Ready or not? The 100th Day of School is coming. I have quite an unpopular opinion about celebrating the 100th Day of School. It has been a tradition in schools to dress up and bring things into the classroom. Here's a few ways that the 100th Day has traditionally been celebrated: dress up as a 100-year-old, decorate a shirt with 100 objects, gathering a collection of 100. All of these ideas are surely fun, but they do place a burden on families, both with time and financially. Another common practice is teachers purchasing 10 different snacks and giving each student 10 pieces of each of the 10 snacks. Again, this is surely fun but places a financial burden on the classroom teacher. Snacks can also be problematic with allergies, etc. too! I recommend reading a fun picture book about the 100th Day {you can use the list below} and use a few fun activities that can be used throughout the school year, not just exclusively for the 100th  Day of School. 

The Best Collection of Picture Books to Celebrate the 100th Day of School

Get ready for the 100th Day of School with the best collection of picture books to celebrate with your eager learners! You'll see a common problem in many of the stories... the main character has to find 100 objects for a collection for their 100th Day of School! 

I saved my favorite picture book for the end of the list, so don't stop your scroll. Keep reading to find your favorite! 

* Please note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend items that I use regularly and know you will love! 

The Night Before the 100th Day of School by Natasha Wing

The 100th Day of School is almost here and one student is desperate to find 100 of anything to bring to class. Then all of sudden inspiration strikes, and he comes up with a surprise that makes the 100th day celebration one to remember! 

This hilarious story reminds me of the anxiety that comes with assigning the gathering of a collection of 100 objects to your students! See more here.

Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten by Joseph Slate

Kindergarten teacher? This is THE book is for your class! 

Miss Bindergarten, the world's best kindergarten teacher, is getting ready for another classroom milestone. Tomorrow, she and her class will have been together for 100 days. To celebrate, each student must bring "100 of some wonderful, one-hundred-full thing!" 

At night, while the students go to work assembling their projects, Miss Bindergarten is working, too, making special surprises for the class. The 100th day of kindergarten is bound to be unforgettable! See more here.

Jake's 100th Day of School by Lester L. Laminack  

What will Jake do when he forgets to bring the special collection he’s going to share for the 100th day of school? Jake and his fellow students are getting ready for a celebration. Tomorrow is the 100th day of school and everyone is going to share their collections of 100 things. 

The day of the celebration arrives, but Jake forgets the 100 family pictures he has glued into a special memory book at home. Disaster! But thanks to Jake’s ingenuity and the sensitivity of his principal, Jake does have a collection to display that day… and something special to share with the class on the 101st day of school.

There is lots of diversity in the school community throughout the beautiful illustrations of this book! See more here.

100 Days of School by Trudy Harris

The funny rhymes in this book will show you some different ways to count to 100 using a clown's nose, piggy toes, and other groups of things. It all adds up to a fun way to learn about 100!

Your young mathematicians will see how fascinating the world of number can be with the fun illustrations and storylines in this text! See more here.

Miss Mingo and the 100th Day of School by Jamie Harper

This is the newest published book on the 100th Day of School, so if you haven't seen this one yet, I recommend it! It might even inspire some fun activities in your classroom! 

It’s the 100th Day of School and Miss Mingo the Flamingo has quite a day planned for her diverse class of animals. 

First, the students share projects that celebrate the number one hundred: Centipede does one hundred jumping jacks, Panda shows off two bundles of fifty bamboo stalks, and other students share five sets of twenty footprints and other combos to get to the magic number. 

Later, the class works together to create sculptures out of one hundred paper cups (Octopus is particularly helpful), and the day becomes as much about self-expression as it is a number—especially when Miss Mingo has the whole class make silly faces for one hundred seconds! 

You'll love that this text integrates fascinating facts about the animals with humorously detailed illustrations that capture the young mathematicians’ excited energy. See more here.

100th Day Worries by by Margery Cuyler

Okay, here it is! This is my favorite book to use for the 100th Day of School. Perhaps, it is because I can relate to the main character, Jessica.

When the teacher tells everyone in class to find 100 things to bring to school for their 100th day, Jessica starts to worry. She wants to bring something really good. but what?

100 marshmallows? No, too sticky.

100 yo-yos? Nah, that's silly.

