Ideas for your 100th Day of School Celebration
Groups-of-Five Handprint Mural
Have available tempera paint and a large roll of mural-size paper. Children will need to be familiar with counting by fives. Tell them that you will be making a mural using their handprints. Discuss with the class how many different groups of five they will need in order to represent 100. Using different colors of tempera paint, have children add their handprints to the chart in groups of five prints. Display the mural for the 100th-day celebration.
Estimating Distance
How far is 100 steps? In the hallway, ask children to estimate how far 100 steps will take them. Discuss the fact that each person's stride is different, so they may end up in different places. Have children place a sticky-note with their name on it in the place where they estimate they will end up after 100 steps. Starting from a starting line, have each take 100 steps (you may need to do this in small groups). Discuss how the children's estimates related to the actual distance they covered.
Counting Exercises
Each day during morning meeting when the class talks about how many days they have been in school, you can choose a simple movement to do as you practice counting up to that number—for example, raising both hands to the sky, or patting your head. As you count, make this movement for each number. This can help children new to counting keep track of their numbers. As you approach higher numbers, you will of course want to choose simpler motions! Children would enjoy being invited onto the playground for a special 100th-day exercise celebration, during which they could do larger and more physical stretches—jumping jacks, for example.
Neighborhood Window Walk
Take the students on a walk down the block with clipboards, paper, and pencils. Have them count and tally how many windows they see as they walk. If your school is in a dense urban environment, you may choose to focus on only one side of a block. If your school is in the country, you may want to count the windows of the school itself, or choose another more relevant object to tally.
Visiting the Market
Depending on the location of your school, you may choose to visit a farmers' market (as George does), a supermarket, or a neighborhood fruit stand. George counts seventy carrots, seventy-one peppers, seventy-two tomatoes, and seventy-three pumpkin seeds. What vegetables and fruits do you find at your market? How many are there?
Counting Cookies
As a classroom project, bake cookies together (if this is possible in your classroom). During choice time, ask each child to decorate a cookie with five (or a number that makes sense to you) M&Ms. After baking them and before eating them, count the number of M&Ms on each cookie. This can provide a wonderful opportunity for focus on counting by fives.
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