I love the 100th Day of School! I’ve always loved this day. Teaching junior grades for the past couple of years has meant that I haven’t been able to celebrate this special day that seems to take place in all Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes — and sometimes even some grades past that. Having just finished the 90th day of school, I know that the 100th day is happening very soon (on February 6th), and just the other day, I started to think about our celebration. This is when I got very “uncomfortable.”
Here’s the problem: I started to question why we celebrate this day. I know the connections to math, but practising counting is something that we’ve done all year long. Plus, many of the activity choices that I’ve considered before are not meaningful ones, so the skill development is there, but without the thinking and application. I also have many students in my class that are working on counting to numbers other than 100: either beyond the number because of their understanding of patterning, or less than the number because of other needs.
This thinking got me wondering why do we count down to a day? What are some days that I’ve counted down to before? I couldn’t help but think of Kristi Keery-Bishop‘s tweet from yesterday:
I need to make this learning “real.” And that’s when I thought that the reason that I usually count down to a day is to “celebrate.” But in this case, celebrate what? We could have a party to celebrate the number 100, and then play games and do activities as part of this celebration, but how will this celebration help me meet multiple student needs? How will this celebration incorporate Language and Math, while also providing “voice” and “choice” that I believe are so important? And how will this celebration get my students thinking — really thinking — and solving problems along the way? How will I also provide an authentic audience and “real reason” for their work?
That’s when it came to me. We can celebrate our 100 Days of Learning, by having students create something to show what they’ve learned in these 100 days of school. They don’t have to share everything they’ve learned. They need to pick something, in any subject area that interests them. There also needs to be a Language and a Math component (especially number sense) that ties into what they make. This number sense component can vary depending on students and their needs. For those children that need additional practice of skills, I can continue to work with them on this day … and on other days too. So it’s with all of this in mind, that I began to create this 100 Days of Learning Innovation Day/Maker-Ed Challenge. Here’s my thinking in my Explain Everything Screencast that I made early this morning.
I just realized that the 100th Day of School is also a Friday, which means that it’s Family Fridays. Parents are invited in to join us at the end of the day to learn along with us. On this Friday, parents can be the audience for our work. They can ask us questions about our learning and celebrate in what we share. Students can also go around and see what their peers made, and hear more of the thinking behind what they created.
Reconsidering the 100th day has been hard for me, but the more that I think aloud, the more that I believe that it’s what’s right for my class. How do you celebrate the 100th day of school? How do you make this learning meaningful? Why do you make these choices? I’d love to hear more about your thinking, as I further contemplate a very different plan than I’ve ever had before.
Aviva
You know its funny being in a balanced calendar we often forget when that 100th day of school is. In fact when I read your post I said to myself, has it been 100 days already?
Your right, what is the day for?
Kristy is right our job shouldn’t be about celebrating or preparing to do stuff but actually doing stuff; actually learning. I am all for celebrations as long as the learning is rich and engaging to meet all types of learners. What I don’t like seeing is the students wandering around doing meaningless task (all about 100) just because it is hundreds day. What is it connected to? How is it related to real life skills? These are the questions we should be asking.
P.S: just calculated our 100 days and we are passed it by 2 (hahaha, guess we missed that boat).
Thanks for the comment, Jonathan! I think that you make some wonderful points here. I guess that I could question why we’re celebrating the 100th day at all … and maybe choose not to celebrate it. Other classes are celebrating it at the school though, and this is something that I spoke to the students about at the beginning of the year (when I never even thought that I might be reconsidering the day 🙂 ). Live and learn! 🙂 I’m hoping that this 100th Day of Learning option will make the celebration more meaningful, while taking into consideration the various needs of students. It will hopefully also allow students to work with and think about Math and Language in ways that matter to them. I think that I’ll be looking closely at how things go, and then reflecting on what might be best for next year. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions or further thoughts, please let me know. I always appreciate how you push my thinking!
