Schooling Together – 100 days of School With Swimmy

 Grade Level: Kindergarten Theme: Teamwork • Counting to 100 • Visualizing Large Numbers

Objectives

Students will:

• Understand the importance of working together
• Practice counting to 100
• Visualize what 100 items look like
• Connect teamwork to the message in Swimmy by Leo Lioni

Materials

• The book Swimmy by Leo Lionni
• 100 paper fish cut from white construction paper
• Crayons or markers
• Large bulletin board or wall space
• One black fish (or let students color one fish black)

Lesson Plan

1. Read and Discuss

Read Swimmy aloud to the class.
After reading, invite students to talk about:

• How the little fish worked together
• Times when they need to work together (families, classroom activities, playground, community help, etc.)

2. Prepare the 100 Fish

• Give each student a paper fish to color.
• As a class, color 99 fish the same color (such as orange).
• Color 1 fish black—this will represent Swimmy.

This helps students see group identity vs. individuality in a positive way.

3. Build the Giant Fish

• Arrange all 100 fish on the bulletin board.
• Place the black fish where the eye of the large fish would be.
• Step back and admire the giant fish made from 100 smaller pieces—just like in the story!

What Students Learn

• How many 100 really is when they see it in one place
• That everyone plays an important role in a group
• That working together allows us to do things we cannot do alone
• A visual connection between math and literature