When Jessica reaches the 99th day, she really starts to worry. She still doesn't know what to bring! Could the best collection of 100 things be right under her eyes? See more here.

If you like 100th Day Worries, you'll love using this companion Book Bud!

If the text, 100th Day Worries sounds like a good-fit for your classroom, you will love this Book Bud, a text companion activity set, loaded with many printable math and literacy centers!

This Book Bud is jam-packed with activities to celebrate the 100th Day of School. It includes:

• 6 Interactive Math Activities & Math Printables
• 4 Interactive Literacy Activities & Literacy Printables
• 1 Bulletin Board Craftivity (100th Day of School Writing + Party Hat Craft)
• 4 Writing Prompts with Various Printable Paper Options (box for picture, primary lined & lined)

Focus Skills Included in this 100th Day Worries Book Bud:

★ Math: Count by Tens, Count by Fives, Groups of Ten, Count to 100, Write Numbers up to 100, Identify 2-D Shapes

★ Literacy: Syllables, Spelling, Verbs, Adjectives, Plot, Setting, Characters, Writing, and more!

I hope this post inspires you to read a fun 100th Day of School picture book to your class!

When is your 100th Day of School?

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Laura Williams

Josh's Funk's How to Code a Rollercoaster is the best book to celebrate Multicultural Children's Book Day that inspires the newest generation of young female mathematicians and scientists. Sarah Palacios provides beautiful illustrations that combined with Funk's tale give a duo of kids the rollercoaster ride of their dreams.  Who doesn't love a rollercoaster?! Well, the idea of one is pretty cool when you're a kid! This is a great read aloud for elementary math and science classrooms that will get your eager mathematicians and scientists, ages 4 through 12, into coding! 

Use How to Code a Rollercoaster to Celebrate Multicultural Children's Book Day

Join Pearl and her trusty robot, Pascal as they adventure during a day at an amusement park! They’re excited to play games, eat ice cream, and, of course, ride all the rollercoasters. There’s just one problem: the Python Coaster, the biggest and best ride in the park, also has the longest line. Can Pearl and Pascal use CODE to help them get a seat on the giant coaster? By mastering the use of variables, sequences, loops, conditionals, and more, this duo just might get the ride of their dreams—while having the time of their lives.

With world-renowned computer science nonprofit Girls Who Code, author and software engineer, Josh Funk and Pura Belpre Honor recipient, Sara Palacios use giggle-worthy humor and bright artwork to introduce kids to the fun of coding. Girls Who Code is on a mission to close the gender gap in technology and to change the image of what a programmer looks like and does.

As a female teacher, leader within the schools, and mother to two young daughters, I am fully in support of closing the gender gap. 

I want to personally thank the talented Josh Funk from Penguin Random House Books for sending me a copy of this book as I love to advocate for the use of high-quality picture books in elementary math and science classrooms around Texas and beyond. I only share books that I've read, used with children, and love with you!

The first page of text invites the reader into an exciting amusement park featuring a collection of multicultural guests, young and old. Pearl, the eager female main character is determined to have to best day ever as she uses code to keep track of how many tokens she has to use while at the park.

For coding novices, like myself or my young mathematicians and scientists, this book introduces the basics of coding. This is a great read aloud to create shared knowledge on the foundations of programming. It includes many programming concepts, including code, variables, loops, the if-then-loop, sequence, among others, that are easily accessible to all students.

Whether you use this book as an introduction to programming unit, study of variables, or use it to celebrate diversity in the math and science community, your students will enjoy this amusing tale about Pearl and Pascal.

This book was selected for review as part of a larger celebration, Multicultural Children's Book Day. 

Please see the following for more information about this special event that all educators can benefit from, including how to get involved and many FREE resources.

Multicultural Children's Book Day 2020

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020 (1/31/20) is in its seventh year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those book into the hands of young readers and educators. Seven years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues.

