Feb. 24, 2010 Vol. 5 No. 12
Students celebrate 100 days of school
One hundred pennies, 100 marshmallows, 100 popsicle
Mrs. Bryan had the students hold the items in their hands,
sticks – it must be the 100th day of school.
balance-scale style, and feel the difference in weight between
Kindergarten and first grade students celebrated the mile- the items. They estimated which of the other items could be put
stone of 100 days of school on Feb. 8 – a little later than usual with the lighter ones to “balance” their scale. They then used a
because of the snow days experienced this year – but the delay real balance scale to see if they guessed correctly.
didn’t cut down on the enthusiasm a bit, according to kinder“I really believe that little kids need to feel, not just look,”
garten teacher Sheri Bryan.
Mrs. Bryan said.
“You connect the words “celebration” or “party” with an acKindergarten students are making a book listing the 100
tivity for kindergarteners and they are in,” Mrs. Bryan said. things they brought and a 100 Word book with ten words made
“They don’t even realize they are learning.”
from adding a letter or blend to each of ten word families.
And, learning they are. The celebration/observance of 100
Other 100 Day activities included estimating how far 100
days of school is not really a party even though lots of fun is in- steps would take them in the hallway, tossing a coin 100 times
volved. Every activity used in both kindergarten and first grade and counting the number of times it came up head or tails,
to recognize 100 days of school furthers curriculum goals. While rolling dice 100 times tracking which number came up the most,
math skills are emphasized, there is also cross-curriculum learn- and sitting silently for 100 seconds. Center time also revolved
ing through reading, science and social activities.
around the number 100 with students making patterns with 100
There is a reason why the 100th day of school receives spe- blocks, cubes and popsicle sticks.
cial recognition in Inman Elementary School and, in fact,
Mrs. Bryan also read the book Mrs. Bindergarten Celebrates
kindergarten and first grade classrooms across the nation, ac- the 100th Day of Kindergarten by Natasha Wing.
cording to first grade teacher Dafawyna Maier.
As part of the celebration, kindergarten students decorated
“To little kids, there is something so massive about the num- crowns which declared they had “Made it to the 100th Day of
ber 100. It is the answer to everything. For many of them, 100 School” and received a certificate. A picture of them wearing
is the biggest number they can conceive. We’re trying to help their crowns was taken which they could put in their memory
them get a handle on it,” Mrs. Maier said.
books.
For both grades, “getting a handle” on 100 begins from the
For snack time in Mrs. Bryan’s room, students counted out
very first day of school. Both teachers, along with kindergarten ten each of ten different snack food items as she placed the items
teacher Kayla Woods, use pocket charts and counting sticks or
Continued . . .
straws to help students track how many days of
school have passed leading up to the 100th day as
part of their daily calendar activities. Students learn
to count the sticks and group them into tens in
kindergarten and by the time they are in first grade,
they are also learning to count by 20s and understanding the importance of place in a large number.
The counting continues until the last day of school
giving students a hands-on visual of how many days
have gone by since the first day of school.
Kindergarten students celebrated the 100th day
in a semi-party atmosphere with nearly every activity they did centered on the number 100. Students
were asked to bring 100 of something to school that
day. Items brought included pennies, macaroni noodles, tooth picks, marbles and marshmallows. Students explained counting strategies and discussed the
How many pancakes will each student get? That was one of
various attributes of the items. They estimated which
the questions answered by first grade students on the 100th
100 items weighed the most or the least regardless of day of school.
how much physical space the items took up.
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in a paper lunch sack to make a gorp-style snack mix. The activity
takes time and patience on the part of everyone, according to Mrs.
Bryan, but it does reinforce that there are ten groups of ten in 100.
Developing that understanding and helping students articulate how
they reached their answers in the various activities is an important
part of the day.
“There is a wide range of math understanding in kindergarten,
some are more ready to understand the concepts than others, but
they will at least have heard it when they get to first grade,” Mrs.
Bryan said. “State standards require kindergarten students to have
a basic understanding of 0-20, but we have always gone above the
standards. We have more struggles with writing the numbers, so we
use our 100s chart to give us practice in writing the numbers and
seeing patterns.”
First grade approaches the 100th day a little differently, according to Mrs. Maier.
“They always ask me if we are going to have a party for the
100th day, but I tell them that’s something they do in kindergarten,”
she said. “We do several activities, but it’s not a party.”
One of the concepts Mrs. Maier focuses on is the relative size
of numbers – 100 of something can be big, or it can be small.
“We give them 100 extra seconds for recess, for example, and
they get really excited. Then they realize that 100 seconds is about
a minute and a half,” Mrs. Maier said.
First grade students make 100th Day books where they draw
pictures of what they think things will look like in 100 years and answer questions involving the number 100 such as what would I
spend $100 on, and what would I like 100 of. There are lots of mental math activities that build on the counting skills they have been
working on since the first day of school.
Mrs. Maier read the book The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko
Kasza in which a wolf tries to fatten up a chicken for stew by leaving 100 cookies, 100 pancakes and a 100-pound cake at the
chicken’s door. The plan changes when he comes to get her and is
greeted by the chicken’s 100 baby chicks. He decides not to have
chicken stew after all.
Mrs. Maier made 100 silver dollar-size pancakes for the students to share. Before they could eat, they had to decide what the
“fair share” of pancakes was for each student? Using a variety of
different methods – white boards, counting sticks or grouping – the
students decided how many pancakes each student would get.
For Mrs. Maier, Mrs. Bryan and Mrs. Woods the reason for all
the emphasis on 100th day of school is not just to have a fun day,
but to help students achieve a better understanding of the base 10
number system upon which math is based.
“The big thing is tying (the 100th day) into math. It is so important,” Mrs. Maier said.