First Grade STARS: 100th Day Happiness!

We celebrated one of my favorite days of the year last week - the 100th day of school! It's hard to believe we have already reached this point in the year, but as we reflected on the first 100 days of school, we realized how much we've learned and how much fun we've had doing it!

Two years ago, inspired by my friend, Holly Ehle (find her freebie HERE), I decided to make my 100th day celebration all about happiness - for ourselves and for others. We continued that on this 100th day with a few updates.

Since I just started blogging again, one thing you may not know is that my daughter is in my class this year. I've had a lot of skeptical reactions to this, but it has been the absolute best decision we have ever made. I LOVE having my baby in my room this year! Here we are showing off our 100th day attire, and you can see the 100 streamers in the background.

Our day started with a visit from one of our kindergarten classes, who showed off their 100th day superhero capes. How cute and amazing are these?!

Then we got to work! First, I issued a challenge to my class to read 100 books in one day, and they rose to the challenge! I let them record their titles as they finished using my special Mr. Sketch and Scentos markers!

Some of my kids, who sometimes struggle to focus long enough to stick with a book for Read to Self, read more on this day than they usually do in a week! It was so awesome!

I helped by reading a few of my favorite 100th day books:

AND WE DID IT!

This was the first time a class of mine made it to 100 books in one day. We usually have to extend the challenge for a second day to get to 100. But these little stars are AMAZING!

The glasses we are wearing are from Really Good Stuff. They loved them!

For Work on Words, they wrote 100 words around the room. During Work on Writing, they wrote about what makes them happy now, and what they think will make them happy when they are 100.

I used the free Aging Booth app for this, and they thought the pictures were HILARIOUS!

We also squeezed in a few GoNoodle brain breaks. We saved the new counting to 100 song for this special occasion.

After lunch and recess, we started our 100th day math.

We used the place value, addition, number sense, and ten more/ten less clues on the back side of this 100 chart (you can see them in my other post HERE) to determine which numbers to color and discovered it made a smiley face when we were finished!

Then I split the class into four groups.

Two groups had a partially completed 100 chart (from an old issue of Mailbox I think) and a pile of Starbursts (because Starbursts are exponentially more engaging than just plain ol' numbers, and, well, they go with my star theme). Each Starburst had a number from 1-100 on it. They picked one, figured out where it would go on the 100 chart, and wrote it in that square.

The other two groups had a tub of pattern blocks, which we have not used at all this year (helps with engagement again). They had to count out 100 blocks and make a design with them. This spurred some very creative thinking! I've also had kids build 100 cup or block towers, but we had already done some of that this year with other STEM challenges, and I wanted to keep the novelty alive. When both groups were finished, we switched. And when they completed both challenges, they all got to eat a Starburst. :)

Then it was on to writing. We brainstormed a list of activities and events that have made us happy in the first 100 days on the board. I gave them the first sentence and asked them to choose some of their favorite things to add to their papers. I absolutely loved what they remembered.

"The first 100 days have been awesome! I really like it when we do Kodable and the Christmas program and Grinch day and when we get 100 tickets. I wonder what we are going to do for the next 80 days!"

"The first 100 days of school have been fun! I really liked when Mrs. Zimmer teaches. Mrs. Zimmer is the best teacher. You the best. You always help us. When I saw you, you looked nice. We had so much fun with you. These make me happy!"

Obviously this little sweetie earned some brownie points! :)

"The first 100 days of school have been awesome! I really like when it was Grinch day. We did Grinch things, and when it was Polar Express we drink hot chocolate and watch the movie Polar Express." He kept going on the back, but I forgot to take a picture!

"The first 100 days of school have been fun! I really liked IXL and Daily 5 and popcorn day and Grinch day and Kodable. These have made me happy!"

While these weren't about how to make others happy this year (you can see the ones that were HERE), they sure made me a very happy teacher to see all of the things they loved about this year so far. Other highlights included balloon drop math, our field trip to the pumpkin farm this fall, pajama days, having fun with friends, recess, and reading. I love these kids!

We finished the day with a little 100th day snack.

I forgot plates, but they didn't mind. :)