CELEBRATING 100 DAY!
Miss. Borrelli's Grade One Class
St. Monica School

    The children had a wonderful time celebrating the 100the day of school.  We have been counting the days since our very first day of school way back in September.  Each day, during our regular calendar activities, the children would add a numbered t-shirt to our classroom number line.  This number line has not only assisted us in keeping track of our school days, it has also been helpful in learning and extending many other math concepts.  Each t-shirt has a certain colour that assists the children with skip counting (by 2's, 5's and 20's).  The colours also assist the children in identifying odd and even numbers with a quick glance!  The children refer to the number line on a regular basis, not only to assist with counting concepts, but all with addition and subtraction concepts.  It has become an easy reference for all the children in the class!

OUR T-SHIRT NUMBER LINE

        The children were also involved in many activities that allowed them to demonstrate their understanding of the number concepts that we had been learning in connection to the 100th day of school as well as continue to extend their learning.

    One of the activities that they were involved in was making a balloon chain.  We have 20 children in our class, therefore we figured out that each of the children would need to blow up (with balloon pumps!) 5 balloons in order for us to create a chain of 100 balloons.  We then connected all of the balloons and used it to see how far down the hallway the chain would reach, how many times around our classroom and how far across the gym it would go.  Finally, we hung the balloon chain in our classroom.

    We are also going to be using the balloon chain for some addition and subtraction activities over the next week.  As balloons begin to deflate, we are going to subtract them from 100.  This is a great extension of their learning!

    The children also had the opportunity to make some bead necklaces.  Their task was to create a 2-colour necklace and to demonstrate counting by 2's, 5's or 10's.  This was not only a fine motor control activity but also a counting activity.  The children also needed to understand skip counting to 100.  They enjoyed this activity because, in the end, the got to wear their necklaces.  It was a great application of all the learning we had been engaged in around skip counting.

    The children also participated in a writing activity around 100 day.  They each created a personal book of wishes.  The children completed the sentence starter "I wish I had 100 ____ so I could _____."  On the final page of their personal book, they completed the sentence starter "But I don't want 100 _____ because ____."  The children loved writing and sharing their personal books with their classmates as well as other people in the school.  This activity was a great connection to our reading and writing!

    Another exciting part of our day was to add 100 candles to the cake.  Again, because we have 20 children in the class, each of the children had the opportunity to add 5 candles to the class cake.  WOW!  That many candles nearly melted the icing off the cake.  The cake sure was YUMMY though.  This really gave the children a good sense of how much 100 is!