Recently, two Banaadir Elementary teachers creatively celebrated 100 days of school with their students. I had the great opportunity to experience it with the 3rd grade class and this is exactly what great learning looks like!
Class began with a very moving activity of making “Friendship Soup” and what would go into theirs. Ingredients like 20 scoops of care, and a gallon of braveness were a couple of amazing Banaadir student ideas.
Then it was time to unlock the 100 days of school. They were so excited! I have never seen children so excited to do math. Here’s how it worked: students were arranged in groups with color names, they grabbed their pencils, got the first sheet and worked together to solve the problems—a journey to unlock the 100 days. Ms Cromwell checked their work, gave a bit of advice when needed, and when the sheet was complete, on to the next.
“Quick, so purple doesn’t catch up to us!”
You could feel the competition and collaboration in the air.
Ms. Cromwell said, “I feel a detour coming …”. And sure enough, instead of a another worksheet in one round, a group got ‘how many push-ups can you do in 100 seconds” or how many hops, and other physical activities to break up the heavy thinking.
“I am so good at money!” Shouted one girl in sparkly pink and her 100 day crown.
Ms. Cromwell announced there was 74 minutes left! “Oooh that’s an hour and 14 minutes!” hollered a boy. Everything was math, every child was fully engaged while math became pure fun.
At the end, they were all winners. Not only did each child get the benefit of 100 days of learning at Banaadir Elementary, each child got a special 100 day treat put together just for them.
Learning came alive in this classroom! Along with the images I took from the 3rd grade class, there are also a few from Ms. Johnson’s Fifth grade class at the end.
Congratulations, scholars!
