The 100th Day of School is upon us and is always a fun day for me… oh and the kids too lol. In Kindergarten, we have been counting 99 days to make it to this point, and it's time to celebrate. There are times when we just don’t feel like it but these days are the ones the kids remember for years to come.
Since I only taught math and science, these activities are all math-related. This is how the 100th day of school goes down in my classroom!
The Theme
We usually have some kind of dress-up day, we either have the kids dress like they are 100 years old (adorable) or something more low-key like “100 Days Brighter” and the kids wear bright colors on the 100th day of school. Both are fun and in the past few years especially, families have really enjoyed dressing to a theme whether it be the color of the day, spirit weeks, or the 100th Day of School!
The Activities - Everyone Does
100th Day Necklace
Using fruit loops or beads the kids make a necklace with 100 items on it. As you can imagine it was difficult for them to keep track of 100 items, so I printed out a sheet with 10 ten frames and they put one in each space, then were given string which was taped on both ends and knotted on one so it would be easy for them to string on.
100 Cup Structure
While the kids were stringing necklaces, I called groups of students to work together to build a structure of 100 cups. The only criterion is they needed to build one structure together, but it could be whatever they wanted. Each group had about 10 minutes to do that then go back to making their necklace or the next activity.
100th Day Craft
I have done several crafts over the years but a gumball machine has won out the last few. For this activity, the kids are again called over by groups from doing their necklaces. They use a cotton swab to make 100 dots in their gumball machine. I have taught them to switch colors every 10 numbers, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't 🤷🏽♀️I’m just glad that they are enjoying it, and as far as crafts go, its usually not too messy for the grandmas and grandpas😜!
The Activities - Early Finishers
Finding All 100 Numbers
Inevitably you will have students who finish before others, so I also have a few activities planned for them! Before the kids come in, I have the number 1-100 posted all around the room in groups of 10. I have used Post-Its before since they already have the adhesive, but you can cut and laminate the numbers 1-100 and use sticky tack. The good thing about that is you can save the pieces and use them as a quick math center or activity for students to put together the 100 chart.
As they finish their other activities, they get a clipboard and tracer 100 chart and look around the room for the numbers. When they find them they trace them. I usually put them in groups of ten so they weren't bouncing all over the room looking for every number.
Roll or Spin To 100
This game can be done with a partner or independently. Each player needs a die, dice, or spinner and one color. The first player rolls or spins and colors in the matching amount of spaces on the chart. If they roll six they color six spots with their color. The next player rolls say the roll five, the color the next five spots, and so on until they reach 100. They could count how many they each were able to color in to determine a winner if you’d like.
100 Chart Mystery Picture
In this activity, the students are given a set of numbers that should all be colored the same thing, and after they color them, a mystery picture is revealed!
If you end up making copies and don't use them all they work perfectly for centers for the next few days, my students often asked if they could keep doing the activities long after the 100th day of school!
Get the Activities
You can get all the activities as well as set up instructions all this 100th day activity bundle! I hope your students have as much fun as mine did!
You can check out this blog about all about the 100s Chart if you are looking for more ideas on how to use this powerful number sense tool!