1-2-3 Come Play Some Educational 100 Day Games With Me

If you're like me, then you enjoy using games to reinforce and practice a variety of standards.  The "Dots 'n Boxes" game is perfect for 100 Day, as it's simple, quick and fun for your students, and when completed, will reveal 100 boxes! 

Children choose a partner and take turns connecting two dots with a line.  The object of the game is to complete a box by drawing the last line, which will enclose the box. 

Students then put their initial inside. Once all 100 boxes are made, the child with the most boxes is the winner.  Click on the link for the Dots 'n Boxes 100 Day game.

Another 100 Day game reinforces digital and analog.  Students take turns rolling one dice to get numbers 1-6 for those times, and then roll 2 dice, adding them together, to get numbers 7-12.  

Whatever number they roll they trace that digital time, and write in that number in the appropriate section of their analog clock.  The first one to complete their "It's Time To Celebrate" paper, is the winner.  A certificate of praise is also included.

Puzzle Games:  Help students learn to count backwards from 10 to 0,  forwards from 1-10, or skip count by 10s to 100 with these 9 sweet 100 Day number puzzles.

You can laminate and use them as an independent 100-Day center, or run off copies for each child to take one home for more practice. 

The packet includes 3 picture-less templates to help younger children put the pieces in the correct order. 

The 100s chart also offers a variety of game options.  Children can find the mystery picture hidden in the 100s chart by coloring in the appropriate numbers to reveal the number 100. 

There's also a mystery picture, which reveals a heart.

You can find this 100s chart in my Celebrating 100 Days With an Ant Theme packet.  (Particularly perfect, if you read 100 Hungry Ants on your 100th Day of school, or your 100th day falls close to Valentine's Day. ) 

For more 100 chart fun, there are seven 100 charts in my 100 chart packet, which includes a blank 100 chart for students to fill in, a 100 chart, where the "skip count by 5s numbers" are in red, a 100 chart, where the "skip count by 10s numbers" are in blue, a traceable 100 chart for little ones, a "What's Missing?" fill-in-the-even numbers 100 chart, as well as a "What's Missing?" fill-in-the-odd-numbers 100 chart.  For more fill-in-the-blank 100 chart templates, click on the link for my monthly packet.

The filled-in 100 chart is perfect for making puzzles, or designing your own "mystery" pictures.  To easily make 100 chart puzzles, simply print off the 100 chart on a variety of colors of construction paper; laminate and then trim each color into a different puzzle. I keep each one in a Zip Lock Baggie.

To help younger students, who are just learning to count to 100, print off a class set of the 100 chart on white card stock and laminate, so that students can tehn place their puzzle pieces on the grid. 

Another 100 Day game that you can play with the filled-in 100 chart, is "Race to 100".  Students pick a partner and take turns rolling the dice.  They add the numbers together, then color in that many boxes on their worksheet.  The first one to fill in the entire chart, is the winner. If you're pressed for time, have students use only one, 100 chart-worksheet. Each child uses their own color crayon to fill in their boxes. When the grid is complete, each child counts their boxes; the student with the most, is the winner.

Finally, besides all of those math activities, add some 100 Day Word fun to your celebration.  Using the letters in the words one hundred, challenge your students to list as many words as they can think of, before 100 seconds is up and the timer rings.  Who thought of the most words?  Who had the longest word? 

I've included my list of 105 words that I thought of.   After students share their lists, share yours and have students look up any words that they don't know. 

I also did a bit of research about the longest recorded words, and included my discoveries.  I even found a word with 100 letters in it! Why not give students some computer time to see what they come up with, or assign this as a homework assignment to be shared on your 100th Day of school.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you found some useful 100 Day ideas that will help get your kiddos excited about this special day of learning.  To see the other blog articles I posted this week with more 100 Day activities, simply scroll down.

I'm watching my grandchildren today, so I've hit the floor running. There's nothing quite like reliving your childhood by playing games, reading stories, and making crafty memories with your children's children.   Wishing you a magical, love-filled day.

"Every morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams, or wake up and chase after them!"    