Aviva
P.S. Happy belated 100th day! 🙂 Did the K’s and 1’s at your school celebrate? This day seems most important in these young grades.
To be honest I don’t think that we have. It hasn’t even been brought up. I think we forget when it is because we start so much earlier. Also I think at the school we stress a lot about meaningful tasks and that learning happens everyday. I will have to ask them though.
I think as far as math activities it would be interesting to see if kids know how big 100 is? I think there is a book about this (have to look). You can also do some estimating and checking: Can they find things in the room or school that would represent 100 items? (take a pic and justify your thinking) Then they can count and check their answers. You could do that a couple of times and see how their answers change. Just some ideas.
Thanks Jonathan! I can totally understand why the 100th day doesn’t come up in a balanced calendar school. I think that I’ll be rethinking it even more come next year.
I love your math suggestions. Thank you! I’m even thinking that some of these activities could be done prior to the 100th day as almost like a “provocation” for them to explore Number Sense more in what they do/create on this day. Maybe they could even look at how “big” different numbers are, and then compare these to 100. I’m also starting to think of the size of an object and the size of the group. This could make a nice connection to proportional reasoning. And as for the book, I thought there was one on How Big Is 1000, but maybe it is 100. I think that I have the book. I’ll take a look.
I really appreciate your help, and how you always get me thinking!
Aviva
As you often do with your posts, you have me thinking. 100th Day of school is almost like a “right of passage” for my kinders. They celebrate BIG numbers and reflect how many days they been to school. We “play” with numbers in many ways. Last year we started a new tradition in making their 100day collection montage at school as part of creative process along with the counting. Parent invovlement limited to helping them get their collection gathered and brought to school. We then have a 100Day Museum celebration where parents, and school community visit and the kinders get to share with many people. I will post a photo from last year on Twitter.
Thanks for sharing what you did, Faige, and tweeting out the photo as well! I like the idea of the 100 Day Museum. I can definitely see how this is a right of passage for your students, and in many ways, I think that the same is true for my Grade 1’s. I can certainly see how the 100th day provides opportunities for counting, but I’m just wondering about the thinking, application, and math talk that accompanies these counting options. How do we make this about more than just counting (and reviewing of skills)?
I’m trying to think about why students need to count in real life, and how numbers and counting are a part of other things that we do. As I write this comment back to you, I wonder about making the 100th day a chance to explore more “reasons for counting,” or creating a real counting initiative/project for us to do on this day. I think about the tweet from Danielle that I just saw about collecting items for the food bank. This makes me wonder about 100 acts of kindness, and if we could accomplish these 100 acts on this day. But then I wonder how much math talk would be a part of this type of activity, past initially counting the acts. I know that there would be a language overlap, but what about the other subject areas? Would it be feasible to do a good job with all 100 acts (in such a short period of time)? I wonder if this would be too unstructured for some of my students, but then again, I wonder if it would help with character education and learning skills.
Part of me thinks that I could work more math into my initial idea, but then again, would it be meaningful math? I’m not sure. Maybe it would just be more counting practice. Maybe I need a combination of everything, or something different altogether. Maybe this comes back to the idea of “exploring big numbers” … but then, what do we do with them? I think that I may have ended this comment more confused than when I started. Why do I keep thinking that with 10 days to go, I should be re-thinking the 100th day of school altogether?
Aviva
To let you know that when the kinders worked on their 100th day project in our Innovation Center some were quickly done (process and product related to ability levels, motivation and interests). But I saw so many kinders working together when one was frustrated or didn’t know what to do. The kinders looked to adults (something that usually happens) and we steered them towards their peers. That was rewarding to observe. Language, problem solving and tinkering not a bad outcome for 100th Day projects. I think young children need many opportunities to experience “experiences”. And “numbers” manipulated by out ever tool they have at their exposure is a lesson well learned.
