Countdown to the 100th Day!
Posted by Hope Spencer on 30 Jan 2009 | Posted in: Holiday and Seasonal, Student Activities
In my school, celebrating the 100th Day was serious business. We had a kindergarten teacher who had her kids count 100 paper clips, counters, shoes, neckties, you name it! Then they took 100 steps, hops, and jumps; drew 100 objects; and made and wore paper crowns with 100 sequins on them. Her enthusiasm was contagious! I found myself counting to 100 by twos, fives, and tens all day long. I looked forward to their 100th Day parade as much as I looked forward to any program our children did. Don’t you think the world would be a happier place if everyone took some time out to have a parade on the 100th day of the year?
In honor of the 100th Day, we’ve included a “purr-fectly” marvelous unit on pages 46 and 47 of the December/January Kindergarten Mailbox® magazine. The ideas are all so cute, but one of them really stands out to me. It’s called “Would You Rather…?” The idea has children deciding whether they would rather have, for example, 100 cupcakes or 100 pizzas. Hmm…tough choice. I can only imagine how much fun kids would have making, and explaining, their choices!
Now it’s your turn. How do your students celebrate the 100th Day? Let’s use this forum to talk about this great day…but don’t blame me if you can’t stop counting to 100!
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18 Responses to “Countdown to the 100th Day!”
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More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] Show All Comments
Hello,
We celebrate the 100th day of school by collecting cans of food. Each class collects as many cans as they can two weeks before,and on the 100th day we count them and record how many we have collected on a classroom graph by the office. It is a friendly competition between the classes. We total the collections and we then donate the food to a local food bank. It is a fun way to celebrate and we help out the community as well.
I think it’s mainly because counting to 100 is such a milestone for Kindergartners. Once they can get the idea of bundling 1’s into 10’s, then bundling the 10’s into groups of 100, they have a major math concept. This day is celebration and reinforcement of all the work they did up to that point. It also provides the motivation for other counting and math activities, such as “if this is the 82 day, how many more days until the 100th day?” and the kids count on. No one actually ever told me why we do it, and when I was in Kindergarten (in 1960!) we didn’t do it, but it is very motivating for the kids.
The book “Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten” by Ashley Wolfe has some great 100th Day celebration ideas. i also order my kids stickers that say “I’m 100 Days Smarter!” and pencils that say “Happy 100th Day”.
We just love the 100th Day and who doesn’t enjoy stories that go along with it. BUT this year I decided to celebrate Half-Way Day along with the 100th day. We talked about the 90th day being half way through the year. It was great fun to cut things in half…we made layers of different colored Play Doh into spheres and then cut them in half with a craft stick to reveal wonderful patterns. Next year I will wear and encourage the students to wear half one shoe, half another. It could be as endless as the 100th day activities!!
Hello!
We celebrate the 100th day for several reasons. One, it’s fun to count UP to 100 beginning on the first day of school. It gives us something to look forward to in the winter, when things can get routine. We keep a chart where the school day count is kept in rows of 10. When we have groups of 10, we can count that way as well. We also use the chart to skip count in other ways - by 2’s, 5’s, etc. We can look at how many school days we’ve had and how many are left to get to 100. By the time we actually get to the 100th day, we are adept at counting by 10’s and 1’s. On the actual day, we practice these skills, practice place value, and build interest in number patterns. We do everything with the number 100 in mind. There are so many ways to use this one event as a teaching opportunity, they can’t all be innumerated here, but that’s a start.
I LOVE the 100th Day! I have the kids bring in a collection of 100 things and 100 pieces of snack (like m & ms, cereal, pretzels, etc.) to combine into a 100 day snack. We also build things with 100 blocks or legos, try to form the longest line with 100 items, and complete 100 piece puzzles. My favorite 100th Day writing activity is to have the children write about what they would do if they were 100. They also draw a picture to go with it. It ends up being the funniest book we make all year. Of course we also read 100 Day books and sing 100 Day songs throughout the day while wearing our 100 Day hats that we have made. What a great day!!!!
Hi,
I´m a teacher in Brazil and I was always curious about this celebration you people have in the US. Why do you celebrate the 100th Day?
I made same research myself but I wasn’t able to find out the reason. I would love if you could tell it to me and to all brazilian teachers that are as curious as I am. By the way, I enjoy your blog very much. Thanks,
Ligia