I found a plan on the internet for an early childhood math lesson. The students were encouraged to bring a collection of 100 items from home to celebrate the 100th day of school and to help them understand the concept of such a large number. In the plans, the teacher specified that the items should be small, such as paper clips or beans. After students brought in their collections, the class weighed the items and then charted and compared the weights of the different collections.
I thought of a couple of different ways that technology could be incorporated into this lesson:
1. Prior to having students do the collection of 100 things project at home, the teacher could make an Animoto video for them to view in the technology center. The teacher could include different pictures of 100 things in a variety of sizes and shapes. This would also enable students to see things that can't be brought in the classroom, such as 100 cars. The teacher could also include a song about the number 100 in the video in an effort to reach students with an auditory learning style.
2. On the day that students bring in their collections, they could use a paint program on the computer to make representations of the number 100. The teacher could first show the students how to make ten groups of ten and then evaluate which students understood the concept and which ones did not.
3. The teacher and students could chart the collections' weights whole group on a computer program or on a whiteboard.
Here is the link to the old version of the lesson plan:
http://lessons.atozteacherstuff.com/160/100th-day-of-school-collections/
(It's the second lesson plan from the top; the one titled "More 100th Day of School Collections."
