It's the 100th Day of School!

This week I've been celebrating the 100th Day of school with my K and 1st grade classes.  Just like last year, I set up centers, but I did things just a bit differently.  Instead of 10 different centers, I only set up 5 and we rotated through all 5 of them rather than choosing 5 to go to.  Much easier to organize and set up.  And this year I spread it out over the whole week rather than trying to get 8 classes in on the same day.  So much better!

Here are the centers I set up:

A timer is set for 100 seconds and students sit with their eyes closed until the timer goes off so that they experience how long 100 seconds is.

Then they get to write their names as many times as they can in 100 seconds.  When the timer goes off the second time, they count how many times they were able to write their names and discuss why some students were able to write their name more times than others.

At the next center, students got to experience what 100 looks like.  They were able to look at 5 containers with 5 different types of objects in each and then make a guess as to which container held 100 items.

The kicker was that they all had 100 items in them.  Then students were led in a discussion as to why some containers were more full than others and how 100 can look different depending on what is being counted.

At that same center, students then drew a picture on a stuck note and added it to our 100 sticky note picture collection.  This was a new addition to what I did last year.  Students could draw whatever they wanted.  We had quite an art collection going!

At the next center, students built a tower using 100 plastic cups. Last year this center was a 100 Lego tower, but my son was very reluctant to let me borrow his Legos last year, so I decided to change it up a bit this year and use cups instead.

I think this was everyone's favorite!  And it was much quicker to pick up than 5 or 6 sets of 100 Legos.

At the next center, K made snowmen and 1st made snowflakes until we had a collection of 100.

Many of the Kindergarteners wanted to take their snowmen home, but I convinced them to let me keep them for a few more days for our collection.

The final center was the 100 button sort center.  Last year I had students sort in different ways, but I quickly learned that there really wasn't enough time to sort in more than one way with 100 buttons, so this year, I had students just sort by color. 

It worked much better and most students were able to do this without much guidance.

All in all, I think it was a successful celebration.  It was much smoother than last year and the kids still had a great time with only 5 centers. The best part is that since I have enough items for 10 centers I can rotate them out each year so that it's a different experience for the first graders every year.

If you're interested in these 100th Day Centers, I have a 100th Day Packet available on Teachers Pay Teachers for only $5.00.  You can get it by clicking here or on the picture above. 


So do you celebrate the 100th Day of school with your kiddos?