100 Day ideas

With the 100th day of school coming up soon - Feb 6th if we don't have any snow days!  Schools/classes recognize this benchmark in small ways and with larger events.  A few simple ideas to celebrate this number: (Resources cited at the bottom where some of the ideas came from)

• Together with your students, learn to say one hundred in another language.
• Ask kids to count to 100 by ones, twos, fives, tens, twenties, twenty-fives, & fifties. Can you try a challenge and count by 7s? what about 18s?  What if you start at a different number? (Count by 5s, starting at 7?)
• Have children highlight the digit in the hundreds place in various sized numbers.
• Have students circle the digit in the hundredths place in 100 numbers.
• Find as many different combinations of coins to make $1.00
• Challenge children to locate on a map the cities that are 100 miles away from yours.
• With your students, send a postcard to a school in some of the cities 100 miles away from yours
• Have students compare the time it takes to melt 100 ice cubes at several different air temperatures -- inside, outside, next to a heater, next to a fan -- and show the results in a chart or graph.
• Challenge students to perform 100 acts of kindness.
• Have students research animals that migrate farther than 100 miles.
• Get a catalogue or newspaper ad, or have students visit a store Web site and ask them to spend a $100. Who can come closest without going over their $100? Can someone spend exactly a dollar? Older students studying decimals and percents can work with the sales tax.
• Let A=$1, B=$2, C=$3, and so on. Can students find words that are equal to $100? How close can the students get? What do they notice about the letters in the words that are close to $100 or exactly a $100? (Grouper is a $100 word) What words do they pick to start with, why?
• Ask students: If your grandmother is 100 years old, how many days, weeks, hours, seconds, and minutes old is she?
• Exploring Math With Jellybeans Four activities in estimation, place value, graphing, probability for grades 3-12.
• Create a list of 100 books you have already read, perhaps in order of preference. Or take a poll of your class’s or school’s students to create a list of “100 Great Books” to choose from to form book clubs.
• Convert the percentages in United States Census data to present facts about Americans by showing how many people out of 100 have specific levels of education, income and so on.
• Solve the Puzzle of 100 Hats.
• Create a list of 100 inventions that changed the world. Which do you think should be No. 1? Why?
• Revisit Usain Bolt’s world record in the 100-meter sprint in the 2008 Olympics. Then go to the track and run 100 meters.

Have fun!

• Education World 100 day activities:  https://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson149.shtml
• NEA.org 100 day activities:  http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/100th-day-of-school.html
• NYTimes 100 day activities: https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/100-ways-to-celebrate-the-100th-day-of-school-with-the-new-york-times/
• Read Write Think 100 day links/activities:  http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/celebrate-100th-school-20631.html

K-5 Science Curriculum Guides published

An Update from the Office of Learning & Teaching 

Dear Reading Public Schools Community,  

We hope that you had a wonderful holiday break and on behalf of our district, we wish you all a healthy and happy 2019.  We are continuing to make strides in our Learning and Teaching Department as we work to publish curriculum guides for all grade levels/subjects. Curriculum guides are drafted by coordinators, department heads, and other school teams. Feedback from teachers and principals informs revisions prior to publishing.  As you may be aware, we published K-5 Reading Curriculum Guides, K-5 Writing Curriculum Guides and K-5 Math Curriculum Guides this fall.  We are writing to share that our K-5 Science Curriculum Guides have been published.  We are also currently working with High School Departments to create curriculum guides in all non-elective subjects and hope to have them published this year.   The purpose of these documents is to ensure horizontal and vertical alignment within each area of our curriculum. Our goal in sharing the curriculum guides with the greater Reading community is to provide grounding information about our curriculum practices and an overview of grade-level expectations based on our MA Curriculum Frameworks. We will continue to work collaboratively to meet the needs of all students as they navigate the rigorous demands of the MA Curriculum Frameworks.   

• The K-5 Science Curriculum guides may be found HERE (they can be found below the math guides) 

• Please click HERE to provide your input/feedback on the Science Curriculum Guides.  

We will continue to review all feedback received to ensure that we are providing effective and consistent communication to help us all work together in the best interest of our students.  

Best, 

Chris Kelley, Assistant Superintendent 

Heather Leonard, STEM Curriculum Coordinator 

Allison Straker, Humanities Curriculum Coordinator

One Word 2019

As the 2018 year draws to a close, I try to intentionally build moments reserved for reflection of the past and the light moving forward to the new dawn.  Specifically, this past year was a year of change for me so it was a perfect opportunity to consider the shifts I've made personally and professionally. The #OneWord movement from Jon Gordon has become a way to re-think a new year resolution. 


Reflection
My #OneWord2018 was Balance.  (my blog post from last year is here)  Both directly and indirectly, I think my focus on this all-important word was the catalyst for much of the change over the past year. A significant change was the career shift I took from Elementary Principal to STEM Curriculum Coordinator.  I loved (and still do!) the school community and the work of the principalship, but this professional shift allowed me better balance.  It has provided a rich new challenges professionally, allowing for new professional growth and learning.  The balance of new responsibilities with familiar district and colleagues has been a great opportunity to grow.  Additionally, and even more importantly, this position has provided a better balance for my personal and professional well-being.  Although the work is not easy, it is more predictable, allowing for my most important role of mom to find balanced footing with my professional responsibilities. 

Looking Forward
My #OneWord2019 is Pursuit.  This word has been coming up for me in the last few weeks, and I hope it will help to continue as my guiding light in the new year.  Pursuit will mean both the act of the chase and seeking to accomplish. Being mindful of what it is I want to accomplish - both on the small scale (to-do lists, planning for professional and personal steps, etc.) and on the larger scale (life plans, multi-year hopes, etc.)  will require that I'm also attending to the process through which I will try to achieve the accomplishments.  It may also be that the pursuit is for grander things (think pursuit of happiness) beyond those that can ever be finished.  There is something about my word that puts the priority on the process and the journey - not just the end result- that speaks to me this year.






I wish you health, happiness, and pursuits filled with wonder in this new year!


What is your #OneWord?