Hundreds and Hundreds of Hundred-day Things Were on Display as Primary Grades Celebrated the Hundredth Day of Everything!
“The 100th Day celebration is special because 100 days are a lot, and it makes everyone feel proud and happy. I learned the number 100 in kindergarten last year because we used a game counting up to 100, and it came in handy this year. It’s special to do fun things at school.”— Ava F., age 7.
By Norma Richman
Kindergartners, first graders, and second graders welcomed one hundred days of school with chic t-shirt designs, a unique art gallery, and a variety of games—all aimed at giving the number 100 its due. Kindergarten teachers Lynette Wiebe and Koral Talavera made sure that their students were prepared with math skills to meet the challenge of counting to one hundred, and it all took off from there. When the one-hundredth day of school rolled around, the kids donned self-designed t-shirts to celebrate. The only rule: each shirt had to contain one-hundred somethings. One hundred band-aids, one hundred flowers, even one-hundred creepy, crawly bugs. One shirt defied the law by losing a pink puffball on the way to school, but 99 still looked pretty good.
Aster L., age 5, summed up her thought process: “I made little flowers, and I colored them with markers. I made tally marks on a paper and then I knew I had 100. It took a long, long time—like 3 or 4 days.”
Graham D., age 5 and-a-half, admitted that sometimes kids had to confer with their parents to get the job done. And sometimes the whole family got into the act. “I was thinking of something else, but my dad thought of band-aids, and we tested one on my mom’s t-shirt and it stuck all day and night. Then my Nana bought them for me.”
Ms. Talavera shared a teacher’s point of view. “Together, we have shown so much growth, so it was a joy celebrating with various activities! Our fabulous 100th Day of School t-shirt fashion show highlighted so many creative designs—100 bugs, 100 flowers, 100 stickers, and much more! In the classroom we had fun creating a 100 sticker collage, playing a 100-Day game, and reading stories like Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten.”
Often, it’s just a simple concept: “When I think about celebrating 100 Days of School, I think flowers because they are very pretty. They bloom and sometimes they are pink—one of my favorite colors,” said six-year-old Noelle M.
Lucas Z., who is “exactly 5.11 years old”, rounded out the kindergarten discussion with an observation on the importance of math skills: “I stamped snowflakes on my shirt. I counted by ones (1s), and I didn’t lose track.”
Over in first grade, Mrs. Falchini and Ms. Alter offered an abundance of celebration activities—all of which provided children a chance to reflect on the skills they have mastered in 100 days and also what could be done with a bunch of Fruit Loops™. Mrs. Falchini explains, “It is important to me that we celebrate the accomplishments of our first graders and help them recognize all they have learned and how much they have grown academically, socially, and physically. The students have learned new spelling patterns and math strategies. They have written narrative and opinion paragraphs and have performed many experiments in science. And finally, in social studies they have learned about being good citizens and community helpers.”
Blake Y., 7, seconded that idea: “It’s just like a celebration because we celebrate that we went so far in school. It went at a medium pace. And I got to enjoy everything. My favorite activity was stacking the cups until we had a tower of 100 cups, and then when it fell over, we could do it again. That’s what I like about it.”
“It’s very special because we celebrate what we accomplished. And it’s a special day because we were mostly off regular school work, so we got to relax a little. My second favorite activity was coloring a 100-day headband because I like art,” added Kara W., age 7.
Ms. Alter made sure that there were plenty of coloring projects in her class for the celebration, but there was an important introspective lesson, as well. “As part of our 1st grade 100th Day Celebration project, my students reflected on their learning journey so far. Each child had the opportunity to share what they’ve learned and what they enjoy most about school. Through writing, they expressed their favorite subjects, activities, and remarkable moments. This project not only celebrated reaching 100 days of school but also encouraged our young learners to appreciate the value of education and the joy of discovery.”
Ryan Y., who is almost 7, reflected on the lessons: “If we didn’t have the 100 Days of School, it could be 99 or 101. But a hundred days are special because of the pizza party and my mom coming to school. We’re coloring a big ‘100’, and it’s telling us about ourselves. We color it and fill it in with facts about us and what we want to do in the future. After 100 days are over, I hope to be able to jump as high as Ronaldo, the soccer star.”
Teachers Tori Dohlen and Staycee Sciranka took second grade in a totally different direction—out to the main hallway, which served as an open-air ‘100 Days’ display. Mrs. Dohlen described the gallery as “a great reflection of our amazing students demonstrating their individuality and creativity.”
Meera H., age 7 (almost 8), explained what the second grade gallery was all about from her perspective: “Well, it’s basically about celebrating the 100th day of school. We took our time to make these really cool projects. We mostly did it ourselves at home, but if we needed help, we could ask our parents. I knew I was good at something. It’s a kind of sewing called cross stitch, and so I decided I was going to make the number 100 with 100 stitches. It took about 2 days. Making the design was the hard part. I felt good and proud when it was done.”
“So you celebrate the 100th day of school by making the projects and they have 100 things on them. I decided to use pennies. I got the pennies from my piggy bank and maybe my mom’s piggy bank too. My mom used the hot glue gun. I put them in groups of ten first. I needed 10 groups of 10. It made the number 100, which I wanted,” Mikey N., 8, added.
Eight-year-old Grayson D. described his project this way: “Well, earlier in the year I got some Legos™. I saw there were 125 pieces in the box, so I took 25 pieces out of the set. Once I had 100 pieces left, I built a dragon I call ‘Rocky Earth’. I had to do subtraction for that. My Lego dragon cost around $25.”
Finally, Stella D., 8, made magical art with ordinary erasers. “I got erasers that had the number 100 on them and shaped them like balloons that could fly away. I glued them on with tacky glue on a blue background that I painted with a sponge. My mom didn’t know that I was using her sponge till I finished. For the erasers, each pack had 60 erasers. Sixty plus 60 equals 120, and then I did the subtraction of 120 minus 20 equals 100. Then I glued them on, and I was wearing my old 100th Day t-shirt from back in kindergarten when I did it.”
Ms. Sciranka declared the entire day a success: “It’s so great to see how students blend their creativity and outside interests into one project. They are so proud of and excited about what they create. I love hearing students appreciate each other’s work. ‘That’s so cool!’ or ‘How did you do that!?’ are comments that bring classmates together.”
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