On Thursday, Feb. 9, first grade students at William R. Davie Elementary School celebrated the 100th Day of School.

The students celebrated by dressing as if they were 100 years old by putting baby powder in their hair and wearing glasses. Some students even came to school with beards and canes.

The first grade students indulged themselves in a snack using 10 ingredients and counting 10 items from each ingredient to make their snack of 100 items. In the afternoon, students enjoyed three 100’s day activities by switching classes with all the first grade teachers.

During the switch, students participated in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) activity. For the STEM activity, students discovered what they were able to build with 100 Legos, 100 cups, 100 straws, 100 linking cubes, 100 popsicle sticks, and 100 pipe cleaners.

Needless to say, the first grade students at William R. Davie are 100 days brighter.

Fiber arts and weaving, that is what is going on in the art room.

Kindergarteners are learning about patterns as they weave colorful paper into beautiful art.

First graders had to make their own loom, warp and weft out of paper to weave. They finished by making holes in some of the weft with hole punchers.

Second graders are weaving on a cardboard loom. Warping the loom took some teamwork. They are weaving with lots of colors of yarn and learning how to tie knots.

Third grade students are making god’s eyes. This Mexican and South American art is sometimes tricky to learn but once they get the pattern down it is fun. Students had to decide if they were going to keep their artwork for themselves or make a class gift for teachers.

Fourth graders are creating Native American inspired burlap weaving. They learned basic sewing stitches, how to thread a needle with yarn and how to tie a knot at the end of the yarn. They added beads for a little extra.

Fifth graders are spool knitting – an Early American craft that was used to make reins as well as mats and other useful objects.

Next they will be learning about the art of Africa and African American artists. Kindergarten students will work on geometric mudcloth from Mali. They will use skills learned in math to make a colorful patterned Crayon resist.  First graders will create oil pastel paintings with an African dance theme. They will be connecting how they feel when they dance to paintings just like the artist Bernard Hoyes. Things will be moving and shaking in the art room when students dance to traditional African music.

Second graders will be learning about African American author and illustrator Faith Ringgold, reading her book “Tar Beach” and creating quilt bordered personal narrative drawings using oil pastels.

In third grade, students will learn about ancient Egypt and create profile paintings. These paintings will be a self-portrait and students will create their own name cartouche using ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

It will be fourth grade’s turn to make something out of clay. North Carolina artists have a long history going back to Africa of making ugly face jugs. This fun and creative lesson takes a lot of skill and imagination. The kiln will be humming and warming up the art room again soon.

Fifth graders will learn about African art and how it compares to the art of the US. Students will be creating African style masks that show symmetry. They will learn how to make their masks as symmetrical as possible using many folding and cutting techniques.