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Parents' Guide to

Emily's First 100 Days of School

By Grace Montgomery, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 3+

Short, fact-filled animated version of popular kids' book.

Movie NR 2007 36 minutes
Emily's First 100 Days of School Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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ksanders4
ksanders4 Adult
February 19, 2019
age 3+

Boring, drawn-out and non-inclusive

I thought this would be nice for my son's class to celebrate the 100th day of school. I'm so glad I previewed it before suggesting. It is heavy on Christmas, there are at least 4 days dedicated to that holiday and 1 to Hanukkah. Therefore, I don't think the video is very inclusive. I thought the video's theme would be about school-related activities, either what the children learned each day or what they did in school but, instead it was just random things for each day aka "I made a birthday cake for my relative and she is 37 years old" That would be for the 37th day. Or, "when I get older I will take a trip on highway 69" for the 69th day. So it was boring, drawn-out, and not suitable to show to a group of diverse students. Really disappointed when I checked the date too because, I thought maybe it was from the 60's but it was written in 2000, so there is no excuse for this lazy, poorly written, and divisive children's video. Really disappointed in Scholastic.
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What's the Story?

Emily (narrated by Diana Canova) starts kindergarten and has to keep a number journal for her first 100 days of school, which she reports to the Bunny News Network (BNN). Each day Emily lists different things that happened in her day and how they relate to a number; for example, on Day Two her teacher teaches the class the song "Tea for Two," and on Day Four she learns that a square has four sides. The journal takes her through the holidays, and Emily is shown helping others by doing things such as making turkey sandwiches for the homeless for Thanksgiving so they can celebrate, too.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Although there's not really much of a plot to this short and simple cartoon, it does manage to be packed full of interesting facts and lessons, which parents will really appreciate. And fans of Rosemary Wells will certainly love seeing her beloved characters. Although some facts will definitely be over preschoolers' heads (such as the explanation of what a prime number is), many of the daily vignettes will help young kids learn basic things such as the names of the planets. But, though it's pretty short, the premise does start to wear a bit thin pretty quickly and the very simple animation isn't super engaging, which may cause some kids to lose interest before reaching Day 100.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the different ways Emily helps others. Why do you think it's important to help other people?

  • If you kept a number journal like Emily, what would you put in it?

  • Emily makes a new friend from Australia. Do you have any friends from other countries? What things do they do differently from you?

Movie Details

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