Thanks Faige! These are important points. Your museum idea definitely has me thinking (again), and I can see overlaps with Language, as students create signs and labels for their displays. I bet they would have some great additions as well! I can’t help but think about the new Toy Museum that we have in Hamilton. This provides hands-on opportunities for students to play and learn. We could almost make our own classroom “Toy/Number Museum.” Students could create toys for the museum (maybe even linking to our Science topic on structures, with their creations being more like statues), and we could organize the museum by number of items used in the creation. We could also look at how to take smaller structures and enlarge them. Is it possible? How many more items would be required? What impact would this have on stability? Students could be looking at comparing numbers, as well as exploring geometry and spatial sense and proportional reasoning. This could lead to some thinking in multiple subject areas. Thanks for giving me more to consider!
Aviva
Oh I love the line of thinking running through here. I should clarify – when I tweeted that thought out, it came much more from Dean Shareski (the speaker I was listening to at the time) – I just condensed it down to 140 characters. I think that it is very interesting and unexpected that it seems to have gotten the most interest and reflection from primary teachers. I wonder why that is? I mistakenly believed that it would have been something that would resonate more with high school or middle school teachers; their students have the basic skills and would be looking for realistic applications, I thought. I am somewhat ashamed that as an advocate of early years inquiry I didn’t focus on these young ones and their teachers in my thoughts. What better time to catch them – they will enthusiastically be sold on the real learning by doing instead of learning by practising for future doing. Then they would maybe…hopefully…advocate for similar treatment in older grades too.
In another thought, I wonder if your 100 day project of reflection could become a published story of sorts….”What Takes 100 Days to Learn…” idea so that all of your parents could enjoy. It would be something great to show your kinder grads in June to get them excited about coming to gr 1. Part of real doing is authentic audiences too. Inviting parents in is a great step, but may not be a motivator for every child. Just a thought.
Thanks for sharing your uncomfortable state!
Kristi, your comment has me thinking again. After reading the comments from Faige and Jonathan, I thought about creating more of a “Toy/Number Museum” instead with the thinking connected to what the students created and the sorting of big and small numbers. But reading your thoughts and your post about storytelling, makes me think that sharing our learning from the first 100 days could be a good idea. I wonder if I started the project off with a story of my own (a digital one of course, as I’ll never find a paper and pen 🙂 ), that the students could finish with what they learned in their first 100 days at school. The rest of the story can be a combined effort of what the students share (through pictures, videos, and tweets) and what I observe (again, through pictures, videos, and tweets). It can be really about embracing the process of learning. The discussions that we have throughout can connect with math concepts learned, but also language and subject specific ones. It can be as much an oral story (from the conversations students have with me and with each other — that I hope we can capture together in videos and podcasts) as well as a written one (again, writing about the thoughts shared — maybe writing by me, maybe writing by my Grade 1’s, and maybe both). Again, this connects to the differentiated nature of storytelling that you captured so well in your post!
As for an audience, parents are always invited to come in each Friday. Sometimes we have lots, sometimes just a few, and sometimes none. I thought that students could also share their work with each other, but I love the idea of having this “story” shared with the Kindergarteners at the end of the year. As you said, it gives them something to look forward to. So this story will need to be captured in words, pictures, and recordings that are best-suited for this young audience. Storify would allow us to put the “story together.” I know that this can be a long process, so maybe the students can help me with the introduction and conclusion, and any additional text that they think we should add. Then their voice is present. I can work on the dragging over of pictures and videos. What a great way to capture all of our learning in a story and let others learn from what we did! Now I’m just wondering about the title. Should it be, “What Takes 100 Days To Learn,” or “What We Learned In 100 Days?”
