The 100th Day of School Activities & Ideas

Christmas break is over.  That means the 100th Day of School is just around the corner.  For the district I worked in, it usually fell in the second week of February (usually around Valentine's day and right before our midwinter break.)  Those of you who started before Labor Day probably have the big day coming up much sooner.

A Day of Kindness

We always made a big deal of Hundreds Day (Hundreds Day, Hundred's Day, 100s day, the 100th Day of School...so many names...all the same thing) in second grade. We celebrated it like a holiday but kept an academic focus.  Each year we did things a little bit different. The first year that my teaching partner and I team taught the multiage, we did a day of kindness. Now this took a lot to plan but there were two teachers for our fifty students, so we could divide and conquer. Plus with 50 total students, each student only needed to bring in two of the items we asked in order to make it to the magic number of 100.  Here are some of the activities that we did for our day of kindness:


-Collect 100 canned goods to donate to a local food bank
-Collect 100 quarters, 100 dimes, 100 nickels, 100 pennies and donate the money to a cause we voted on as a class
-Collect 100 cans of dog/cat food to donate to an animal shelter
-Collect 100 used toys to donate
-Collect 100 gently used items of clothes to donate
-Make 100 valentines to give to a local nursing home
-Write 100 letters of thanks to teachers and other school employees


Then during the day we did different activities with the items we collected. We did sorting and graphing activities. We practiced counting money. We practiced reading words on can labels. While it was a lot of work and there was a lot of items that needed to be dropped off at various donation locations, it was awesome to see 50 students thinking of others all day. They had fun and their parents were great about donating the items we needed and even extras for students who weren't able to bring anything.


Once we stopped team teaching, this was a little bit harder to manage with just a single class. Students would have had to bring way more items in to get to 100 total items. You could probably do a scaled down version and maybe just focus on collecting cans or collecting money and do activities related to those.

100th Day of School Centers 

100th day of school activities, ideas and freebies!

Once my teaching partner and I went back to teaching across the hall instead of in the same room, we still loved collaborating on activities. When we switched to a new school, I put together some 100th Day of School centers. 

We planned them for an entire afternoon.  We invited parents to come in and help run the centers. I planned ten centers in our two classrooms and the hallway and common area next to our rooms. I printed out directions for every station and included all supplies including pencils for each station. That way our students only had to take their packet with them to each station.  

It was a lot of fun. It kept the students excited and engaged all afternoon and I could justify celebrating the 100th day of school because our students were still learning.


 Here are examples of the 10 centers that are included.

100th Day of School Activities - 100 Compliments

Come up with 100 compliments (as a class) for each student in the class or various staff members.


100th Day of School Activities - 100 Letters

Write 100 letters as a class thanking teachers and other school staff.


100th Day of School Activities - 100 Pennies

Practice measuring weight, height, perimeter and area using 100 pennies.

100th day of school activities, ideas and freebies!
Represent the number 100 as many different ways as possible on a large poster.


100th Day of School Activities - Writing Words

Have students bring in 100 cans to donate, find words on the labels that you know how to read.


100th Day of School Activities - Paper Airplanes

Make paper airplanes and try to throw them 100 inches, then measure (a great center to give any dads that might volunteer to help run a center.)


100th Day of School Activities - Addition Pairs

Write as many addition pairs that add up to 100 as you can.

100th Day of School Activities - 100 Seconds

How many times can you do certain activities if you only had 100 seconds??


100th Day of School Activities - Past and Future

And for some social studies for the day - thinking about what life was like 100 years ago and what it will be like in 100 years.


100th day of school activities, ideas and freebies!
A little craftivity where students show what they will look like when they are 100 years old.


The packet also includes printable directions for each station, all pages that need to be printed for each station and extra pages for fast finishers since each station takes a different amount of time.  All of these activities can also be done whole group or during math or literacy workshop - make it your own!


And for sticking through my ramblings about 100s day, here is a freebie for you!  It includes one of the center worksheets and one of the extra pages for fast finishers.  Enjoy and let me know what you think!!

Happy 100th Day of School whether you are celebrating soon or in another month!