100th Day of Kindergarten

If you haven't visited a kindergarten classroom since you were in kindergarten let me just tell you....you are missing out!! Yes, kindergarten has indeed changed quite a bit since the 80's when I went to school. Yes, it is very focused on academics but at the same time you would not believe the fun, hands-on, exciting learning opportunities that take place everyday!

Today was one of my personal favorites. I always look forward to the 100th day of Kindergarten! Beginning on the first day of school, we start counting the days of school. Each day during math, we add a day to our number line and slowly watch it grow. Each week that goes by, the anticipation builds as we await the 100th day. The whole school anticipates the 100th day. For those of you who don't know...there are 180 days of school. But the 100th day is so much fun to celebrate! It's fun because it celebrates how far we have come and how close we are to becoming 1st graders! It's also an awesome time to practice a lot of exciting math, reading, and writing activities surrounding the number 100. It's also fun to celebrate how we have grown as a classroom "family" over the 100 days. We've spent a lot of quality time together...about 700 hours!

Today, the kids read books about the 100th day of school, practiced writing to 100, each wrote 100 words, drew a picture of what they think they will look like when they are 100 years old, counted by 1's, 5's and 10's to 100, brought in their collections of 100 items from home to share with the class and count, took 100 steps in the hallway and measured how far it took us to get to our destination, and then capped off the day by singing "Happy 100th Day" and enjoying a cookie cake! Yummy!

I look at these kiddos and see so much progress. My, how they have grown and changed in 100 days! I am just like a proud mommy when I ponder how far they have come. I just had to share them on my blog because they are a part of our family. They are a huge part of me. I love them deeply and I love my job. Jon and I pray for them daily. Yes, they have grown remarkably in 100 short days in all academic areas. They now read fluently, know about the world around them, enjoy exploration and experiments in science, have great social skills and manners, and are little mathematicians! But most importantly, I see how they have grown in character, stamina, determination, love, pride, and self confidence. Happy 100th Day! Only 80 days left...the count down is on!