​Garden Creek Elementary students in Fredericton celebrated their 100th Day of School with a giant food drive, collecting a grand total of 840 non-perishable items for the local Greener Village community food centre. The total dollar value of all donations exceeded $2,000.

The grade level with the greatest number of food items collected is being rewarded with a spring field trip to Greener Village, where the winning students will bring the food supplies and take part in a tour of the facility. This year's winners were three classes of Grade 5 students who brought in a total of 158 food items for their community.

"The visit to Greener Village is sure to provide students with an authentic learning experience as they connect with the community and observe the difference they are making in the lives of others," said Principal Katherine Campbell. "A goal of 100 items per grade level was set, meaning over 600 items could have potentially been donated to families in our community who are very much in need of help. We far exceeded that goal."

The 100th Day of School is an annual milestone and time of reflection at Garden Creek when students focus on what have learned since September and what new learning goals await them as they push to the end of the school year, Campbell explained. For example, the day serves as an opportunity for classes to investigate or review important grade level math concepts and learning tools such as Hundred Charts, Base Ten and the Metric System. 

Meanwhile, the food drive brings all 327 students in the school together toward a collective goal. Donations flooded in over the course of one week to meet the 100th Day target.

Shown in the photos below with their food donations are (1) Grade 1 students (left to right) Felix Roby, Talja De Jong, Jayme Duguay, George Boyer and Tegan Parker; (2) kindergarten student Lily Brennan.