As for the “Number/Toy Museum,” I wonder about creating a Maker Space of sorts, where students could experiment with structures (connected to our Science learning) after they finish their contribution to the book. They could consider question such as, does the size of the material impact on the number that can be used before the structure falls down? What about the weight of the material? What other factors might impact? Why? How do construction workers take this into consideration when they build structures? I could even have items of varying sizes, and let the students build structures to either hold or contain the item. Students could explore the number of materials need as they create their structures. I wonder how the size of the item and the size of the material impacts on the number of materials needed. What about the impact of the weight of the item? Maybe it’s worth putting out a scale (with numbers). 🙂 This could almost be like a “Museum of Play”: as they play and talk about math, they learn. They could even try capturing this learning in their own story to help the other Grade 1 classes as they learn more about structures (they’re just starting their exploration now). So many possibilities …
Thanks for always giving me more to think about!
Aviva
This would be an amazing idea for reflection. What have you learned in 100 days? Students can make some pages together and then if you inserted it in book creator app you can then make a digital book of their learning. An amazing idea for them to reflect and look back.
Now you’ve given me even more to think about, Jonathan! I’m actually involved in a book making opportunity thanks to Mitch Ritter at my school. The books are due into him at the very beginning of March, so the timing’s perfect. Maybe this could be the topic of our class book. We could also make a digital version to share with parents. For my learners, showing the learning in multiple ways will be important (many need the tactile options that go beyond paper), as well as sharing their stories in different ways (orally and in writing). Students could “make” something to show their learning, and then document this learning on their page in the book: in the way that works best for them — from labels to sentences or maybe been a song (I have some very creative thinkers). Then they could add their picture. I need to check with Mitch because I’m thinking we could print a digital picture on the given page (with a colour printer) that could be their image and/or students could draw their own (incorporating the element of voice and choice). The digital version could also incorporate the oral storytelling option — going back to Kristi’s recent post about storytelling being the ideal tool for differentiation.
Again, this post shows how one idea gets better with the ideas of the collective whole. Thanks to you and everyone else for contributing to this new idea!
Aviva
A few years ago, after carefully examining our program of studies, the kindergarten team at my school decided that, while 100th day was connected to grade one math concepts, it did not fit with our kindergarten outcomes. We replaced it instead with “Halfway Day”, where we explore the concept of halves (which often leads into exploring symmetry, and pre- division and multiplication skills). Students also reflect on what they have learned in the first half of their kindergarten year, and set goals for the second half. Like you, I question the “celebration” aspect of it (and am not completely at ease with how this possibly sends a message that the concepts are reserved for just one special day), but the concept of half definitely seems more meaningful to kindergarteners than the concept of 100 ever did, and the repertoire of half-way activities that my K team has developed feel more substantial, and more connected to developmentally appropriate higher-order thinking, than our previous selection of 100 day activities. (Example: drawing a picture of yourself at 100 years old always felt mostly like an activity mean to entertain adults, and beyond the scope of most 5 year olds, whereas drawing half of a self portrait prompts great reflection about what one’s face ACTUALLY looks like, where is the axis of symmetry, is a face truly symmetrical, how could we find out, is it still HALF if it is not symmetrical, etc…). The concept of half also has links to social skills like sharing, and I like that piece of it, too… All this to say: I think that it is always good to question the things we take for granted – to not be afraid to think critically about everything from 100th day to “criss cross applesauce.”
Thanks for your comment, Amy! The “Halfway Day” concept is a very interesting one. I’ve missed this day for this year, but could re-look at the idea next year. I do like the connection to symmetry and fractions (and fair shares). I don’t want it to be a celebration, per se, but just a really meaningful day of learning. Goal-setting seems like a great addition to this day, especially if it’s halfway through the year, as well as maybe reflecting what we’ve done in the first half. All of these comments are giving me more to think about. As you said, it’s good to think critically about what we do and why, and I think that it’s wonderful that others can join in on this “thinking discussion.”
