100th Day Fun for Everyone!

I’m gonna throw out a little confession.  Once upon a time, I did not think the 100th day of school was a big deal.  I really didn’t think anything of it at all to be totally honest.  As the years went by, I realized it was kind of a big deal and each year since I made that shocking revelation, I’ve been trying like crazy to do everything I can to make the 100th day extra special for the kids.  Of course, it really does help being at an all K school where these “kind of a big deal” milestones are embraced and celebrated by everyone on campus. 

I always feel like I have a list a mile long of things I want to do for the 100th day, but I’m nothing but short on time.  I made it my personal mission this year to come up with a plan that would make it easier for me to do everything I wanted to do with my kids and have plenty of time to do it.

So this year, we started our hundredth day activities several days before the actual event.  We did a little something each day to prepare for our big milestone and ohmiword…that was a LIFEsaver this year!!!

I found this PRECIOUS idea from Buzzing About Second Grade and knew we had to do it, too!   My kids were SO creative!!!

When it was finally time for the hundredth day, there was nothing left to do but CELEBRATE!!!  WOO HOO!!!

I woke up my boys with a little hundredth day breakfast.  They grinned from ear to ear.  They were SO stinkin’ excited!  Speaking of my boys, they were very particular about the kind of shirts they wanted to wear this year.  My sweet Landon insisted on collecting 100 autographs to wear and his sweet teacher was kind enough to humor him on his request.  Grant had about a million different ideas, but as soon as he saw the packet of glittery solar system foam shapes, he was sold.  Bless. 

I decided to go with this little number.  I found the idea HERE.  After making this shirt I can officially say that hot glue and I are NOT friends at all.

Before the kids got to the room, I set out their hundredth day folders.  I just cut some poster board down to size and slapped a little label on it.  After all the excitement building up to this special day, I knew they needed a special something to hold all their goodies. 

We spent one afternoon making these hats.  My kids were so excited to wear them.  They were less impressed when all the stickers started falling off.  I guess I pulled out the stickers I had when I started teaching.  Not so “sticky” anymore!  HA!

Speaking of things they couldn’t wait to wear, they were ALL so excited to show off their 100th day shirts!  Just look at the cuteness!!!

We even got to show them all off in our 100th day parade!  Look at my littlest cutie.  Those ears!!!  That squishy little 4-year-old face!!!  Cracks me right up!  HA!!!

While I spent a few minutes prepping our 100 day stations, the kids were completely engrossed in finding the number 100 on this little number search activity.

This year I set up 8 different 100th day stations. I spent lots of time pinning fabulous ideas and chose 8 of my favorites to incorporate into stations.

I even made these little punch cards for the kids to carry around so that they could keep track of the stations they visited.  They thought this was the coolest idea ever.  Score.

Station 1 – Hershey Kiss 100 Chart.  I labeled the bottoms of the kisses with garage sale dots {1-100}.  The kids had to dig for the kisses and match them to the numbers on the 100’s chart.

Station 2 – Build a 100 cup structure.  Oh sweet teacher who thought of this first…whoever you are, THANK YOU!!!!  My kids were seriously OBSESSED with this station!  A class favorite for sure!  I found mini solo cups, popped ‘em in a tub, and then the kids had to work together to build a structure using all 100 cups. FUN!

Station 3 – Pattern Block Creation Station.  I counted out 4 different bags that each contained a variety of pattern blocks…100 in all.  The kids had to make little creations using all 100!  Definitely a challenge!!!  HA!

Station 4 – Dot 100 Gumballs.  This precious idea was inspired by the fabulously creative Julie Lee.  I don’t know who loved this one more…me or the kids?!  It was definitely a challenge for them to keep track of counting to 100, but I was SO impressed to hear their strategies & thinking for making sure they were staying on track!

Station 5 – 100 Marshmallow/Toothpick Creations Station.  I portioned out baggies of 100 marshmallows and set out cups full of toothpicks.  This *might* have been another class favorite.  They LOVED getting creative….and STICKY!!!!! 

Station 6 – 100 Snap Cubes Creation Station.  My littles are BIG fans of the snap cubes.  They were even BIGGER fans of using 100 of them to create something fun!  I got some really neat little creations.  Transformers anyone?!

Station 7 – Roll & Race to 100.  The kids had fun rolling the die and coloring 100 pennies. This little activity is from my 100 Day packet.

Station 8 – Ice Cream Scoop 10’s.  Another fabulous idea from Julie Lee!  My kids couldn’t wait to get to this station!!!!

Lots of prep, but TOTALLY worth it!!!!!!! 

We ended the day with a special snack…

…and LOTS to clean up!  We were so busy with our 100 day stations that we didn’t exactly have time to graph our 100 trail mix, but no worries…they each got to scoop a baggie full to take home with them at the end of the day! 

I can honestly say that this was the most successful, smooth, productive 100 days I’ve celebrated in my 12 years of teaching.  The best part about it was my kids. Lawdhavemercy…they were so excited.

One of my littles said….and I quote….”All of my dreams have come true!!!!!!”   HA!!!  I about died!!  As someone on Instagram said, isn’t it cool that we are blessed with jobs that give us the chance to make kids’ dreams come true?!  Pretty cool way to think about it!!!!

Whew!  Not that I’m glad to have that out of the way, but ohmiword.  I sure can rest a little easier now : ).  Always fun, and ALWAYS a *little* tiring.  Can’t wait to do it all over again next year!