Even if the school year has already started for you, it is not too late to start counting up to 100 days of school. Students enjoy watching the school year pass by, but for teachers there are also many different learning activities that can take place. How you count to 100 days is entirely up to you. Whether your class puts pretend jellybeans in a poster size pretend jar or Popsicle sticks in a can, the method by which you count is not as important as the activities that accompany the counting. Check out the activities below and start counting the days with your class.
Countdown to the 100th Day of School
One of the best and easiest activities associated with counting to 100 is being able to reinforce place value with your students. If you do not already use a place value chart as part of your morning routine, consider getting a pocket chart or creating a place value visual on the board. It will make it easy for students to see the daily number and where it falls on the place value chart. Getting to the hundreds column will be one of the highlights of the year!
Looking at 100
As you near 100th Day, challenge students to gather a collection of 100 of something. Provide each student with a white craft bag and ask students to brainstorm some items that they might be able to fit 100 of in the bag. Get the discussion started by asking, “Would 100 potato chips fit in this bag or would 100 apples fit in this bag?” Have students decorate their bag with a 100th Day theme, take it home to fill with 100 things, and bring it back on 100th Day. On 100th Day, have students share their collections of 100. For added fun, instruct students to guess and check their answers to such measurement questions as:
- Which collection do you think weighs the most?
- Which collection do you think will fit in a cup measure?
- Which collection would float?
Counting to 100 also offers the opportunity to explore dollars and cents. Use pennies to keep track of the days and switch them out for nickels, dimes, quarters and half-dollars at the appropriate places. This will help students get a better understanding for counting money and how the different coins can be combined to make different totals. When they reach 100, switch out the coins for a dollar bill.
While addition and subtraction will start off easy, as the year progresses counting forward and backward from 100 will prove to be more challenging. You will be able to introduce single and double digit subtraction and addition, greater than/less than, word problems and more. Have students contrast and compare the numbers in anyway you can. By using the daily number it makes the math lesson practical and fun.
How do you use the count down or count up to 100 days in your classroom? Are there activities that you come back to year after year that work for your students?
Leave a comment and share them with us below or on the Really Good Teachers Forums. We’d love to hear how 100 days inspire you!