Hooray, it's the 100th Day!
A giant milestone in the elementary school year is making it to the 100th day of school. (If you have not gotten there yet, I am sure you are very close.) Students love celebrating this milestone as they learn about this wonderful number. Take a look at how we celebrate the day and how I teach my students about the number 100 in my classroom.
Fruit Loop Necklaces
If you have not tried this activity yet, I recommend that you do. All you need is two boxes of Fruit Loops or a similar type of cereal, yarn cut into long pieces, and some tape on the end of the yarn. Students count out groups of 10 and string them onto the yarn. It is great for fine motor development as well as counting to 10. Students change colors after each group of 10 making this concept of 10 groups of 10 makes 100 and counting by 10s more concrete. The students love this activity and anxiously beg to start eating their new necklaces.
Roll to 100 Dice Game
Here is a game that focus on counting and addition concepts. To play this game you will need a 100's chart for each kid, dice, and crayons. Students try to guess how many rolls of the dice it will take to get to 100. This game can be done either whole class or in a small group. You start by having a student roll the dice and students color in the corresponding number of squares. Remember to have them tally the roll in a separate area. This continues until the students reach 100. At the end count up your rolls and see if your guess was close.
A way to make this game harder is to use two dice. This way the students have to first add the dice together before coloring it on the 100's chart.
I love to have students write what they would buy if they had a hundred dollars. It is adorable to see their misunderstanding of the value of money. I always have students say they would buy a house or a car. They are shocked when I tell them how much it actually costs. It is a quick economic lesson.
Another prompt is: I would like 100 ___ but I wouldn't want 100 ___. The students have a great time with this prompt, especially what they wouldn't want 100 of.
I also love to have students draw and write about themselves when they are 100 years old. It is funny to hear them even talking about it, but their drawings are precious. I always have students in wheelchairs and with canes, but also very young looking 100 year-olds. I tell the children that I hope I look like them when I am 100!
Sing 100 Day Songs
Preschooleducation.com is a helpful reference for 100 day songs along with tons of other holidays and topics.
Groups of 10 Book
One of the important concepts we work on during the 100th day is that 10 groups of 10 make 100. My students enjoyed making a groups of 10 book. On each page we decided to draw or glue 10 of something such as stickers, sequence, and drawings of shapes. This was a fun book that students took home for reading practice.
100th Day Hats and Glasses
Pre-K and kindergarten students love making things they can wear, especially hats and glasses. There are a ton of commercial products that you can buy (as I decided to do this year) but there are also some creative ones to make. In the past we have made hats with a big 100 on it and as a class wrote 100 tallies on the hat. We have also made some fun glasses that the students adored. Here is a printable pattern.
Estimating More and Less then 100
Collect a few jars ahead of time and put candy or other small objects in the jars. Fill some jars with less then 100 and some with more then 100. I always include one with exactly 100 items. Have students guess which jar has more then, and less then 100. Then practice counting them out with the class. An extension is taking the jar with exactly 100 and figuring out together how you can share 100 pieces of candy equally among the class.
100 Snack Trail Mix
Before the 100th day send a note home asking for 10 different snacks such as Goldfish, different types of cereal, pretzels, marshmallows, M&M's, and popcorn. To make the trail mix students count out 10 of each snack to add to their bag. At the end they will have 100 pieces of snack to enjoy just like they have enjoyed 100 days of school.
100 Balloon Pop
A colleague, Pam Kleveshal, did this fun activity with her students this year and was kind enough to let me share it with you. During shared writing time, Ms. Kleveshal guided her class to write a sentence like "I wonder what would happen if I popped 100 balloons with my feet." When they were thinking of what to write next, they wanted to give it a try to see what happened when you popped a balloon with your feet. Ms. Kleveshal remembered that she had one balloon in her closet. They blew up the balloon and decided to go somewhere where there was a little more space to pop it. As they were about to go into the multipurpose room, students started asking who would pop the balloon. They discussed that the first few students might pop the balloon and the others would not get to experience it. Just then they walked into the room where parents had blown up 100 balloons. The students enjoyed problem solving and popping the balloons with their feet. When they returned to the classroom they added lots more details to their writing.
Collect 100 Canned Foods for a Food Bank
I love this service learning activity. It allows students to learn and to give back to the community at the same time. Before donating the cans there are many graphing and writing activities you can do.
A Different 100th Day Story
I am sure if you look through an elementary teachers 100th Day of School books you would find a lot of the same titles. "The Wolf's Chicken Stew" written by Keiko Kasza is a different story that I recommend you add to your collection. Take a look at this lesson plan for an activity to go along with the story. The story is about a wolf that tries to fatten up the chicken by giving him 100 pancakes, dough-nuts, and more. The illustrations in this book are wonderful and students love the storyline.
Write 100 Words
Here is a challenge for your young writers. On a big piece of butcher paper write the number 100. Make a list of 100 words your students will be able to spell and challenge them to take turns writing a work. If you have 20 students each child will write 5 words on the poster. I love seeing the students excitement and amazement after to know that they just wrote 100 words when just a few short months ago they couldn't write any!
A heart healthy brain break activity on a busy day. My students typically do 100 jumping jacks to get their bodies in 100% shape. This is an activity that can be spread throughout the day doing exercises in sets of 10.
Interactive White board Activities and Internet Games
Here are some other resources to help you plan out your 100th Day of School
Only 80 Days left of School
Now that you have reached your 100th day of school, explain to the students that there are only 80 more days left. I love setting a goal with my students to read 80 books in the next 80 days Try to come up with a class goal for the next 80 days to keep them motivated after the 100th day milestone.
Hopefully this list of activities helps you to plan fun and academic activities for the 100th day of school. During all of the craziness, make sure to take the time to celebrate how far your young students have come. It always amazes me how much students have learned and the growth that happens in just a few short months. Please share with any 100 day activities that you do in your classroom. I would love to get some new ideas to try out for next year!