Welcome to my 100^th post!

I’m excited!

When I started this blog just under a year ago (I published my first post on August 15 2013) I set myself the goal of writing two posts a week. I am pleased that I have maintained that output, with only an occasional variance.

I thank you all, my readers, whether you have been with me from the beginning, joined in along the way, or pop in occasionally to see what I am up to. I really appreciate your support and encouragement. If it wasn’t for your interest I may not have achieved my goal.

One of the most rewarding things about blogging is belonging to a very special online community of readers and bloggers from whom I have learned a lot, and from whose encouragement I have developed the confidence to share my ideas.

Celebrating 100 anything is a milestone.

In Australia if you live to celebrate your 100^th birthday you can receive a letter from the Prime Minister, the Governor-General and the Queen.

In my year one classroom we would celebrate 100 days of school. In the ‘old’ days, when pre-school was part-time and not compulsory, before prep became the first year of formal schooling, year one was the first year of ‘real’ school, and the celebration really was of the first 100 days of school. After the advent of prep it simply became a celebration of the first 100 days of year one.

Many valuable learning opportunities accompany the celebration.

Preparation for the celebration would begin on the first day of school. We would count off each day on the number board, counting up the days we had been at school and how many more days there would be until we reached 100.

Closer to the day we would explore what 100 items ‘looked like’ and count 100 children lined up for class, a tower built of 100 blocks, or 100 paperclips arranged around the edge of a piece of paper. We would count and collage 100 different items, and play games that involved counting to 100.

One of the things that I enjoyed most was discussing with the children what they thought they would be like at 100 years of age. We would read A. A. Milne’s poem Now I am Six and talk about them being six or seven – what they looked like, things they could do, and their favourite things and activities. They would draw a self-portrait and write a description of themselves to accompany it.

Then we would read books about growing older and discuss what it might be like to be 100 years old. They would do a self-portrait to show what they thought they would look like and write about what they would be able to do and activities they would enjoy.

https://openclipart.org/image/800px/svg_to_png/154735/faltige_frau.png

https://openclipart.org/image/800px/svg_to_png/103549/old_man01.png

I wish I had some of their portraits and descriptions to share with you. They wrote about having grey hair, wrinkly skin and wearing glasses. They wrote about using walking sticks, living in nursing homes and having a lot of grandchildren. Overwhelmingly, they were happy.

The last group of year one children I taught were born this century. They turned seven in year one in 2011. They will not celebrate their 100^th birthdays until 2105! Chances are, with improvements to health and the increasing length of life expectancy, many of these children will get to celebrate that milestone.

While the children had no difficulty imagining themselves as 100 years of age, I can’t imagine what life will be like for them in the next century; or even fifty years ahead. One hundred posts ago, I couldn’t even be sure if I would still be here writing this blog; but I am, and I thank you very much for reading and participating.

To mark my 100^th post, I have placed a new item in my Teachers Pay Teachers store with suggestions for celebrating 100 days of school. This also coincides with a storewide sale on Teachers Pay Teachers; so, for any teachers out there, it may be worth taking a look.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of this post or my blog in general.