There was A LOT of excitement and energy in our classroom today as we prepared to celebrate the 100th day of learning and exploring together.
We made 100th day crowns, using 10 strips of paper with 10 things drawn on each. I found the inspiration from the joy of kindergarten. I loved how the strips were stapled up like old royal crowns - how lovely! The kids really enjoyed this activity, and the hats turned out great -with a couple of kinks.
These are the hats as seen on Joy of Kindergarten.
We used this on the front of our crowns, found at Making Learning Fun
After having completed this activity for the first time, a few suggestions I would make for next time:
1. Split the hat-making into 2 (or more) days. It was incredibly rushed and made the energy in our classroom feel chaotic and stressful. (plus it gives you a chance for some assessment before the kids run off with them!)
2. set up the strips on one table and call students one-by-one to select 10 strips. This will ensure they all finish with 10 (as opposed to only 5 or 7, which is what happened today!). When each student sits down with their 10 strips, ensure that they write their name on ALL 10 Strips!
I also like the idea of them having their 10 strips because it lets them know how much more they have to work on before they're done, and (hopefully) prevents the 100 questions of "am I done yet?". I also think splitting this activity up into 2 days will help them stay more focused.
3. More Parent Volunteers - I had 1 parent volunteer today (1 was sick) but I think that 3 would have been ideal. That said, also ensure you have as many staplers/glue so they can all be putting together the hats.
5. Count to 100 around the band of the crown using tally marks to incorporate another way to represent 100.
4. Drink 100 coffees before beginning. It's an exciting, high energy and demanding day- have the coffee and begin your day right!
All in all though, it was a LOVELY day, and I am so excited that I get to celebrate moments like this with 21 little souls. <3
Cheers Big Ears,
Ms. Feeney
