I don't recall the 100th day of school being a big deal. I vaguely remember one of my classrooms having a 180-day timeline around the top of the walls, but otherwise I don't have any memory of knowing, or caring about, what day it was. It was early in the year, and a lot of school remained. It was late in the year, and summer was approaching. I liked school a lot, but come on - summer vacation! The calendar was all about counting down, not counting up.
Well, I don't know if times have changed, if Philadelphia is different from Charlottesville, or what, but the 100th Day seems to be a big deal in a lot of schools here. I'd been hearing about the 100th day since the beginning of the school year - watching teachers counting on days, telling students excitedly that they would have a big celebration when they counted up to 100 - but I didn't really know what to expect.
Well, today was the 100th Day, and it was a Big Deal.
My classroom teacher went all out, as you can begin to see by the streamers, signs, and table decorations. At each student's seat was a $100 bill with their own face printed on it, and a colorful pencil. Students came dressed in 100-related clothing (one kid had a shirt that said in huge letters: "100th day!!! and Mom's birthday"). And yes, I got in on the action:
We had 100th Day books, a 100th Day song, and made 100th Day hats. I led a 100th Day workout (10 jumping jacks, 10 squats, 10 calf raises, etc.). Kids made 100th Day booklets, where they had 10 pages to put 10 stamps, stickers, pictures, etc.
In addition, each kid brought in a bag with 100...somethings in them. We got bags with legos, baseball cards, arcade tokens, Q-tips, magnets, beads. If you know anything about Rainbow Loom, you're probably not surprised that several students brought bags of tiny rubber bands (which are otherwise banned at our school. With good reason. In my last classroom, a student stopped paying attention in class because she realized she could sell bracelets at recess for a dollar each. We banned them in our classroom too, but when you're an 8-year-old raking in $14 a day, you do what you can). With our 100-item bags, students got to practice using a scale and comparing their bags with one another, so we had that math content in addition to all the counting.
Did I mention counting yet? There was a lot of counting. Counting up, counting on, counting back, counting by 5s and counting by 10s.
I think the 100th Day is a pretty awesome holiday. For one thing, it's obviously really easy to integrate math: for the Kindergarteners it's all about counting and number sense, but I can easily imagine adapting for higher-level math in upper grades (e.g. what numbers can you combine to get to 100? If you have 100 noodles and __ students, how many noodles can each student get? Also, why are you handing out noodles? Gross). It's also a great way to have students looking forward to something all year long - and by the time they reach there, the year is more than halfway done. It feels like an accomplishment. (And yes, there's plenty of 100th Day themed books that reinforce that, like the one pictured with me above).
Well, speaking of progress and accomplishments: my Term IV assignment is due this weekend. After that, I've just got my 2-week takeover and my Master's Portfolio. In two months, I'm done.
But, I'll start the countdown tomorrow. Today was all about counting up. Happy 100th Day!
Well, I don't know if times have changed, if Philadelphia is different from Charlottesville, or what, but the 100th Day seems to be a big deal in a lot of schools here. I'd been hearing about the 100th day since the beginning of the school year - watching teachers counting on days, telling students excitedly that they would have a big celebration when they counted up to 100 - but I didn't really know what to expect.
Well, today was the 100th Day, and it was a Big Deal.
We had 100th Day books, a 100th Day song, and made 100th Day hats. I led a 100th Day workout (10 jumping jacks, 10 squats, 10 calf raises, etc.). Kids made 100th Day booklets, where they had 10 pages to put 10 stamps, stickers, pictures, etc.
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| In case you can't read the bottom: this is "A set of ten stamp werd (words)." Clever, right?? |
Did I mention counting yet? There was a lot of counting. Counting up, counting on, counting back, counting by 5s and counting by 10s.
I think the 100th Day is a pretty awesome holiday. For one thing, it's obviously really easy to integrate math: for the Kindergarteners it's all about counting and number sense, but I can easily imagine adapting for higher-level math in upper grades (e.g. what numbers can you combine to get to 100? If you have 100 noodles and __ students, how many noodles can each student get? Also, why are you handing out noodles? Gross). It's also a great way to have students looking forward to something all year long - and by the time they reach there, the year is more than halfway done. It feels like an accomplishment. (And yes, there's plenty of 100th Day themed books that reinforce that, like the one pictured with me above).
Well, speaking of progress and accomplishments: my Term IV assignment is due this weekend. After that, I've just got my 2-week takeover and my Master's Portfolio. In two months, I'm done.
But, I'll start the countdown tomorrow. Today was all about counting up. Happy 100th Day!
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