100 Days Smarter!

100 days of school is a big deal in Grade 1!

A big part of our Math curriculum focuses on working with numbers to 100, so celebrating 100 is an opportunity to tie in several Math activities, as well as many Language Arts tasks and even the perfect Religion lesson.

We worked over several days to write 100 words:

We made fabulous runway-worthy party hats! There were 10 strips of paper, and we counted 10 polka dots on each. Boom, 100 dots!

The boys and girls practiced and read a 100 word poem to several classes:

We brought in collections of one hundred items:

Isn't it interesting how different 100 items can look? Some bags are so full, and others have much less. 

Hidden down the hall were many numbers. The students were challenged to find and colour them in on a 100's chart to find a secret message:

We challenged ourselves with many numeracy games!

We were SO EXCITED to meet our Grade 3/4 buddies in the library for a celebration with board and card games!

To bring our special day to a close, we settled ourselves and heard the story from the bible about the lost sheep. We looked at 100 cotton balls, thinking of them as 100 little sheep, and wondered "Would God worry if one little sheep went missing? Wouldn't having 99 sheep be enough?" No! If we stray from God, He worries and looks for us. He always welcomes the lost little sheep back. 

Happy 100 Day, boys and girls! Be proud of your hard work!

100 Days of Learning!

100 days of school is a big deal in Grade 1. Huge! EPIC! 

A big part of our Math curriculum focuses on working with numbers to 100, so celebrating 100 is an opportunity to tie in several Math activities, as well as many Language Arts tasks and even the perfect Religion lesson.

So, we began preparing for the 100th day ... on day 96?!?!?! Yup, its possible Mrs. Beliveau planned 100+ activities for our celebration, and we needed to get a jump start on the fun and learning!

Here is a look at day 96, 97, 98, 99, and of course, day 100!!!

We worked over several days to write 100 words! Be proud of that amazing long list, kiddos!

We made fabulous runway-worthy party hats! There were 10 strips of paper, and we counted 10 polka dots on each. Boom, 100 dots!

The boys and girls practiced and read a 100 word poem to several classes:

We brought in collections of one hundred items:

Isn't it interesting how different 100 items can look? Some bags are so full, and others have much less. 

Hidden around the room were many numbers. The students were challenged to find them and colour them in on a 100's chart to find a secret message:

We squeezed in several little numeracy games!

To bring our special day to a close, we settled ourselves and heard the story from the bible about the lost sheep. We looked at 100 cotton balls, thinking of them as 100 little sheep, and wondered "Would God worry if one little sheep went missing? Wouldn't having 99 sheep be enough?" No! If we stray from God, He worries and looks for us. He always welcomes the lost little sheep back. 

Happy 100 Day, boys and girls! Be proud of your hard work!

Party hat labels from Cara Carroll at First Grade Parade. 

Door decor inspired by Sara Ann Culberson. 

Monday. Tuesday.

Monday. 

Tuesday. 

Hmmm. Sounds a little boring. Doesn't sound exciting like Valentine's Day or 100th Day. Blech. Just two days in a row with NO SPECIAL EVENTS?!?! Does that even happen in Grade 1?

(That said, tomorrow is Rainbow Day!)

But, even our seemingly "average" days are always interesting!

In Math we are using what we have learned about skip counting to help us efficiently count large groups of items. 

Yikes! That's a big pile!

We began by grouping items into tens. Then we counted the leftovers by 1's. 

We can use skip counting to help us!
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, ... 51, 52, 53

Students got into pairs to count their own piles of manipulatives. Look how skip counting by 10's helps us count:

We also tried counting the same pile of items using skip counting by 5's:

5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 ... 51, 52, 53!

We grouped the same heap of items into piles of 5 and counted the leftovers:

Why did we have the same count both times? Because, as one little one pointed out, "we didn't change the pile, we just changed how we counted them"!

The students are on their way to becoming skip counting experts, but please continue practice at home. These skills need to be automatic before being successfully applied in counting situations such as these. 

Please find time to practice skip counting:

• by 2's to 20

• by 5's to 100

• by 10's to 100

Learning to skip count helps us count large groups of items accurately and efficiently, and is a life skill.