1-2-3 Come Do Some 100 Day Craftivities With Me

There is only so much one can accomplish in a day, and so many super-fun 100 Day ideas, that I decided long ago to do 100-Day activities over several days, culminating with an extra-special celebration on our 100th day of school.

With that in mind, I designed a variety of quick, easy and fun activities for you to choose from. They make terrific whole group activities, as well as independent centers.  Today I'm featuring a few of our most downloaded 100-Day craftivities.  I hope you like them.   

After my students complete their "table top" worksheets, they can visit the 100 Day "centers".  I set these up on wooden TV trays, where students can collect the materials they need and return to their desks to complete them. 

Run these "I'm 100 Days Smarter, and That's Something to Smile About!"  100-Day smilie-face bookmarks off, on a variety of pastel-colored construction paper.  Each child chooses one, then counts by 1s to 100, as they fill them in. When everyone is done, count the rows by 5s to also reach 100.  The master template has 5 bookmarks on a page for quick printing.

If you're looking for some 100 Day certificates to pass out to your kiddos, click on the link for 18.  They are in black & white and full color. 

Again, I give my students a choice of which one they want to color, and use the full color ones as awards for some of our games.

 My Y5's loved making and wearing crowns, so our day wouldn't have been complete without some for our 100th day of school celebration.

These three 100 Day crowns, helped reinforce counting and were set up as a center. 

Look closely at the pictures and you will see how students made 20 groups of 5 on the 100 Day Rocks crown, as well as 10 groups of 10 on the heart crown. 

The crown with the circle "jewels" on it, has 104 circles and includes a guess-timation activity.

Another crown option, reviews shapes,colors and graphing, while making a "shapely" crown for 100 Day.

There is a black and white set, as well as a color set for teachers. 

I've also included a blank 100, if you want your students to draw, dot or sticker 10 different items (10 times each) inside the numbers, to make their own creative crown.

Another of their favorite activities, was our "Oldies Banner".  Challenge your students to think about how they might look if they live to be 100, then have them draw a self-portrait or use an aging app to create a photograph. 

Suggestions and links for apps are included, as well as templates for an "Oldie 100-Day Pennant Banner."

You can also "reinforce" the number 100 with this 100 Day banner craftivity.  Reinforcement hole stickers are inexpensive and come in packs of a 1,000 for less than $2. 

You can get plain white ones or ones in bright or neon colors.  Simply run the banner template off on  a variety of colors of construction paper.  Add school photographs for that finishing touch.  Have students trim and then hang your banner from the ceiling against a wall.

Each month I also did a "rip & tear" craftivity. For February, it was the number 100 for our 100th Day of school celebration.

Ripping & tearing is a great fine motor skill.  Simply cut construction paper strips, in a variety of colors. 

I made mine an inch wide.  Students can choose two colors if you want them to do an ABAB pattern, or lots of colors as this child did in the pictured sample. 

I had my Y5's rip up piles of each color, and then using a glue stick, they rubbed the numbers and stuck the torn pieces of paper to them. Completed projects make a wonderful 100 Day bulletin board.

Finally, since the full color 100 Day puzzles were such a huge hit, I thought I'd make some 100 Day number puzzles in black and white, so that your students can choose one and color their own. 

There are 15 puzzles, which help students practice counting from 1-10, count backwards from 10 to 1, as well as skip count by 10s to 100. 

Treat them as an independent puzzle-center activity, or do as a whole group activity.  For an interesting 100 Day bulletin board, have students glue their puzzle pieces onto a sheet of construction paper.  For an awesome mosaic effect, have children leave a little space in-between each piece.  

For more 100 Day ideas and activities, scroll down to take a look at all of the other 100 Day FREEBIES featured in last week's blog articles.  You can also click on the link to pop over to the 100 Day Celebration section of TeachWithMe to see all of the activities I have for 100 Day.  In case you're new here, everything on my site is free.

For even more 100 Day ideas and FREEBIES, check out my Pinterest postings.  I have a board specifically for 100 Day activities.

