The 100th day of school is a milestone that only a teacher can understand. Almost every year I have taught kindergarten, the first day of school children mention the number 100. Many children even if they can count to 100, have not yet fully developed number sense related to 100. At the beginning of this year, one little boy said early in the year, on day 4 or 5, how many more days until we get there and pointed to the 100 on the number line. Kindergartener's understanding of time is not fully developed yet either so there are times when they think once we hit the 100th day of school that they are done. So the stage is set for celebrating 100 days of learning and while counting the days of school on a growing number line as well as adding a straw in our pocket chart seems mundane at times, I am a firm believer in how much that helps develop their number sense and concept of place value.
The 100th day of school fell on a Monday this year. First time in nine years that I started the week off by celebrating. On the Friday before, I set up some things such as hiding Hershey kisses with numbers on the bottom around the room. By hiding, I mean placing them in obvious places so that children could find them. I knew I was going to do this and there were going to be other things set up that were out of my regular routine so we had a long conversation on the Friday before.
I am a flexible person but I love my routine and thrive on it. I am an introvert which really shocks people (I am not sure why). Therefore, days such as the 100th day are really hard on me because they suck my energy! Nine years later, I have learned to embrace the fun and contribute to it so that it is enjoyable for all of us. The moments {and years} fly and it is really important to me that children have memorable moments during our time together.
This sign is a testament to how far my little learners have come with their self control! Can you believe that it hung up all day and only 2 children had to be reminded to leave it alone? The little things are a big deal!
We made our 100th day snack during math on Monday. Families volunteered to send items for the snack. I have mats that have circles with numbers on them. Children were given 10 Dixie cups and asked to set them put on their mats. I have 5 tables so each table had a bowl of an item to begin the day. I tried to provide lots of structure during this activity to help all children experience success. Children were responsible for counting 10 of each item and putting it one of the cups. When they were done, they were to put their hands in their lap and sit quietly to help me know they were ready for the next bowl. I rotated bowls to each table and once we had 50, we counted our tens while I switched those five bowls for the other five. We did this until each cup had ten items. Each child had a ziplock bag with their name and we counted by 10's as we dumped each cup in our bag. Bags were sealed and left on the table until snack time. Before eating, children had a 100th day snack paper to write their numbers on. My team and I modified the paper to fit our items.
I think this activity is powerful in helping children understand ten groups of ten is 100.
Pictured here are the bowls of some of the snack items. There is a close mix of healthy and unhealthy items. We had lots of leftovers which will be used for future snacks as well as future math lessons.
About a month ago, families were asked to find 100 pennies around their house and to bring them to school. I sent home bags with each child's name for them to return the pennies in. I had every child bring their pennies to school but had collected extras in the instance someone did not bring theirs.
After lunch, children were given a number grid and asked to count their pennies and place them on their mat. Conveniently, we ran out of time and the pennies had to sty out while we went to specials.
The penny fairy visited us! I had the bags stuffed with one dollar bills, some glitter and a note from the penny fairy. When they came back into the room, they were so surprised! One of my little boys said "is this for real?". Interestingly enough one of my little boys who does not have number sense was asking me how come the penny fairy took all of his pennies. He told me during centers that he was going to use those pennies to buy a toy truck at Wal-Mart. He perceived the dollar bill being less since there was only one.
I saw the cup building with 100 solo cups on Pinterest and was a tad leery of doing it but they have loved it. It was been interesting to see them cooperate and work together as they build different structures. It has been a popular center this week.
We read One Hundred Hungry Ants yesterday during math and talked about different groups to make 100. I related it back to the penny fairy lesson. During my morning message, I asked them to think about different ways to get to 100. One little one mentioned that 100 pennies makes a dollar so we drew that. Another little one mentioned that ten groups of ten also makes 100 like our snack we made on the 100th day. One of my advanced children said well 4 quarters makes a dollar so 4 groups of 25 would equal 100. In the book, the ants make different groups of 100 to get to the picnic quicker. For our snack, I had bought pretzel rods and raisins to make ants on a log. I also read the book The Ants Go Marching and we sang the song before we ate our snack.
They were supposed to put ten ants on their logs. It was interesting to see the method in which they used to attach the ants to the log. Some spread the peanut butter on the log first and then attached the ants while others dipped the raisins in the peanut butter to attach them.
We made a class book with 100 pictures using a 1, 0, 0 to make a picture. It is always interesting to see what they make. I made them write what they were going to make before they could get their numbers to make their picture. I wanted them to be thoughtful about their work. Once they showed me their writing, then they could work on making their picture. It was interesting to see the different end products. This group really struggles with listening and following directions but their end product is more creative than in years past. I had duplicate items but their artwork makes each page unique.
We began making a list on Monday of things we would want to have 100 of. The list is longer now but they have referenced it on many different occasions this week for other lessons. After beginning the list, we made a class book on a template and many children used items off the list for what they would want. Other children wanted their item added to our list even after we shared the class book. I had many children tell me that they would want 100 books. I love that they love books so much! When we made our class book using the 1, 0, 0, many children used items off the list to spell what their 100 was. Toy was a popular choice because it had been on the list. We were also able to talk about the plural ending of s and when to use it.
I was so happy to see February come! However, it is quickly becoming as busy as January. Snow has been in our forecast for over a week now. I thought snow was going to delay our 100th day and was happy that was not the case. However, I really needed a snow day to replenish my energy. I am so thankful that we got a snow day and that it was after all the 100 festivities. Although there are some 100 things that we have not gotten to just yet.
Do you celebrate the 100th day of school? What's your favorite thing about the 100th day of school?
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