MCBD 2020 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board:

Super Platinum
Make A Way Media/ Deirdre “DeeDee” Cummings


Platinum
Language Lizard, Pack-N-Go Girls



Gold

Audrey Press, Lerner Publishing Group, KidLit TV, ABDO BOOKS: A Family of Educational Publishers, PragmaticMom & Sumo Jo, Candlewick Press



Silver

Author Charlotte Riggle, Capstone Publishing, Guba Publishing, Melissa Munro Boyd & B is for Breathe,



Bronze
Author Carole P. Roman, Snowflake Stories/Jill Barletti, Vivian Kirkfield & Making Their Voices Heard. Barnes Brothers Books, TimTimTom, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee & Low Books, Charlesbridge Publishing, Barefoot Books Talegari Tales



Author Sponsor Link Cloud
Jerry Craft, A.R. Bey and Adventures in Boogieland, Eugina Chu & Brandon goes to Beijing, Kenneth Braswell & Fathers Incorporated, Maritza M. Mejia & Luz del mes_Mejia, Kathleen Burkinshaw & The Last Cherry Blossom, SISSY GOES TINY by Rebecca Flansburg and B.A. Norrgard, Josh Funk and HOW TO CODE A ROLLERCOASTER, Maya/Neel Adventures with Culture Groove, Lauren Ranalli, The Little Green Monster: Cancer Magic! By Dr. Sharon Chappell, Phe Lang and Me On The Page, Afsaneh Moradian and Jamie is Jamie, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, TUMBLE CREEK PRESS, Nancy Tupper Ling, Author Gwen Jackson, Angeliki Pedersen & The Secrets Hidden Beneath the Palm Tree, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 by Mia Wenjen, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher (Founders of Inner Flower Child Books), Ann Morris & Do It Again!/¡Otra Vez!, Janet Balletta and Mermaids on a Mission to Save the Ocean, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo & Bruna Bailando por el Mundo\ Dancing Around the World, Shoumi Sen & From The Toddler Diaries, Sarah Jamila Stevenson, Tonya Duncan and the Sophie Washington Book Series, Teresa Robeson & The Queen of Physics, Nadishka Aloysius and Roo The Little Red TukTuk, Girlfriends Book Club Baltimore & Stories by the Girlfriends Book Club, Finding My Way Books, Diana Huang & Intrepids, Five Enchanted Mermaids, Elizabeth Godley and Ribbon’s Traveling Castle, Anna Olswanger and Greenhorn, Danielle Wallace & My Big Brother Troy, Jocelyn Francisco and Little Yellow Jeepney, Mariana Llanos & Kutu, the Tiny Inca Princess/La Ñusta Diminuta, Sara Arnold & The Big Buna Bash, Roddie Simmons & Race 2 Rio, DuEwa Frazier & Alice’s Musical Debut, Veronica Appleton & the Journey to Appleville book series Green Kids Club, Inc.

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.


Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
A Crafty Arab, Afsaneh Moradian, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Bethany Edward & Biracial Bookworms, Michelle Goetzl & Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Educators Spin on it, Shauna Hibbitts-creator of eNannylink, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joel Leonidas & Descendant of Poseidon Reads {Philippines}, Imagination Soup, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Serge Smagarinsky {Australia}, Shoumi Sen, Jennifer Brunk & Spanish Playground, Katie Meadows and Youth Lit Reviews

FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

• Free Multicultural Books for Teachers
• Our New FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit 
• Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators
• Free Understanding Developmental & Physical Challenges Classroom Kit

TWITTER PARTY! Register here!

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

I hope this post inspires you to check out How to Code a Rollercoaster and the many resources available for Multicultural Children's Book Day!

What are your favorite books that celebrate diversity in the classroom?

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Laura Williams

One of the best things about teaching history during Women's History Month is the accessibility of quality children's literature or picture books! Students are much more likely to learn about the important events, people, and places which make our world unique through an accessible text. Throughout our history women have made valuable contributions. No matter what their role, women's experiences remain an important and sometimes overlooked aspect of our history. I've included some historical texts and a few inspirations book for young girls. These picture books value the diverse experience of women and provide inspiration for the young girl sitting in our classroom or being raised within our home.

Finding the Best Picture Books for Women's History Month

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon. I only recommend items that I own and use to my Valued Partners. By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a very small commission on your purchase that allows me to maintain this website. Thank you for your continued support!

Girls come in all different colors and sizes. They delight and amaze us. They're full of surprises. Girls can do anything they want to do. And if YOU are a girl . . . You can do these things too! 

- Girls Can Do Anything

Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World

Shaking Things Up introduces fourteen revolutionary young women—each paired with a noteworthy female artist—to the next generation of activists, trail-blazers, and rabble-rousers. This book has beautiful illustrations and is sure to inspire your budding artists too!

