Six Ways to Celebrate the 100th Day of School

It’s almost that time in the school year where classes will be celebrating "100 Day", the 100th day of school for the kids. Teachers use it as an engaging way to help kindergartners learn how to count to 100, and to reinforce other mathematic concepts throughout the elementary years. It’s also a great excuse for a party as “100 Day” fosters a sense of school pride, acknowledges the hard work of the last 100 days, and yes, means we’re over the hump and heading toward summer! Here are some great activities to do do with you child to celebrate the 100th day of the school year.

Party Games

• Counting Games “100 day” is a great day to count, so present a variety of trays with different objects for the students to count. Older students can count out an assortment of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and then work together to add up the monetary amount of their mix of 100 coins.
• Super 100 Circuit Race Create an outdoor race course with different signs, each designating an exercise the kids must do 100 of before moving to the next sign. The kids can hop 100 times, jump 100 times, sit and rest for 100 seconds, clap 100 times, walk 100 steps, etc., at each station and you can have certificates ready to give the kids once they have finished the course.

Party Attire

• 100 Bead Necklaces At the Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts, first grade teacher Sue Marin had her students count out 100 beads to string together for necklaces as part of their class celebration. She included an assortment of solid colors and beads with letters on them so kids could spell out their names in the middle of the necklace.
• 100 Glasses Create a template for the glasses by typing the number “100” in a large, chunky type face. You want the zeros to be large enough to work as the spectacle rims, and you will have to cut out the numbers to place them right next to each other to make your master copy. Once you’ve created your 100, photocopy the template onto cardstock. For the activity, have the kids cut out the 100 (including the centers of the zeros), then punch holes on the upper left of the “1” and upper right of the second “0”. Take two pipe cleaners, make a knot at the end of each one, and the run the pipe cleaners through each hole to make the arms of the glasses, bending the ends of the pipe cleaner to rest on the ear.

Party Snacks

• 100 Table Treats Divide the kids into groups of five. Give each group a large bowl of a tiny snacks; raisins, goldfish crackers, mini pretzels, dried cranberries would all work well. Have the kids count out 100 pieces of snack, and then see if they can divide the snack equally among all five students. Note: this is cold and flu season, so be sure to have the kids wash their hands with soap and warm water before starting.
• 100 Day Cupcakes Transform store made cupcakes into numerical works of art by topping each cupcake with the number “100” made out of gummy candies. Use short gummy worms or sour worms for the number “1” and then add two sour peach marshmallow rings for the zeroes to for the number “100.” Alternately, you can have the kids decorate the cupcakes by making “100” with small candies such as M&Ms or jelly beans.