When did 100th Day of School celebrations start? And why?

[Anonymous]

It's not just about counting to 100 one number at a time, but about how numbers work. You can get to 100 by counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. You can make 10 groups of 10 objects and instead of counting each one of those objects you can "hold" that amount in your head as you count by 10s (or another multple). It's about looking at the relationships on a 100 number chart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Come on, OP, sing with me: "10, 20, 30 ... 40, 50, 60 ... 70, 80, 90 ....

ONE HUNDRED."

Ok, maybe you have to hear it in person to get sucked into that song.

Hmm...not sure which song, but counting to 100 always makes me think of this song from when I was a kid (yes, I'm old):

[Anonymous]

Didn't it start with the book "Mrs. Bindergarten Celebrates 100 Days of Kindergarten?"

[Anonymous]

We celebrated 100 days until graduation. From high school...

[Anonymous]

See Emily's First 100 Days of School. Very popular, cute book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its a way of reinforcing counting, and it happens that the 100th day of school is right around when kindergarten curriculum covers how to count to 100.

That's all.

Don't be a grinch.

Huh. It's amazing then that we all somehow learned to count to 100 without having had the treat of 100th Day in our classes when we were in K. Whatever did we do back then in those olden days?

Well, in my school, we had candy-fueled bacchanals to celebrate Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day and perhaps other holidays as well. Whereas my son gets excited when they give him pita chips. Maybe the 100th Day is just a little something to console kids for their bland lives.

Thank you. Especially since everyone understands decimals and place value in JK, it becomes bland watered down in K. After that, gruel at best. School is gruel, but we knew that.

[Anonymous]

Why must some posters mention that their kids learned it in pre-k? The OP didn't say anything about when it was taught...just that it is taught. Oh right...another way to make them feel better about their kids.

[Anonymous]

I'm late 20s and remember doing this as a kid in prob 91/92.

[Anonymous]

Actually this started when curriculum companies/teacher stores started selling cheap bulletin board stuff for these lessons to teachers. Same thing with that awful $14.95 kit for Bee havior modification that has no place in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why must some posters mention that their kids learned it in pre-k? The OP didn't say anything about when it was taught...just that it is taught. Oh right...another way to make them feel better about their kids.

12:30 here. Totally thought the same thing. That 's why I posted that it's more than just counting to 100. Another thing I'd add is that a lot of 4-5 year olds sound like they know how to count to 100, when they still have some trouble spots. The big issue for a lot of kids is going to the next decade. You'll hear 46, 47, 48, 49, forty ten...

[Anonymous]

My child is in 1st grade and they are have a party. the teacher asked for someone to make a cake for the 100days party, with 10 things of 10 on them. Since my kid has nut allergies, I don't want some random parent putting 100 items of whatever on the cake, so now I'm making a cake for a fake holiday at school. (Also valentine's day is two days later. It's a fun week for parents of kids with allergies.)

Also, DC has to bring in 10 sets of 10 items to school. We now have to go find 100 small things to bring to school next week. Seriously????

[Anonymous]

I lke it because it is one of the few celebrations that do not have any religious connotations. Unlike Valentines, Halloween, St Pats, ....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its a way of reinforcing counting, and it happens that the 100th day of school is right around when kindergarten curriculum covers how to count to 100.

That's all.

Don't be a grinch.

Huh. It's amazing then that we all somehow learned to count to 100 without having had the treat of 100th Day in our classes when we were in K. Whatever did we do back then in those olden days?

This made me think of a Richard Feynman quote:

"You can know the name of a bird in all languages in the world, but when you are finished, you will know absolutely nothing about the bird. So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing. That's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."

Activities like celebrating the 100th day of school help kids understand how the symbols that represent numbers actually apply to their daily lives.

[Anonymous]

How long does it go for though? 2nd grade? 5th grade? Seems like a bit much after 1st grade.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it goes on until grade 100. . .