100 Days Smarter

We celebrated the 100th Day of School on Tuesday.  I didn't plan to make this crazy because we just celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday, and I wanted it to be a little more of a celebration of their skills they've learned thus far in kindergarten.

For a special snack, they had a 1/2 a cheese stick (number 1) and 2 large marshmallows (two 0s).  Maybe I forgot to take a picture of this...oops!  I think you can picture this one in your mind sitting on a brown napkin.

During "real centers", which is what my students call play-based centers (as opposed to "reading" or "math" centers), we had 4 special centers to everyone visited today.  Each center celebrated something we've practiced over the past 100 days.

Center 1 was writing 100 words.  Did most of them get 100 words done?  No.  Did they all try really hard and use spelling strategies, rhyming words and resources around the room?  Yes they did!  This made this activity as success in my book!  They wanted to finish, and in fact, we did take an extra few minutes to work on it together at the end.

Center 2 was building with 100 cups.  Students were in groups of 3-4 and this station practiced their teamwork skills.  We have been building relationships and their ability to get along with one another since the first day of school.  This center was great practice for that and for their problem-solving skills.

Center 3 was building 100 chart.  I took 5 100 charts (each on a different color) and cut them into chunks.  Students had the chance to either work on their own or to work with partner to put the chart "back together".  This was great for their number sense and again, problem solving.  They were SO proud when they finished it.  These will be appearing in our math center because they were such a hit.

The 4th Center was making something out of the number 100.  This brought out students' creativity and problem solving skills.  How can you turn the numbers or draw around them to make something new?  I was surprised by some of their creations.

Insect (the zeros are the eyes)

She folded her "1" to make it smaller.  I thought that was a creative way to use it since I insisted that they had to use 1 one and 2 zeros.

I appreciated how excited my students were today to complete these centers.  I learned today that I didn't need a huge "blowout" party to make them happy to show what they've learned thus far this year.  I enjoyed a more low-key day with some fun ways to show our learning.  How did you celebrate the 100th day?