Aviva
I was thinking about this last week when we had our 100th day. We don’t really do much with it in 2nd grade. However, it’s funny you mentioned focusing on 1/2 way day. I walking down the hall and thinking about how powerful that would be. I was even trying to see if our halfway day would have hit on a day before or after winter break.:) It made me think mathematically. 🙂 Many students struggle with fractions and this would be an amazing way to focus on the term half in many different ways. I might let my kids use this as a spring board to use their mathematical skills to go back and find out when we hit the 1/4 mark and then go forward to find the 3/4 date. This has so many possibilities.
Thanks for the comment, Carol! These are all wonderful ideas. When Amy suggested half-way day, I thought of fractions right away. We don’t do much with fractions in Grade 1, but this could be a great opportunity to examine “fair shares.” I do like how even the thought of this day made you think mathematically. That’s got to be a good thing. If you do end up doing something with half-way day at some point, please let me know. I’d love to hear more of your ideas!
Aviva
I will be thinking about this so I can use it next year. 🙂 If it falls the same place as this year, it will be on the day we return from winter break. That will be a fun way to jump into the new year and last 1/2 of our school year.
Great to hear, Carol! That would be a perfect time too. What a great time to set goals and reflect on the first half of the year!
Aviva
I love hearing (literally) your thinking Aviva. When we finally got back to work in late September we didn’t have a calendar in the classroom and we were not counting our days in school. In January however I brought in a few commercial calendars and have been encouraging my students to add important dates to them – eg their birthdays, our week of Zumba, our scheduled fieldtrips etc. One of my grade two students (that I also taught last year) asked how many days we’ve been in school. He asked another teacher in our school and he is now in charge of writing that number on our calendar. He’s excited about our 100th day of school because he remembers how we honored the day last school year. There is a lot about the day that I plan to repeat – the biggest being what they are curious to know about the number, and then providing them with the opportunities to discovery those wonders. But I also love your idea of having them reflect on what has taken them 100 days to learn and celebrating that as well. Because our late school start our 100th day isn’t until March so I still have time to think about this. I’ll be curious to read how it turned out for your students.
Thanks Karen! This day could be a good one for exploring curiosities about numbers. Then there’s an inquiry focus here. I wonder what they’d choose to explore. Would it all connect to the number 100 or just numbers in general? Depending on their questions, this could be a really interesting way to make “numbers” meaningful to them.
Kristi’s comment has me thinking again about 100 Days of Learning. I think that I have a new, updated idea. I’ll be replying to her in a second 🙂 , so you can see what my new thinking is. If you have any additional insights as I finalize these plans, please let me know. I’d love to hear them. I will definitely share how things go. I have no doubt that the students will take the “sketch of a plan” and personalize it through their voices and choices. This will be the best part!
Aviva
I love the reflective pieces of looking back at what they learned in the first 100 days. It will more than likely entail us looking back on our blogs and Fresh Grade portfolios. It will help in the process of self assessment (something we’ve been working on). It will also tie nicely into the “things I am proud of” and the “things I want to get better at” reflecting we’ve been doing all year. I love the idea of creating a class book (book creator is so great for that) where at some point during the day each child will be responsible for creating their own page to add. The book can easily shared on our class blog once complete. The reflective piece of the book will also help student see and set new goals for themselves.
Thanks Karen for sharing what you’re going to do with this idea! I love the reflection and self-evaluation components of this activity. We’ve been working on both of these skills as well. I’m definitely going to make a book a component of this 100th Day. I’m excited to see how it goes. I hope you’ll share how things go with your class too.
Aviva
An interesting fact – the 100 day of school is always on a Friday … if you count in binary, of course.
I’m feeling like this is some kind of binary humour. If only I could remember anything from my Grade 10 Computer Class. 🙂 What if there’s a Snow Day though. Does this computer logic still work?
Aviva
I don’t recall ever having a snow day in the week after Labour Day.