In this book of poems, you will find Mary Anning, who was just thirteen when she unearthed a prehistoric fossil. You’ll meet Ruby Bridges, the brave six year old who helped end segregation in the South. And Maya Lin, who at twenty-one won a competition to create a war memorial, and then had to appear before Congress to defend her right to create.

And those are just a few of the young women included in this book. Readers will also hear about Molly Williams, Annette Kellerman, Nellie Bly, Pura Belprè, Frida Kahlo, Jacqueline and Eileen Nearne, Frances Moore Lappé, Mae Jemison, Angela Zhang, and Malala Yousafzai—all whose stories will enthrall and inspire. This poetry collection was written, illustrated, edited, and designed by women and includes an author’s note, a timeline, and additional resources.

With artwork by notable artists including Selina Alko, Sophie Blackall, Lisa Brown, Hadley Hooper, Emily Winfield Martin, Oge Mora, Julie Morstad, Sara Palacios, LeUyen Pham, Erin Robinson, Isabel Roxas, Shadra Strickland, and Melissa Sweet.

This book is best suited for upper elementary students.

She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World

Chelsea Clinton introduces eager students who are ready to take on the world to thirteen inspirational women who never took no for an answer, and who always, inevitably and without fail, persisted.

Throughout American history, there have always been women who have spoken out for what's right, even when they have to fight to be heard. In She Persisted, Chelsea Clinton celebrates thirteen American women who helped shape our country through their tenacity, sometimes through speaking out, sometimes by staying seated, sometimes by captivating an audience. They all certainly persisted.

This book features: Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, Clara Lemlich, Nellie Bly, Virginia Apgar, Maria Tallchief, Claudette Colvin, Ruby Bridges, Margaret Chase Smith, Sally Ride, Florence Griffith Joyner, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor—and one special cameo.

Dear Girl, 

Dear Girl, is a remarkable love letter written for the special girl in your life; a gentle reminder that she’s powerful, strong, and holds a valuable place in the world.

Through this charming text and stunning illustrations, any girl reading this book will feel that she's great just the way she is—whether she enjoys jumping in a muddy puddle, has a face full of freckles, or dances on table tops.

Dear Girl, encourages girls to always be themselves and to love who they are—inside and out.

I love text letter written inside of  book jacket. This surely gives you the sentiment that is beautifully captured within the pages of this text:

Dear Girl,
This book is for you.
Wonderful, smart, beautiful you.
If you ever need a reminder, just turn to any page in this book and know that you are special and you are loved.
—Amy and Paris

If you are a mother, aunt, grandmother, or someone special to a lucky girl, this book is the perfect gift!

Girls Can Do Anything

This enchanting book is all about the things girls can do. Whether she dreams of being a vet that heals people's pets, a firefighter that braves the flames, an astronaut floating in deep, dark space, or a fearless jungle explorer, there's nothing that a girl can't do. Girls Can Do Anything!

One size definitely does not fit all in this book: charming depictions of girls being scruffy or fancy, neat or messy, and everything in between are explored and celebrated, because each girl is unique and unlike all others. 

Empower young girls everywhere and let them know that being told "you're such a girl" is the greatest compliment of all!

One of my favorite things about this book is that girls of every walk of life are represented. There's a girl in a wheelchair and girls of color in this text. If representation matters to you when selecting a text this book surely fits the bill. 

Girl, You're Amazing!

An upbeat, rhyming tribute to girls offers readers encouragement to build confidence and self-esteem while whimsical paintings celebrate the many things that girls of every age can do.

Girl, You're Amazing! has you chanting that beautiful sentence to your favorite girl all day long!

This book also celebrates diversity. If you are looking for a book that celebrates the uniqueness of all girls, this book is for you! The illustrator aims for inclusion in her hip gouaches, which feature girls of all races and appearances. Asymmetrical faces, fashionably mismatched patterns, and a quirky palette of colors adorn each unique page.

Another great thing about this text is that it has a companion, Boy, You're Amazing! With all this girl talk, we need to remember that EACH child is unique and special no matter their gender!

I hope this post inspires you to find the perfect picture book to celebrate girls and women this March and beyond! I look forward to adding to this list as I find more books that celebrate girls.

What is your favorite female picture book?

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Laura Williams