DISD students, staff celebrate 100 days of learning

With 100 awesome school days under their belts and brighter tomorrows in sight, Denison students and staff recently took time out to celebrate the thousands of successes, big and small, that make Denison ISD one of the best school districts in Texas.

“We have so many wonderful reasons to celebrate on all fronts,” said Mayes Principal Natalie Hicks. “Our teachers utilize hundreds of hours of training, collaboration and creativity to come up with new ways to teach, excite, engage, motivate and inspire our young learners. Our children have found hundreds of reasons to work hard, share successes with each other, and experience pride in accomplishments. We’re making such great strides in these areas…with our kids really looking forward to coming to school every day and doing great work. It’s a reason to celebrate!”

Various themes added fun and laughter to elementary campus festivities. Large groups of kids wore hats and held signs proclaiming to be “100 days smarter.” Teachers, staff and students talked about what it’s like to be 100 days older and smarter --- then dressed up like they were 100 years old.

“Our students have practiced counting to 100, adding numbers together that equal 100, described what people look like when they’re 100, and written about what they’ve learned and how they’ve grown over the last 100 days,” said Kyle Uber, Houston Elementary school principal. “At the end of each nine weeks, we’ve hosted Bulldog Bashes to celebrate all that successful learning. It’s been a great year of growth, academically and personally, for all of us.”

Kim Potter, Assistant Principal at Hyde Park Elementary, says their young learners could be poster children for 100 days of success. “Our early childhood students and kindergarteners are learning how to put sounds together, make words, and read. They’re progressing in writing by putting words together to form complete sentences. They’re building vocabularies during writing and spelling activities. We’re just so proud of our kids, staff and families for stepping up and helping our kids succeed during difficult times.”

DISD Assistant Superintendent Dr. David Kirkbride called the progress phenomenal. “In light of all that’s happened over the last two years, these past 100 days have been nothing short of amazing. Amazing jobs on the part of students, teachers, staff and parents. Amazing jobs from our cafeteria people getting nutritious food on our families’ tables… to our maintenance and transportation staff who have done an awesome job of keeping campuses clean and buses running. All hands are on board, and all hearts are in the right places. I’m just so proud and honored to be a Denison Yellow Jacket."

Award-winning students were showcased and applauded at a recent Houston Bulldog Bash, one of many reasons to celebrate 100 days of successful learning. “It’s been a great year of growth, academically and personally, for all of us,” said Houston Principal Kyle Uber.

Excited learners in Jessica Connor’s Early Childhood Education classroom at Hyde Park Elementary celebrated 100 successful days of learning by making and wearing hats to honor and highlight the occasion.