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Just like we do every morning, we started our day with Morning Tubs! These play-based tubs are a perfect way to integrate play and social-learning into our day. For this special day, our tubs all contained 100 objects for us to build and play with – foam shapes, unifix cubes, place value pieces, straws and playdough, small stacking cups, and foam blocks! (Snag the visual directions for FREE here.) Starting the day this way reinforced that 100 is not just a milestone, but a quantity students can physically build and decompose in different ways.
Bumping up the traditional Race to 100, students worked in partners to roll, write, and create their own 100s chart. As students made their way to 100, they logged the equations that matched their move. Logging equations helped shift the focus from reaching 100 to understanding how we got there. It was a perfect way to add a needed challenge to this center and is a center than can stay for longer than just today! 
For differentiation, I did have 3 different charts I used. One chart had 12 numbers already written on the chart (at least one in each row/column), one chart had 6 numbers, and then, the 3rd chart had 2 numbers (45 and 17) written on the chart. I’ll definitely introduce this game into our normal math-center routine. It required some awesome math talk between my friends!
In our next center, students used 100 foam blocks to create patterns and shapes. Then, students decomposed the larger shapes recording the number and type of smaller shapes each picture required!
Using a brand-new math center, my friends worked on building (literally) to 100 by 10s. Working in tens helped students see 100 as ten groups of ten, reinforcing place value as a meaningful structure rather than a rule. It was a perfect way to practice skip counting, as well as, work with a partner to create addition equations that have a sum of 100! 
We also took the “Write 100 Words” challenge. Students grabbed a clipboard, pencil, and recording sheet traveling the room searching for words. From content-vocabulary to word-wall words, it was interesting to see where students gravitated. (Snag the visual directions for FREE here.)
One of our goals for the day was to read 100 books as a class. That meant each student (myself included) needed to read 4 books from our display shelf, classroom library, or individual book bin. If you’ve following along, you know I LOVE a themed bookshelf, so of course we pull out our 100 themed books!
With all of the excitement of special centers, we did not reach our goal today, making to ~50 books. Tomorrow, we are recommitting to reading 100 books and will finish our list! As students read a book, they wrote it below. (Note – 2 chapters in a chapter book counted as 1 picture book.)
At the end of the day, each of the four 1st grade homerooms rotated among the classrooms completing a different activity. In the three classrooms, students completed 100 exercises, 100 necklaces, and sang read 100-themed poems/songs. Together my students turned die-cut ‘100’s into art! (Thank goodness for the parent volunteer that cut 270 die-cut numbers.) It was the perfect time to be creative and use everyday things in an unusual way. Some of the final products were fabulous! (Snag the visual directions for FREE here.)
This fellow was one of my favorites – a boy licking a lollipop!
Last year, I looped with my classroom of K/1 friends to 1/2. It’s a great chance to try new things and develop new tricks. Our school is moving in the direction of 1:1 with Chromebooks, so any chance to get to teach my Littles about using technology, I’m game. We create *very* simple “I Would Want 100” Google Slides. We have a Google Classroom, so I just posted a blank slide where every student got their own copy. You could also have students open a blank slide directly from Slides and “Share” it with you. From there, we typed our text first and then, added pictures. Easy peasy, fun, and something new! (Snag the visual directions for FREE here.)
Lastly, in transition times and in-between activities, we took time as a class to reflect on the things we have learned this school year. It’s really amazing to consider how much we’ve practiced in just 100 days. Each time we met, we added topics and memories to our ‘100’ chart! It was a sweet way to reflect on our 1st grade year. 🙂
In the past, I’ve also made paper chains. Each student is responsible for 4 links and then, we sting our “learning” around the classroom! Just like in math, this reflection reminded us that learning is built over time, piece by piece, until something bigger starts to make sense.
Well friends, we did it! It was a loud, fun-filled day filled with great reminders of how far we’ve come. I am so happy to be in 1st, and I was so proud of my friends today.
When is your 100th day? What fun things do you have planned? I’d love to hear your ideas for activities and centers I can include next year. Please share!
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7 Responses
I love the art with the die cut numbers! So cute!!
Looks like a fun-filled day of learnirng. We do several things you listed and…
solve a mystery puzzle of 100 on a hundreds chart, go down the slide 100 times (as a class), see how many times we can run up and down halfcourt in 100 seconds, say our names 100 times, solve 100 math problems and spell 100 words (as a class on bulletin board paper that I hang in the hall for all to see), play a game where we roll a die for as many times as it takes to make it to 100 (play with a partner), build with 100 Legos, blocks, etc., bring in and count 100 items by grouping them into 10s…the regular stuff! Thanks again for sharing. I'm going to make the 120 chart puzzles. I've never done that before. I think the kids will like it.
I LOVE the idea of solving 100 math problems. I'll definitely have to try that next year. I'm sure my kids would be so excited!
My school is doing a school wide 100th day and I am going to expand your idea of 100 spelling words. Each class has to come up with 100 words but as the grade level goes up so will the minimum number of letters per word will go up so for 4th grade their words would have to have at least 4 letters in it,
Thank you for more great ideas!
I also have two cup stacking centers, one with small Solo cups and one with large ones. Students need to work with their small group and make a pyramid!
I all so have a floor puzzle of sea life with 100 pieces, another favorite!
I have baggies of different kinds of food, 100 of each: Gold Fish, Marshmallows, M&M’s, Cheese Balls, Skittles, pretzels etc. We look at each food item of 100 and see the difference. Then we will compare 2 of the items at a time, which would weigh more and we drop them in a balance. We continue weighing the baggies of food to compare, then I dump all of the food in a bowl and we have a 100th day snack. The kids always love it!
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