers at West Elementary School in Russellville recognized this very fact and decided to celebrate the 50th day of school in style this year.
Donna Bolton, a first grade teacher at WES, said it’s customary for the kindergarten classes to celebrate their 100th day of school, but when the teachers met this summer, they decided it would be a good idea to celebrate the 50th day of school as well and let all grades in on the fun.
“We thought this would be something fun the whole school could take part in but also something we could use as a learning tool,” Bolton said.
“We talked about different themes we could use and came up with the idea to have everyone dress like the 1950s and incorporate the theme into our curriculum, especially math and history.”
Bolton said the teachers as well as many students at WES got dressed up on Oct. 28 and took part in lessons using the 50s theme.
“We had math lessons where we would count to 50 by ones, fives, and tens and addition and subtraction sheets that had a 50s theme,” she said.
“The kids also learned about the 1950s and how things were in those days.”
First grade teacher Shannon O’Neal said her students were watching TV shows from the 50s and were amazed by how different things were.
“They also thought there was something wrong with the color on the TV because it was in black and white,” O’Neal said.
“We forget some of these children have never seen a black and white TV show or other things from that time period, so it was a real learning experience for them.”
Bolton said they also used technology to post QR codes throughout the school that could be scanned with the school’s iPads to look up facts about the 1950s.
She also said other staff across the school joined in on the day’s activities including the physical education teachers who hosted a sock hop in the gym, the child nutrition workers who served 50s-style food for lunch and played 50s music in the cafeteria, and the RHS art students who painted a backdrop for pictures.
“Everybody really got involved with this project and you can just tell the students loved it,” WES principal Dr. Chris James said.
“I really appreciate all the teachers and staff who put so much time and effort into making this a special day for our students.”
