100 Days in Grade One

The 100th day of school is an exciting time in the Grade One classrooms! It marks a special opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate major milestones in our students’ academic achievement. In the Grade One year, developing basic numeracy skills are a critical component of mathematics instruction. We had ‘fruit loops’ of fun counting to 100 and making edible necklaces. Each class has a dog kennel chart with numbered bones. The children took turns to add on the number of the day and we explored and investigated the mathematical language and skills around that number.

The opportunities that this day presents to test our students’ writing skills haven’t gone unnoticed either. We challenged them to write on the topic: “What I have learnt in 100 days… and When I am 100 years old I will remember….” We then tried a writing prompt that excited our students (and is sure to give you a little chuckle) by asking our learners to finish the sentence: “If I had R100 I would buy...”Let’s just say that it is very clear that we have not taught them the value of money yet.

This day isn’t just about putting skills into practise—it also presents an opportunity to build our classroom community and celebrate our students’ accomplishments with activities and a few special surprises. The teachers came to school dressed like students in their winter school uniform and the children dressed up as old people. Grey, wrinkled and full of fun! “Congrats! You are 100 days smarter!” We discussed this in our classrooms and celebrated all the things they have learnt to do. We added to the list by telling them how resilient and brave they are given these unprecedented times we live in. We ended off the day with a fun selfie activity.

Thank you One and All for sharing this momentous day with us.