100th Day of School Celebrations

The door of our
Head of School

Today is AIAN's 100th day of school! So, as many schools around the world do, we celebrated! Our librarian organized a door-decorating contest (pizza party for the winners). I judged doors. (Click on the photos of some of my faves and more creative ones, to see them more closely.)

Kari's 2nd grade door
definitely not teacher-influenced.
ALLLL their own ideas. Clearly.
They got an honorable mention!

Today's early-release day schedule was further funkified by the fact that someone thought it'd be a good idea to throw an assembly into the mix. So we had not only shortened class periods on the "short day" early-release schedule, but also had last period scrapped for the cause of a school-wide assembly. In this wild 

rumpus of a day, we were celebrating 100 days of school, but also our music teacher, who had her day teaching at AIAN this week (after teaching here for several years, and having lived in China many years before!). 

"100king" forward to
100 days of school.
(middle school math
teacher's door)

We just had an all-school assembly two weeks ago, at the start of the new semester, celebrating student achievements, and the successes and future that mark the mid-year point. 

Kinder's 3rd (or 2nd?) place
for 100 drawings of people

So having another assembly today seems rather soon, just as students are trying to get into the groove of the first couple weeks of a new semester. We're also looking forward to this Friday, when we'll be cutting a full day of classes for Chinese New Year celebrations and assemblies for those presentations (eeek... school and studying? Who wants to do that at school when we have so many cultures to celebrate?!). Lots of irregularities in class time. Stay tuned for the CNY post that is to come! (Our 10-day Chinese New Year-Spring Festival break is only a week away! Feb. 7-17!)

Kate's origami decor, by
6th graders (2nd/3rd? place)

100 space creatures

School ended at 2:30 today (normally the school day runs from 8:30-3:30 (classes), while teachers are typically at school from 8am-4:30/5pm). Then commenced the five hours of Parent-Teacher Conferences. After I conferenced with about a third of my students' parents, in between scheduled meeting times, I snuck out to take the dog for walks, feed him, and then settled into a few more hours of grading and lesson planning, while my TV shows downloaded. 

What an active 12 hour-work day! Called for a girls' night in with our fave pup afterwards!

Winning door, by 1st grade:
pictures of super-creative
combos of "hundreds"

Even outside the front of the school
it's being decorated for upcoming
Chinese New Year festivities!