Joseph Slate | Reading With Rhythm

The schools here recently celebrated their 100th Day. I don’t know if this is a universal school celebration or what, but I find it to be a fun day. The kids get all excited about it and spend the whole first half of the school year in high anticipation. It’s remarkable!

We happened to visit a kindergarten class a couple of days before the BIG DAY and boy! were those kids and teachers revved up!! The big talk was all about what they were going to bring or wear in honor of the BIG DAY. 100 coins, 100 cookies, 100 cars, 100 ribbons in their hair. I have a couple of necklaces that I can choose from to wear if I happen to be at school on that 100th Day. A necklace with 100 jingle bells and one with 100 bookmarks.

On this day that we were at school, before the Day 100, they were doing lots of counting. Practicing. Getting ready. Anticipating. We read a fun book from one of my favorite illustrators –

Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten
by Joseph Slate
illustrated by Ashley Wolff
published by Scholastic, Inc in 1999
originally published by Dutton Children’s Books in 1998

Theme – the 100th Day

Suitable for anyone counting to 100!!

It begins –
“Tomorrow we celebrate,” says Miss Bindergarten, “the 100th day of kindergarten.”

There are several books about Miss Bindergarten in Kindergarten. She’s my kind of teacher!! Literally!! She’s a real Dog!! This is a fun one about Miss Bindergarten and her class getting ready for that 100th Day. It’s a counting book, a kind of how-to book of suggestions, and an alphabet book! Whew! So much going on!! We read it with the whole class, but I think it would be better read one on one. There is just too much going on in those illustrations!! You need to be able to spend more time on each page!

So, it’s the night before Day 100 and all the kids are getting their 100 things ready. We get to meet each student ALPHABETICALLY!!! From Adam to Brenda to Christopher all the way to Xavier and Yolanda and Zachary! And while the kids are all getting ready, Miss Bindergarten is, too!!! Shopping and baking and crafting and decorating. Boy, is she one busy teacher!!!!! And boy! Are those kids going to have one FUN-HUNDRED Day!!!!!

This book is chock full of ideas for teachers and students both! It is a resource in and of itself!! It should be in every classroom!! Reading this book and thinking of all the 100 things and doing all the counting made my head spin! I can count to 3 pretty good, but anything after that just puts me to sleep.

I hope that wherever you are, you get to celebrate the number 100! And if you have already, I hope it was a good one!!

This happens to be Friday – Perfect Picture Book Friday – as celebrated over at Ms Susanna Hill’s blog. You might want to visit her HERE and check out all the other books on today’s list!

This is not my class – I don’t know these kids, but this could be my class!! This is what my day looked like!! Just check out that Rhythm!!