Oh gosh! Is that when the binary 100th day would be? In between report card writing today, I need to Google binary numbers. 🙂
Aviva
I have to be honest that I haven’t read all the other comments, so I apologize if I’m repeating anything that’s already been said. 🙂 First of all, you’re speaking my sentiments exactly about this whole “100th Day” thing. I taught first grade for a few years, but it was a decade ago and this was TOTALLY not a thing then. I don’t know what happened in the last 10 years while I was teaching 4th-5th grades, but someone made up a new holiday (maybe it was Hallmark? They are accused of creating many other ones, right? LOL). And so as I think of what to do on that day, I’m so torn. I, like you mentioned, want to continue to do real life, meaningful things with/for my kiddos, rather than make up things for them to do just because they are related to 100. I can’t see how making fruit loop necklaces or putting stickers on a crown or eating a 100 of something for snack (or even worse a snack that’s shaped like 100) helps my students be deeper thinkers, better readers, more curious “wonderers”, or better problem solvers. Don’t get me wrong, those things are all really fun, and are super cute–but I don’t do things just because they’re cute or fun on a normal day, so why on the 100th day? I like your idea to think of it more related to the passage of time, and to celebrate the learning we’ve done in the last 100 days, rather than the day itself. I was already thinking about how to continue the rich learning we’re already doing during our day and perhaps inserting some nods to 100 (like challenging ourselves to read 100 books, writing 100 word wall words correctly, for instance–although I’m not entirely happy with those choices either…), but now I’m even further considering how to use it for reflection and thinking. I appreciate your post and will probably even write one of my own as I process through what to do. Thank you for challenging our thinking!
Thanks Jen for your comment! As I read through what you wrote, I kept on nodding my head along with you. I want to make this day meaningful as well. With a ton of different suggestions on how to do that, I think that my revised plan will include my initial thoughts, but also include, creating a class book that documents our story of learning (thanks to an idea suggested by my previous VP, Kristi). There will actually be a digital and paper book created by the students that demonstrates their learning (the paper one is through a publishing company, and organized by one of our intermediate teachers, and the digital one will be made using an app, so that we can share it with parents and other classes). We’ll also create a Storify story book of the day, which will document the process of learning. As suggested by my previous VP, Kristi, this would be a good story to share with the Kindergarteners at the end of the year, so that they know what to look forward to in Grade 1. The Math and Language learning can be further documented through discussions with students. In my last reply to Kristi, I also thought of the idea of a Maker Workshop, where students could build structures with various materials as they finish their reflective activity (this connects to our Science learning). I thought of some questions as well as items to include there (e.g., a scale with numbers) that might prompt a further understanding of not just 100, but how numbers compare to 100. This also connects to Jonathan’s idea of looking at how big 100 actually is. I’m sure that my plan will continue to evolve with new ideas. If you blog too, please let me know. I’d love to hear what you decide to do.
Aviva
Aviva…
I want to say thank you… for inviting the conversation, for asking important questions, for thinking critically about your practice.
Doing things because only perpetuates where we are in education… understanding why will help us make the important changes needed so that teaching & learning is exactly where it needs to be in 2015.
You are modelling the way friend:)
Thanks for the encouragement, Jana! I think that Twitter and blogs help encourage these types of important conversations. I’m glad that so many people chimed in — either here or on Twitter — with their thoughts. Not everyone agreed with me, but it was good to start with asking, “why.”
Aviva
I love that you’re questioning a tradition and why some celebrate the day. IS there learning to be done, or is it simply a case of “we’ve always done this?”
My students are 5 & 6 yo, and we will work a lot in finding different combinations and groupings to get to 100 (they all can count to 100 pretty easily by now). They really like finding different ways to “make” a number- we do those types of activities a lot. We’ve also read books about what a “million” is, as well as a “googleplex.” They’re fascinated with numbers. I must also say that learning about the relative size of numbers has helped them learn NOT to exaggerate. Sometimes. 😉
We’re also going to be building with 100 items to see what kind of structures they can create… this is something they LOVE! Because we journal almost every day, they’ll be writing in their journals about our activities. Even considering having them compose a story about “100.” We might use Puppet Pals or something like that to tell the story. I can’t wait!
