Each day, as part of our math Number Corner, we keep track of how many days we have been in school by writing and representing the number. This means we are very aware of the 100th day of school and excitement for the day usually starts to build around day 90, as we just have one more ten frame to fill.

 Our 100th day was last Tuesday, February 8th and we engaged in a variety of activities to mark the milestone. These included a partner game to collect 100 cubes, searching the room for 100 numbered tiles and matching them to their corresponding number on a 100's chart, stringing 100 beads, looking for hidden pictures with objects arranged in rows of 10 and determining how many of each object there were, and reading 100 words. I'm certain that the highlight for everyone was the snack with 100 little morsels, which we actually enjoyed on the 101st day, Wednesday, as a picnic to take advantage of the glorious sunshine and warm temperatures! 

While celebrating the 100th day is mostly about recognizing a milestone and having fun, I find that emphasis on 100 for a day or two can also deepen children's sense of our number system and how numbers to 100 are composed and written as groups of 10 and additional ones.

 On Monday afternoon after meeting our schoolwide goal for tickets earned we had a celebration with sledding and hot chocolate. Kindergarteners really enjoyed buddying up with 5th and 6th grade students for some fun in the snow!

We wrapped up our motion unit last week with a design challenge to build a mini sled. I introduced the challenge by reading the book "Red Sled", by Lita Judge. This story, told largely through illustrations, depicts the sledding adventures of an array of forest animals. We reviewed some of the motion concepts from this unit by talking about what makes a fast sled and how various snow conditions affect the way sleds move. Students were then presented with a variety of recyclables, pipe cleaners, craft sticks, and colorful duct tape, and encouraged to use their imaginations as they designed sleds for some of our classroom animals.

Recently we began a new science unit focused on forces and motion. In this unit we are exploring and identifying different pushes and pulls as well as the effect of different strengths and different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of objects. We began by reading the book "Give it a push! Give it a Pull! A Look at Forces", by Jennifer Boothroyd. We then brainstormed various pushes and pulls in our everyday lives, noting that a push moves an object away from the force, while a pull brings the object closer. 

We have spent time exploring how characteristic such as weight, size, shape, and surface texture affect the amount of force needed to move an object as well as how it moves. We also experimented with ways to make objects change direction when in motion. Children have been encouraged to pay particular attention to these concepts at recess, where there is a lot of motion and lots of forces at play. The ever changing conditions of our playground have provided great opportunities for experimenting with forces and motion, especially with sleds!

 Just before our vacation we finished learning all of the letters and their corresponding sounds and we are now putting this knowledge to work in both reading and writing. During our morning literacy time we have been working on blending sounds to read short words. We tap the sounds on our fingers saying them slowly, (first sound- index finger, second sound- middle finger, third sound- ring finger) and then blend them together to read the word. We also practice building words using magnetic letter tiles, saying the word, tapping the sounds, and then moving the corresponding letters to make the word. While this sounds simple, when the letters and sounds are new it is hard work! Children have been applying this knowledge along with several sight words we have learned to begin reading short decodable books.

During writing I have challenged the class to be as independent as possible, stretching words (saying them very slowly) and writing any sounds they hear. Children can write about anything and we typically have a wide variety of topics on a given day including events in our daily lives, imaginative stories, and football game play by play. Right now our biggest focus is getting words on paper by writing the sounds we hear.  It is really exciting and motivational for children when they begin to write things I can read. (I have lots of practice...don't worry if you still find it challening to read your child's writing!) Children are also inspired and motivated by each other's growth and we always end writing time by sharing our work. 

I would never expect students in the class to be in the same place with their acquisition of reading or writing skills and we have talked a lot about not comparing our work to classmates, but instead focusing on our own growth each day.