Five for Friday!

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for a weekly recap.

Thursday was our official 100th day of Kindergarten! One of my favorite celebrations! Check out all of the fun 100 themed activities we did here. It's hard to believe our school year is already 1/2 over!

100 Days Welcome Sign

One of our amazing 1st grade teachers wanted to try this idea with all of the Kindergarten and First grade classes - a HUGE 100s chart! Each student got to decorate their own number before we hung it in the hallway.

"My name is Skippito Friskito (clap, clap)..." has been chanting in my head ever since I started reading my favorite kitty books: Skippyjon Jones. I usually read the first book each year to see if my kids take an interest (since the Spanish vocabulary can be confusing for some of them). Well.. this class can't get enough of this imaginative, silly, (sometimes naughty), Chihuahua wanna-be, Siamese cat! I'm going to have to stock up on more books as I only have 5 and I know there are many more.

In Kindergarten, we celebrate ours Moms on Valentine's Day by inviting them to a special Mother's Valentine Tea. We have one last week to put the finishing touches on our Mom Valentines and practice our songs. Each year the students draw a picture of their mom and fill out an All About Mom questionnaire. We put them on display for the Moms to see when the come for tea. Aren't they adorable?

You can find the All About Mom questionnaire here.

More symmetry practice! This was tricky, but my students enjoyed the challenge of finishing the other 1/2 of the picture with pattern blocks.

Another favorite symmetry activity is freeze dancing. Choose a jam and start dancing. When the music stops, shout out "symmetrical!" The student have to freeze and strike a symmetrical pose with their body.

I have been searching for different ways to help some of my students that struggle with pencil grips. Two of my kiddos hold the pencil straight up instead of letting it rest between their thumb and pointer finger. I came across this trick using a rubber band... and... it works great! It holds the pencil down with a gentle amount of resistance to help them get used to holding it that way. The only problem is when they need to erase something...hmmm.... no perfect solution... YET!

I am always impressed at how far their writing comes compared to the beginning of the year! AMAZING!

Happy Friday!

Hip, Hip, Hooray! It's the 100th Day!

I laugh each year because there is always that one student who thinks the 100th day is our LAST day of school. (I'm always relieved when I correct them and they don't start crying thinking of the 80+ more days to go. Whew!)

The 100th day is one of my favorite school day "celebrations". Some years I've gone all out and dressed up as "100 year old Granny Hanny". The day before, I tell the class they will have a sub and do the usual prep: "Remember to be good listeners.... Make wise choices..." I really have them going. I can usually fool them for a few minutes the morning of the 100th day.... but alas! I'm just too youthful looking -even wearing my great-grandmothers old clothes. Even though they know it's me... they still want me to keep up the act with my granny voice calling them "Sunny" or "Lil' Whipper Snippers".

100 year old "Granny Hanny" on the 100th Day of School!

While I didn't do the whole "Ganny Hanny" thing this year, we had full day of hundred themed activities:

Fruit Loop Necklaces with 100 Edible Beads
We integrated county by 10s by putting a life saver gummie every 10th "bead". This made it easy for my kiddos to count the number of beads on their string: "10, 20, 30, and two more - I have 32 beads so far"

Don't want bead all over the floor? Clip a clothespin on one end of the string.

100 Day Collections
I sent a gallon bag home at the beginning of the week for each student to fill with a collection of 100 items. When they brought them today, we filled out an entry form for a special show-n-tell. One year I had a student ask to bring 100 blown balloons! This year, my favorite collection was "100 ideas".

I Would Like 100... But Never 100...
We compiled our responses into a class book. One student said "I would never want 100 whiny sisters - I already have one and that's enough!"

100 Exercises
Throughout the day we did 100 exercises in sets of ten: 10 toe-touches, 10 jumping jacks, 10 spins...

Roll to 100
This game was played in pairs.  I simplified the original game from Peterson's Pad by having my kids roll 1 die instead of 2. We are in the middle of our addition unit...so I plan to bring this game back in it's original form when we are more automatic in our simple addition skills.

Crazy Hats
What celebration is complete without ridiculous hats? You guessed it - 100 stickers total!

One Lost Sheep
This parable is a beautiful illustration of God's BIG love for us. He will leave His 99 sheep to go looking for the one lost sheep until all 100 are back in His care. After reading this rhyming picture book, I sent my class looking for the 100 sheep I hid in our classroom.

 Each time a sheep was found, that "shepherd" would color the sheep's number in on the 100's chart. We searched until all 100 were safe and sound. This activity was great number recognition practice as they searched to find the matching number on the chart. 

 

 
So Many Names!
What a perfect day to talk about the many names for Jesus - each one tells us something special about His character. He is our shepherd, our Savior, king, and creator. His name is Immanuel, the Light of the World...
I introduce this concept by saying how I have many different names that describe me. I'm a wife, daughter, teacher, sister, student, friend...
After we talk about several (not 100!) names for God, we do "popcorn praise prayers" (how's that for a tongue twister). We take turns saying a quick praise "God, you are __(wonderful, amazing...)__!"


"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one!" ~ Dr. Seuss