I decided to take on organizing a Play Day this year for Hundred’s Day. Our school normally doesn’t celebrate 100’s day together. I have in the past so I knew it would be fun for the kids. I also knew once I put the work into organizing the students, I could do it again a few times over the remainder of the year. This way the work wouldn’t all be for just one day.

There were a few things I knew were frustrations in the past for teachers on Play Days so I took this into account. There were also a few things I knew could go wrong so I attempted to be proactive and ready. Overall I think my coworkers and the kids had a nice afternoon. I was a little high strung ha but only because I was trying to make it go smoothly and likely overcompensating when I didn’t really need to. Overall for my first time, I would say it was a success! I will also be more chill next time. I will outline the steps now so you can do it too if the desire should strike you.

Step One: Check that your coworkers are on board.

I originally was only going to plan and implement activities in my own classroom but then decided to extend the invite to the other primary classrooms. Thankfully everyone wanted to participate so I was able to share my extra activities with coworkers wanting ideas and turn it into a really fun afternoon. The plan was to make it a play afternoon but then I decided to narrow it down to just one block. This decision was made to save us attempting to reorganize everything again after last recess, end of the day, on a Friday.

Everyone agreed that a STEM approach would be good for this play day and the other teachers were able to contribute by creating and organizing their own classroom activities. Our kindergarten room is busy. So instead of interrupting their flow I organized activities in the gym for the students. That way they were able to participate and the rest of the littles stayed in their normal routine. Our admin pitched in by running the gym and we were able to spread the students out into fun centres. I made it a little more pretty by making matching signs for each classroom door. The signs labeled the activities for the students to see as they entered each room.

Step Two: Organize the students into groups.

I knew there were six classroom centres in total for the Play Day so I broke the students up into mixed age groups. Our amazing secretary made me a copy of everyones class lists. I emailed the teachers asking everyone for a heads up if anyone really wouldn’t be successful in the same group. The oldest kids became my leaders and I tried to pair them with students based on needs and strengths. There were approximately 20 students needing to be placed in each classroom activity. I broke them up into two groups of ten. Even though they would be in the same spot I wanted to have designated leaders in charge to guide the younger students. This allowed for a good amount of leadership per activity and for the walking in the hall during transitions.

Step Three: How to gather the students and begin the groups for Play Day.

This may seem like a fairly simple almost a non-step but it actually is the most stressful and complicated part of organizing a Play Day. I knew there would be some confusion or people missed, congestion in the hall etc… so I just placed myself in the hall with my computer ready with my extra details. It turned out to be a wise decision. I put the oldest kids in charge and asked everyone else to stay in their classrooms and wait to be picked up by their leaders.

I then positioned myself in the hallway and gathered the odd crying younger child and made sure they were happy and in their proper group. One group went to the gym without everyone so I sorted that out as well. In hindsight I may ask the teacher of the classroom they are going to, to go around and collect the first groups to save some time. Then they would just rotate in a clockwork manner. I might also recruit a few grade 8s to help the kids. We decided to just do just Kindergarten to Grade Four for this activity as it was more of a primary kid activity. On other play days they are often school wide.

Step Four: Keeping everything flowing on schedule.

I set the rounds to 15 minutes but this was difficult to schedule because I had no way of knowing how long it would take the students. They needed to come in for lunch, get organized and get into their groups. It took them a little longer than expected, so each group missed out on one of the stations but overall it was a good success.

Next time I would write down 15 minute rounds on everyones master sheet for the Play Day or have a designated student to go around and be a human timer haha. I used a YouTube timer projected on my whiteboard for kids to keep on track. This is a normal practice for me to keep myself in proper pacing throughout my day. I tried to help enforce it so that everyone was able to get the most out of the experience. For more tips on pacing during your instructional day check out my blog post here. I think a bell in the hall ringing might be a good transition cue too.

Step Five: Share with your Families.

I wrote a short note to parents explaining the activities of our Play Day afternoon. What we had done and how it connected to the curriculum. It was quick but fun. I made a post onto our online family sharing space with some photos and a note to ask their children about their afternoon. Short sweet and simple, but effective.

I would definitely do this again. I can see it going more smoothly each time the kids practice. If given the chance to remain in their leadership roles. I loved the feedback from my coworkers, it was a nice change of pace on a Friday afternoon. Highly recommend the effort. If you’re interested in doing a Hundred’s Day play day next year check out my other post here. The read comes with a free template for 100’s day colour and wear Headbands for the kids. Most important of all remember to have fun!

With Love, C

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