We did it, we've made it, we've survived: 100 Days of School!
I have to confess that this is the first time I've really celebrated the 100th day of school in awhile (I mean on a deeper level than a few free printouts from Teachers Pay Teachers). I love Teachers Pay Teachers (as we all do) but this year I wanted something with a bit more oomph, but still with very little prep.
This year our classroom celebration centered around 3 main activities:
100th Day Snack
This activity took the most "prep" as it involved me assigning OPTIONAL homework the day before. I asked students to bring in 100 of a snack to share. Any snack. If they did not
have 100 of something on hand, they could make a collection of snacks adding up to 100. Students were also challenged to explain their counting method (by 2s, 5s, 10s, etc.) when they brought in their snack.
The class was super jazzed about this assignment and I even had a few kiddos email photos of them counting their snacks the night before!
Contrary to a few free printables I've seen out there, the emphasis in our classroom was on the students counting and bringing in the correct number of snacks not the number of snacks students were able to eat and enjoy the day of the celebration. This was done mainly because I do not like to require students to bring in things that their parents will have to buy for them. Luckily, almost my whole class participated (19 out of 22!) and it fun for everyone to see what their peers brought in and to talk about what surprised them when they saw the differing volume of various snacks (even though the numbers were the same!)
100 Fitness Challenge
Easily customized, the 100 Fitness Challenge was a simple and fun way to celebrate the 100th day of school. It also doubled as the perfect "brain break" between different classes!
The 100 Fitness Challenge consists of 10 different "exercises" done in sets of 10. The energy level of my students was about a medium when we completed this challenge and so I incorporated a mix of active and recovery moves:
100 Days Smarter: Metacognition 101
100 Days Smarter was by far the class favorite and the most impactful from an educational point of view. It is not uncommon in today's classroom to feel the pressure to"get through" curriculum, often leaving little to no time for students to pause and reflect on what they have learned. As we all know, metacognition (knowledge of one's own learning) is a crucial part of solidifying knowledge in the brain and being able to put what we have learned into practice. The 100 Days Smarter project was an excellent way for students reflect and remember some of the many core-concepts they have learned thus far. It also created a "wow" factor when students saw both the expansiveness of the list, as well as the paper chain containing everything they've learned.
The project took about an hour and a half, and had four steps:
We had a lot of fun on our 100th day and I hope you do too! Hopefully these free and low-prep activities inspire you to incorporate more team-work and collaboration into your 100th day celebration.
Thanks for visiting my blog and happy teaching :)
Miss Molly
I have to confess that this is the first time I've really celebrated the 100th day of school in awhile (I mean on a deeper level than a few free printouts from Teachers Pay Teachers). I love Teachers Pay Teachers (as we all do) but this year I wanted something with a bit more oomph, but still with very little prep.This year our classroom celebration centered around 3 main activities:
- Bring a 100th Day Snack to Share
- The 100 Fitness Challenge
- 100 Days Smart
100th Day Snack
This activity took the most "prep" as it involved me assigning OPTIONAL homework the day before. I asked students to bring in 100 of a snack to share. Any snack. If they did not
have 100 of something on hand, they could make a collection of snacks adding up to 100. Students were also challenged to explain their counting method (by 2s, 5s, 10s, etc.) when they brought in their snack.The class was super jazzed about this assignment and I even had a few kiddos email photos of them counting their snacks the night before!
Contrary to a few free printables I've seen out there, the emphasis in our classroom was on the students counting and bringing in the correct number of snacks not the number of snacks students were able to eat and enjoy the day of the celebration. This was done mainly because I do not like to require students to bring in things that their parents will have to buy for them. Luckily, almost my whole class participated (19 out of 22!) and it fun for everyone to see what their peers brought in and to talk about what surprised them when they saw the differing volume of various snacks (even though the numbers were the same!)
100 Fitness Challenge
Easily customized, the 100 Fitness Challenge was a simple and fun way to celebrate the 100th day of school. It also doubled as the perfect "brain break" between different classes!
The 100 Fitness Challenge consists of 10 different "exercises" done in sets of 10. The energy level of my students was about a medium when we completed this challenge and so I incorporated a mix of active and recovery moves:
- 10 toe touches
- 10 jumping jacks
- 10 arm circles
- 10 knee raises
- 10 hip twists
- 10 marching steps
- 10 hops left foot
- 10 hops right foot
- 10 leg swings
- 10 swimmers hugs
100 Days Smarter: Metacognition 101
100 Days Smarter was by far the class favorite and the most impactful from an educational point of view. It is not uncommon in today's classroom to feel the pressure to
"get through" curriculum, often leaving little to no time for students to pause and reflect on what they have learned. As we all know, metacognition (knowledge of one's own learning) is a crucial part of solidifying knowledge in the brain and being able to put what we have learned into practice. The 100 Days Smarter project was an excellent way for students reflect and remember some of the many core-concepts they have learned thus far. It also created a "wow" factor when students saw both the expansiveness of the list, as well as the paper chain containing everything they've learned.The project took about an hour and a half, and had four steps:- Brainstorming (done by students individually)
- Sharing (ideas were shared with the whole group and listed on the white board for students to see)
- Transferring information (students were assigned numbers and transferred information learned to strips of paper)
- Creating the paper chain
We had a lot of fun on our 100th day and I hope you do too! Hopefully these free and low-prep activities inspire you to incorporate more team-work and collaboration into your 100th day celebration.Thanks for visiting my blog and happy teaching :)
Miss Molly
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