Do you celebrate the 100th Day of School in your classroom? This day usually falls sometime in January or February. It is such a fun way to get young children excited about counting to 100! In Kindergarten and 1st Grade, the 100th Day of School is a big deal and we celebrate all day long. Here are a few of my favorite 100th Day of School books along with some fun games and lessons to go with them!
Miss Bindergarten Celebrates The 100th Day of Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
This book is one of my all-time faves for young students. In this story, the teacher asks each of the animal students to plan what they will bring for the hundredth day of school. As a bonus, the book moves through the alphabet from A-Z. This book is a great one to use to introduce the concept of the 100th Day of School and help students understand what it's all about. Create a simple extension activity to this book by going through your own class roster in alphabetical order and asking each child what they'd like to bring for the 100th day.
100 School Days by Anne Rockwell
This is a great book to help with brainstorming some items that can be counted up and brought into class. This book starts out by explaining how the students in this school add a penny to a jar every day and mark an X on a hundred chart. In many classrooms, using a method like this to have students count how many days they've been in school is a great way to build some anticipation around the 100th Day. In my classroom, we mark an X on the hundred chart every morning during our morning meeting. As the students grow in their math abilities, they can practice counting by 1's, 5's, and 10's during the year as we work up to 100 days.
The Night Before the 100th Day of School by Natasha Wing
This book is another cute read for the 100th Day. The children in this book prepare to celebrate the 100th Day of School by asking each other what they plan to bring, each child trying to come up with a more exciting idea than the one prior. This funny story is filled with silly rhymes that mirror the classic holiday story, “The Night Before Christmas”, so your kiddos might recognize it!
I like to read this one the day before our own 100th Day of School celebration. This is the perfect book to read before sending your kiddos home for the day, especially if you plan on having them bring 100 items of their own.
100th Day Worries by Margery Cuyler
This silly story follows a girl who begins worrying about what to bring on the 100th Day of School on day 1. Nothing seems right for what she'd like to bring to school. She runs through a list of items, never landing on the “perfect” one. She continues to worry day after day until she finally reaches the 99th day of school and still can't decide what to bring!
My students always think this book fun since the main character, Jessica seems to find something wrong with everything she can think of. This is definitely a fun read to add to your rotation!
Miss Mingo and the 100th Day of School by Jaime Harper
This animal-themed book is a fun twist on the 100th day. In this book, a classroom of animals represents 100 in ways that are each unique to them. Centipede does one hundred jumping jacks while Panda shows off two bundles of fifty bamboo stalks. As the day goes on, the animals celebrate the 100th Day through other fun group activities. Your students will love this read-aloud for celebrating 100 days in school!
Fancy Nancy – The 100th Day of School by Jane O'Connor
If you teach kindergarten or first grade, chances are you've got some Fancy Nancy fans in your group. This book is the perfect addition to your 100th Day book collection! In this book, Nancy is completely stumped on what to bring for her 100th day celebration. Your students will love the fun vocabulary words and unique ideas for celebrating the 100th day in this book.
100 Snowmen by Jen Arena
This newer book isn't the classic type of 100th Day of School read-aloud, but it's so much fun! Plus, the winter theme is perfect for a January or February celebration. This book focuses on counting up to 100 snowmen by adding them up. I love that this book uses simple addition to illustrate what 100 snowmen look like to students!
Hundredth Day Disaster by Bridget Reistad
If you're looking for another fun book that's a bit different than the typical 100th day of school story, you'll love this one! In this book, the teacher miscalculates when the 100th Day of School will be and accidentally almost misses it altogether! The principal, teacher, and students rush around and work together to try and get this problem solved and find a way to celebrate. Your students will laugh over and over with this silly, rhyming story.
100th Day of School Activities
All of these books are great options to use for your 100th Day celebrations. I have a whole post dedicated to my favorite activities to use for the 100th Day of School, but one of my all-time favorites is having kiddos count out 100 items to bring to school. The idea behind this is that students will each get a chance to count out 100 items of their own. This also offers an opportunity to visually see what 100 items look like in many forms. Many of the books on my list use this activity and offer so many fun ideas but here are a few more in case you need some suggestions for your students:
- cereal
- paper clips
- cotton balls
- legos
- coins
- goldfish crackers
- crayons
The idea here is to let students (and parents) know they don't need to run out to the store and buy something special for this assignment. Instead, encourage them to try and get creative to find something around their house to use for their 100th Day of School project. I love seeing what students come up with for this activity and they love showing off their collection during our morning meeting!
Also, pro-teacher tip- consider bringing some extra items just in case! I like to bring a box or two of cereal and some gallon-sized ziplock bags so that any students that forget their collection can count out 100 items at the table with a friend upon arrival. This way no one feels left out as the students present their collections.
More Ways to Celebrate the 100th Day of School
In my classroom, we celebrate the 100th Day of School all day long through fun lessons dedicated to the number 100. Aside from the fun books we read and comparing our sets of 100 items, we also use a variety of printable and digital activities to celebrate. My favorite way to do this is during classroom center time.
I like to have a few different center rotation stations for the 100th day so that we can practice some important math and literacy concepts, while also keeping in line with the 100th Day of School theme. Some of our activities include:
- Missing Numbers Hundreds Chart
- Skip Counting to 100
- Build 100 Snap Cube Mats
- Color by Code Worksheets
- Word Search Pages
- 100th Day of School Google Slides Activities
- 100th Day of School Boom Cards
Each of these fun activities focuses on the number 100 in some way and helps to make our day feel special! I love starting the day out with books for the 100th Day first thing to kick off our lessons. After we spend some time reading, I have the kiddos each show off their collection of 100. Finally, we spend the rest of our day working on these activities during center time. Filling our lessons with these books and activities is a great way to ensure that the 100th Day of School is a day to remember.
Prep For The 100th Day of School
Are you planning your 100th Day of School activities? Once you've got your books picked out, it's fun to plan some simple activities to go along with them. When it comes to the 100th day, I love quick and easy options. I'm a big fan of incorporating movement, songs, and whole-group games on the 100th Day of School. Don't forget to take a peek at this post if you need some more inspiration!
And if you're looking for super simple, no-prep lessons to sprinkle among your games, you can also find all of the activities mentioned in this post in my 100th Day of School Bundle. This lesson bundle comes with no-prep printables, Google Slides, and Boom Cards so you'll have a no-fuss way to plan all of your activities for the 100th Day of School!
With a combination of games, no-prep printables, books, and digital activities you’ll have everything you need for the BEST 100th Day of School Celebration ever!
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