Does your class celebrate the 100th day of school? They certainly do at the school my nephews and niece attend! The children make decorations and posters, learn number songs, have a parade, invite special guests, etc. Also, each class has a different activity to work on in preparation for this special day. Gina, Danny, and Barney were busy discussing their projects at the dinner table the other night.
 

"I have to draw a picture and write about what I could buy with $100," said Gina, who is in kindergarten. "I thought about drawing a house, but mom says a house would cost more than $100. Then I thought of a candy bar, but she says a candy bar costs a lot less than $100. I think I need some help in thinking of something that really would cost about $100 dollars."
 

"For my project we are seeing how much our names are worth. We assign a money value to each letter and then add them up." Danny could see I was confused about his project, so he explained further. "A is worth 1 cent, B is worth 2 cents, C is worth 3 cents, and so on. We are trying to find out who has the most 'valuable' name in class, and we are supposed to try to find someone with a name worth exactly $1.00. It can be a name from history, literature, or even a made-up name. I think it should be fun!"

"That does sound like fun, Danny," I commented.
 

"Our project seems pretty hard to me," moaned Barney. "Our class decided that we wanted to learn 100 new spelling words by 100 Day. You know how hard spelling is for me!" moaned Barney. Suddenly he brightened.
 

"Oh, but the fun part is the challenge for our families."

"Do we have to learn 100 new words too?" gasped Gina.

"Oh, no," Barney said, laughing. "But it is still a hard challenge. Listen and see if you can figure out the answer."
 

I could tell this was going to be a "corker" so I stopped my work and sat down with the others.

"We will start 8 school days before 100 day." Barney explained. "Each day we will learn 1 more word than the day before. How many words will we have to learn on the first day in order to reach our goal?"

"Goodness! That will take a 100 years to solve, I’ll bet," said Danny. Everybody sat around the table for a minute, just pondering the problem.

"Well," said Gina, "What are we waiting for? Let’s get started!"
 

Which of these 100 day projects would you like to try? You could collect some data on things that cost about $100.00, figure out how much your name is worth or find a name worth exactly $1.00, or if you are up to a super challenge, you can try to solve Barney’s challenge. I can’t wait to hear from each and every one of you. I hope to get 100 messages on this one -- at least! (If you choose Barney’s spelling challenge, please be sure to tell me what strategy you used!)

Love,
Aunt Mathilda (who is old, but not quite 100 yet!)