100's Day and Valentine's Day - Oh My!!

Yep, you read the title correctly...due to "inclement weather" days, as our school refers to them, both the 100th day of school AND Valentine's Day both fell on Monday.  It was a bit of a crazy day - we celebrated the 100th day of school in the morning (which is usually an all-day event), and Valentine's Day in the afternoon.  The kids, bless their little hearts, were as good as they could be with all of the excitement.  I attribute part of their good behavior to planning, planning, planning on my part (and a pretty low-sugar menu for both parties!).  My only regret is forgetting my camera, so no pics this year :( 
For 100's day, we wrote about having $100, which to a first grader is like winning the lottery!  Their responses were priceless.  We admired each other's work as we filled out a mini scavenger hunt about the 100th day projects (find a fluffy collection, an unusual collection, etc.).  We also made 100th Day crowns and wrote about things we might want 100 of, or want to eat 100 of.  No doubt about it though, the student's favorite part was making the 100th day snack!  Thanks to Rachelle at What the Teacher Wants for the great idea!  In the past, I have had students count out and bring in 100 pieces of their favorite snack.  Then, we combined all of the student's selections into one big bowl and created a trail mix of sorts.  This year, I had students bring in 14 different items, which I placed in individual bowls.  Then, students could come up and count out 10 items from 10 bowls, to make a snack mix with 100 pieces in it!  The best part about it was that there were more than 10 choices, so if students did not like one item, they didn't have to include it.  I'll definitely be doing that again next year!
After lunch and recess, we transitioned into Valentine's Day mode.  This is my favorite holiday party because it is low-key and low stress!  The students passed out their Valentines to each other, played a few Valentine games, and enjoyed a heart and tooth friendly "buffet."  Rather than overload on sweets, students brought in fruit, veggies and dip, chips and salsa, and cheese and crackers to enjoy.  One of my little cuties tried to eat a piece of her Valentine candy after school and her mom told her no, because she had already probably had enough sweets in class.  The poor thing hadn't had any!!
Finally after our busy day, I got to spend time with my little Valentine!  Owen and I met up with our good friends at Basil Boys, a local Italian restaurant for pizza, breadsticks and presents!



My friend was sweet enough to get both kids their own mini-heart cupcake maker.  Owen was super jazzed because she also got him pancake mix (you can make pancakes too!) and sprinkles.  O is a pancake monster, so this was the perfect gift in his eyes.  It even trumped the Zhu Zhu pet app that I downloaded as a gift for him on my iPhone. 

We ended up trying out our pancake/cupcake maker this morning.  Owen woke me up at 3 am not feeling well, so we stayed home today.  Heart shaped pancakes were just what the doctor ordered!

The maker is adorable!

The special sprinkle pancake mix!

And the perfect mini-heart pancakes!  They were delicious, and resembled muffins because of the cupcake maker.  I highly recommend picking one of these up on after Valentine's Day clearance if you can find one!

Happy Valentine's Day!