100 Ways, 100 Days

Written by: Danielle Abernethy
Friday, February 20th, 2009

I remember my first year of teaching when a small party was held in a teacher’s room to celebrate the 100th day of school. This day of celebration was new to me at this point, and not nearly as popular as it is now. I asked what was the big deal? Her response – “We are celebrating all that we have learned, all that is yet to come, and the fact that we’re half way through the year. It’s a chance to reflect on how much we have learned and how much we still need to learn.” Before I could tell her that half way was actually the 90th day of school she said, “And 100 sounds so much more impressive than 90, don’t you think?”

Has the 100th day of school already passed for you? If so, how did you celebrate with your students? If not, how do you plan to celebrate? I’d like to share with you a few possibilities.

I was told the reason I was not familiar with 100th Day of School celebrations is because it’s usually an early childhood or early elementary lesson. I learned from another teacher at a conference that the 100th day of school does not have to stop with our primary students though. This high school teacher has her students reflect on the 100th day by writing 100 things they learned that year, and only 25 could be personal. After all, we’re helping our students develop into the successful adults they will become. She found this activity to be a great opportunity for students to go beyond a learning log and really reflect on all they have learned.

In netTrekker d.i., you can find some other great activities for the 100th Day of School. I went to the Thematic Units (bottom of elementary page) and chose to browse all themes. From there I selected 100th Day of School. I love interactive activities, so I refined my search and found a really neat Promethean Board Activity. It has even more ideas to help with your planning. (Don’t forget, if you don’t have Promethean’s ACTIV Boards, you can download the viewerto use these great interactive lessons!)

I then reset my refinement and then chose “learning games”. I was so surprised at what I discovered! I found my favorite little monkey, Curious George! He sponsors a video where students explore what a 100 looks, feels, and even sounds like. The video is on Teacher’s Domain and is available for streaming.
Another resource is the Scholastic Resource. What I liked about this article from Instructor Magazine is that on the right hand side you can click on Math or another subject and pull up activities for them. I loved the Zero Hero and the Community Service Lessons I found there.

Whether it’s your 100th day of teaching or 120th – let’s celebrate how much we have learned!

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Friday, February 20th, 2009 Training