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South Seneca Elementary Students are 100 Days Smarter!
One hundred students on school bus #100 counting to 100 on the 100th day of school! The eighth annual South Seneca Elementary "100 Day Celebration" is all about making numbers fun. Each student was encouraged to create a project at home with a friend or family member to be displayed at the school. This year's theme was 'Adopt-a-Number', where each number from 1 through 100 was adopted by a family, friend group or staff member and a project was made highlighting that number. Some students chose a number in a favorite song, a number of a favorite race car driver and their birth year. Todd Kurzweil, organizer of the celebration stated, "I'm always amazed at the students' creativity. There is always a wide variety of ideas." Prizes were awarded to each participant and a family night for viewing the projects was well attended. Kurzweil, a Primary remedial math teacher starts planning for the next year's celebration the day after this one to make it exciting for students each year.
The cafeteria joined in the fun with a special 100th day bag lunch. Some
classes completed the 100th page of their workbooks and had guest readers
that read a math-themed book. The student council held a 100 items for
100 days of school gently used book collection for the Little Red Bookshelf
project and received over 200 books.
Students and staff wore pajamas to add to the special day.
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Math
Is More Than a Workbook at
South Seneca Elementary Second Grade this Fall
Second graders moving as sleepy trees, jaguars, cats and the zero
monster: little do they
know they’re learning their multiplication tables already!
South Seneca Elementary second grade is the recipient of a grant to
have Suzy Koontz in residence for two months. Her goal is “to
keep kids feeling good about math. No more saying ‘I don’t
like math’, or ‘I’m not good at numbers.” Suzy’s proven
activities are fun for math learners as evidenced by the kids’
excitement when she visits. Built on extensive brain research
together with practical field testing, the activities incorporate
body movement reaching across lateral sides of the body to trigger
neuro-transmitters that help kids learn in a different way.
The focus is repeated addition, skip counting and basic
multiplication facts. It includes such activities as the
multiplication dance that uses movements such as sleepy trees,
jaguars and cats to show that factors of a certain number have the
same movements. During the number three jaguar multiplication
dance, students whisper the number one and two as they cross their
left and right ‘paws’, then clap and yell ‘3’ and for all multiples
of 3 thereafter. Other activities include ‘tapping at the
table and sit-down math which engages students in imaginative,
stretching exercises while practicing the whisper/loud counting
technique. Math n’ Yoga and the skip counting train round out
the many activities taught that promotes equity, encourages wellness
and strengthens one-to-one correspondence. The students become
easily engaged and easily learn the movement activities.
A family night on Thursday, December 17th was well
attended, followed by desserts in the cafeteria. Hosted by
Suzy Koontz, second grade students demonstrated their new skills and
the varied math and movement counting techniques. Suzy is Suzanne Kuntz (pen name Suzy Koontz) and she has brought her math and movement program to many schools in the Ithaca City School District. She is a veteran speaker at the Annual National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in Washington, DC. Teachers have commented that students in a classroom are at varied levels of math skills and learn in many different ways and it’s hard to find a math program to make all kids feel successful but this program does just that. Pre testing took place and post testing will happen in December to track student improvement. For more information on Suzy’s programs and philosophy, visit: http://www.mathandmovement.com/
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One hundred Lincoln pennies, all face up, in the shape of the number
100, 100 stars in a star, 100 hearts in a heart were just some of
the unique projects students brought in for the seventh annual "100
Day Celebration" at South Seneca Elementary.
It's all about making math fun! Each student was encouraged
to create a project at home with a friend or family member to be
displayed in the auditorium on Monday, February 23rd.
Projects included creatively
making the number/word 100, gathering and organizing a collection of
100 items centered around the Lincoln Penny Centennial, written
100-word stories and a Matchbox car collection that sported cars
with numbers on them.
Todd Kurzweil, organizer of this celebration stated "I'm always
amazed at the students' creativity in the 100th day projects.
In the seven years that we've been doing this, there is
always a wide variety of creative ideas."
Prizes were awarded to each participant and a Family Night
for viewing the projects was well attended. Kurzweil, a Primary
remedial math teacher starts planning for the next year's
celebration the day after this one to make it ever evolving and
exciting for students each year.
The cafeteria joined in the fun with a special 100th day bag lunch.
Other celebrations throughout the day included the whole
school counting to 100 on the 100th minute of the school day!
Some classes completed the 100th page of their workbooks and
had guest readers that read a math-themed book.
The student council held a 100 items for 100 days of school
Food Pantry drive and collected 262 food items!
Each year, the 100th day celebration has highlighted a different
theme centering around the number 100.
Past themes have been, Dr. Seuss’ 100th birthday, 100th
anniversary of the Teddy Bear, 100th anniversary of the popsicle,
the winter Olympics and “Collections of 100”.
This year a community service corner was introduced.
As teachers brought their classes to view the projects in the
auditorium they could utilize
the service corner and students could think for 100 seconds
(using a stopwatch) about how they could help others.
Some ideas from Mrs. Blum’s class included:
donate clothes; help at the public library, donate food, help
recycle, help parents with chores, and find shelter for those who
need it. For more information on this annual celebration, please
contact:
tkurzweil@southseneca.k12.ny.us.
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