Today was the 100th day of school. We were supposed to have six adults in the room, but my usual volunteer from the university spent the night in the hospital after fainting a few days ago, and she said she was going to take the week to rest, and the little boy whose grandparents were going to come was sick, so it was just going to be me, Miss Nelson, and Miss Slinger.
Then the little boy’s grandpa came anyway! What a nice man. I need to get his address and send him a very grateful thank you note.
Anyway, during our centers time we had some special activities. Grandpa manned the table with the 100th day glasses — paper glasses in the shape of the number 1oo. Very cute. They are a big hit every year. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera!
Miss Nelson and I took turns at the art center with yarn necklaces and cheerios — the idea was to string 100 cheerios on a piece of yarn. Most of the kids got tired after about forty, but it was fun all the same.
Miss Slinger was in charge of the ink pads and blank 100 grids — the kids at her table got to put their fingers in the ink (for once) and make 100 fingerprints.
The mentor teacher who will be doing my formal observation next came in a watched for a while. She teaches older kids and said she just didn’t know how I do it. I told her I think it’s why I’m tired all the time — I teach preschool. Things were going smoothly, though, so I was glad she got to see that.
Grandpa asked me about Chester — he was pretty perceptive in noticing how low Chester’s skills are, just from the cutting project. He also noticed how very smart Swimmy is, just from that one project. I’d be happy to have him back in the class anytime — he was a really helpful, thoughtful volunteer. And I like anyone who notices kids that way.
At morning meeting we shared our homework, and only about 5 kids did the 100 collections. In past years about 15 have done it. Kind of says something about this group, and their families….
Then for our activity, we ate 100 snacks! The kids were so excited. They each got a blank 100 grid, and then they had to fill each spot with a small food item — we had chocolate chips, little crackers, teddy grahams, froot loops, raisins, and m&m’s.
When they had 100 snacks on the paper, they got to eat. It was pure contentment throughout the room.
Elbows, knees, dreams 
Aw, our 100th Day is tomorrow, and now you’ve got me even more excited about it! We do pretty much all the same things. We make 100 Day crowns instead of glasses, though. I bought generic Froot Loops for our necklaces, but I’m thinking I should have stuck to Cheerios. The colors look cool, but the pieces are covered in sugar, which is going to be all over my room tomorrow 😦 Regardless, I’m pretty psyched! 😛
We only meet three days a week so we won’t get to 100 until the very end of school but maybe we could do a similar activity with the grids and the snacks – I really love that idea!
Wonderful ideas! I’m glad you had at least 1 (productive, thoughtful and wonderful) volunteer to come in. Volunteers make my world go smoothly too, especially on those special theme days.