The most important part for me is NOT to have a 100th Day celebration just because it’s a tradition or rite of passage. We’re very deliberate at our school to ensure that everything is a learning opportunity, and our inquiry-based model lends itself to exploring why 100 days is a big deal (or not). I can guarantee it won’t just be about counting. Will be live-tweeting our celebration which is this coming Thursday, Jan. 29. Our class account is @TeamBaldwin if you want to follow what we do! 🙂
Thanks for the comment, Michelle, and sharing some of your plans for the day! I do like the idea of creating numbers in different ways. I’m just trying to figure out how to make these kinds of counting activities about more than just skill development. I’d like students to think about these combinations and why numbers matter. Based on some of the comments here, I’ve decided to also create a Maker Space as part of the day. We’re working on structures right now, and I’m hoping that as students create structures of various sizes, they can compare why some structures could accommodate more materials, and some structures collapsed with less. I’d love for them to think about how they can use more materials to take a smaller structure and make it bigger. I’m seeing a good possibility here for some proportional reasoning. Students might also like to look more at the weight of various materials, and the impact that this has on structural stability. I’m thinking that a scale (with numbers) might help students compare weights, and see what all of these numbers really mean. Even just seeing their own weight compared to the weight of different materials might help. Sharing our learning as part of a “story” is a wonderful idea, and one that my previous VP, Kristi, also suggested. I see a few different storytelling opportunities as part of this day, and I guess that Twitter could also provide some mini-stories of learning. I’ll be watching your class account for sure on January 29th to see all of the learning of your five and six year olds!
Aviva
I taught Kinder last year and agree with Faige about it being sort of a right of passage. Last year the “celebration” focused on our play with numbers and the foundation of number sense. I looped with my class to first grade this year. The 100th day caught a lot of teachers off guard. It was a much less celebrated day in general. However, in my class, it coincided with students learning about place value. Our focus had been on tens and ones, but this day presented a great opportunity to extend it to hundreds. For my students, it was also a good time to reflect on how they’ve grown as readers and writers in the first 100 days of school. There’s been amazing progress! It was a good time to stop and acknowledge that, as well as set some goals for the months ahead. In the past few years I have really started to question why I do what I do with students on a regular basis in an effort to be more clear about the difference between good teaching and all the cute activities. I think you are right about emphasizing the learning that has taken place in those first 100 days and having it be a meaningful day of learning versus taking a detour to do random activities related to 100.
Thanks for the comment, Windy! It’s interesting how you approached this day as a Kindergarten teacher versus a Grade 1 teacher. I really like your idea of goal setting, and what a great connection to place value as well. I think that sometimes it can be difficult to stop and reflect on why we’re doing what we’re doing, but when we do, the learning becomes so much more meaningful for the students.
Aviva
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What an amazing conversation around the 100th day of school! I, too, am nodding my head with many of your thoughts and I want to add in a video that might support many of your new ideas around how to tackle this unique day.
http://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/33907313564
Aviva – I might have mentioned this to you when we met for the SS meeting.
Where might this lead? What if you showed this to your students and had them wonder about it? I’ve shown it to a few groups of teachers who all tried to count along. Many wondered which person matched their own age. Could it lead into an inquiry about counting in a variety of languages? It sounds like in the Dutch language they say 21 as one and twenty. It makes me very curious about counting to 100. Do you think it bring about the same curiosity in your students? 🙂
Thanks Stephanie! As I finalize my plans for this day, you couldn’t have shared the link and the comment at a more perfect time. You did mention this website to me at the last Social Studies meeting, and I’ve actually used one of the videos already with the students. It’s a fantastic resource! I’m going to check out this video as well. I think you’ve just given us a meaningful way to discuss questions, illicit wonders, and possibly even result in a new inquiry.
Aviva
I can’t wait to hear about it! 🙂
Thanks Stephanie! I’ll be sure to share. 🙂
Aviva
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