Photo Credit: Beth L.
Did you celebrate the 100th day of school when you were a child? Do your children?
Times have changed in schools across the country. These days they celebrate various items. Most elementary classrooms will talk about Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Veteran’s Day, President’s Day and other holidays that most people in our community will observe. Of course, to help with multicultural education, they will scatter in some about Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year and other holidays. On Halloween, most schools only allow really young children to dress up for Halloween. Oh and a lot of classrooms ask children to dress up as their favorite storybook character. Good thing there are Disney books right?!
When I was student teaching, I vaguely recall mention of the 100th Day of school. When I was in my first grade classroom for my second placement, there was a morning routine. Each morning, the kids would meet me on the rug for circle time. Here, we would report the weather, practice the date using the calendar, go over the items on the agenda for the day. In addition to this, there were two other items that tied into another long term project. There was a money center the kids were collecting pennies. 100 pennies to be exact. They were traded in for nickles, dimes, quarters, and eventually to a dollar bill. We also had a tally keeper that was grouping toward a 100th day mark.
Why were they doing this? Well, a bench mark for early elementary students is being able to count to 100. What better way to do this then by celebrating the 100th day of school. On this day, schools bring out the trade books on the topic, have snacks by the 100, and typically there is a project for children in kindergarten and first grade. Most teachers will ask kids to bring in 100 of something. Some teachers learn quickly to say that the collection of items must fit inside a plastic baggie, others allow for creativity and no size limits.
So what does this have to do with Disney?
Well, imagine packing for a trip to Disney where you are pulling your child out of school for five days. Then, you get an assignment sent home. Almost immediately after we would get back, a 100th day of school project would be due. Insert the big Oy here.
While at Disney we started to brain storm. What could we bring into school?
- 100 pins – Nice thought, but a bit expensive if we were just starting this.
- 100 crushed pennies – Wishful thinking, but not going to happen for a while.
- 100 autographs – Nope will not happen.
- 100 photos – Wait, I think we have a winner.
Hubby and I take a LOT of photos while at Disney world. We would have well over 100 photos. Of course, printing out 100 photos would not be cheap. We had an alternative. We would make a collage of 100 Disney photos. Since it was NHL’s project, we showed him how to sort photos on the computer (future geek training). He worked his way from well over a thousand photos, to 100. Then it was hubby’s mission to make it work. We managed to make rows and shrink the photos down. Here’s a sample page from NHL’s book that was seen above with Duffy.
Photo Credit: Beth L.
Yes, it worked and it was filled with memories for NHL to share with his classmates. The best part, two years later, NHL still has this binder and looks at everything inside.
So let’s brain storm – what other Disney inspired 100 day projects can you think of. I know school is just starting, but you may need to start planning depending on the rules set in your child’s classroom.
Contributed by: Beth L. (NDM#183) Beth is the DDL Education Blogger. She is also the creator ofThe Angel Forever.
Beth was born and raised in upstate New York. She is a happily married teacher, now SAHM to her two young sons. As a child, she and her parents would go to Walt Disney World nearly every year, creating a love for all things Disney that flourished well into adulthood.
Beth worked hard to convince her husband to spend their ten day honeymoon at Walt Disney World in 2001. In May 2009, Beth’s dream of taking her two boys to see the magic came true. It was a three generation experience, including the original Disney dreamers, her parents. Now her entire family has been bitten by the Disney bug and eagerly anticipate their next adventure to Florida.
Beth’s love for all things Disney has helped to inspire her at home, in the classroom, and beyond. She always has a camera close by to catch magical memories for her blog, TheAngelForever.com
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