Thanks for visiting today.  Even though my mind is buzzing with crafty things I still want to make, it's the weekend, so it's time for a break to chill and take a much-needed rest from work that's mostly play for me.  Wishing you a relaxing day. 

 "A journey of [100] miles begins with a single step."

5 pages.

Besides all of those math activities, add some word fun to your 100 Day celebration.  Using the letters in the words one hundred, challenge your students to list as many words as they can think of, before 100 seconds is up and the timer rings.  Who thought of the most words?  Who had the longest word? 

• I specifically set up this 100-grid with the numbers starting with 10-20-30-40 etc. instead of ending with those numbers like most of the 100 number grids you’ll find.

•  I don't want students to be able to see that number coming at the end, so they are indeed memorizing it.  This is a difficult concept for some.

•  I also wanted to be able to take one strip at a time and focus on that complete set of numbers if I wanted to.

•  Another reason is that my students are learning to read from left to right so if I want to count by 10’s to 100 it’s easier for them to “see” that if the numbers are on the left going to the right.

•  I made this number grid horizontal so that I could make the squares bigger so that my traceable numbers could also be larger.

• I've also included a traceable 100's chart, which is often hard to find.
• After I got these grids designed I thought they’d be perfect for a slider.  So I made “Gabby Apple” with wiggle eyes.

I hope your students enjoy making and learning with her. Click on the link to view/print the pix, patterns and directions. 100 Day Apple Slider and 100 charts. Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find useful.

"What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens." -Thadddeus Golas

• To get your students “wiggles” out and to introduce these activities, tell them they need to wiggle the ants out of their pants for 100 seconds.

• Put on some jazzy music and have them get those ants out while you watch the clock.

Click on the link for a You Tube video of a teenager dancing to a remix of The Ants Go Marching  for the perfect music to jump and wiggle to.

• Later, using a black marker, have students make 10 ant dots in each pocket or patch on the blue jeans for a total of 100 ants on their pants.
• Read Elinor J. Pinczes’ book, One Hundred Hungry Ants. {amazonWS:itemId=0395971233}
• Have your students march down the hall 1-by-1, 2-by-2, 3-by-3, 5-by-5 and finally 10-by-10.

• Ask for their predictions of which way they think will take the longest, shortest or be the easiest or most fun?
• Time how long it takes them.
• A fun song to sing while they accomplish this feat is, “The Ants Go Marching”

You Tube video #1 has this song up to the #3 with really catchy music; I wish they would have done the entire song instead of only 1 minutes worth. Click on the link to check it out.

You Tube video #2 goes through the #5 with children at a playground marching. Count by 1’s, 2’s, 3’s, 5’s, and 10’s to whatever number your students are able.

•  Inform your students that eating insects is a delicacy in some countries and that even here in the United States some people eat chocolate covered ants!
  
•  Graph the question: Would you eat a chocolate covered ant?
  
• Pass out a name label to each of your students.

•  Using raisins, have them guesstimate how long they think a line of raisin ants will be, and have them put their name label on the floor.
  
•  Give each student 5 raisins (if you have 20 in your class) and have them begin to lay them down in a line.

•  The student that comes closest to where the 100th raisin ant ended, receives my certificate or whatever you deem appropriate.

•  Pass out the Trace & Write ant worksheets and have students complete them with a variety of colored markers.

•  I’ve also included number cards by 10’s and 5’s that they can trace, cut, and sequence and then turn into Itty Bitty Books.

•  You could also make these into memory match games by printing sets on different colors and having students play with a partner or in a group of 3.

• There’s also a Secret Code 100’s chart for them to figure out the picture by coloring in the appropriate numbers.

• At the end of the day give them an "I survived 100 Day! badge to wear home.
• You could turn these into necklaces by punching a hole in either corner, putting a piece of yarn through and having students string some pony beads on either end.I also have certificates of participation for everyone.

•  Click on the link to view/print 100 Day Ant Activities

I hope your 100 Day celebration is more fun than a summer picnic, simply fANTastic! Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything that you think others may find helpful. 

"O-fish-ally" 100 Days Smarter!

I LOVE play on words, not that younger students always “get it” but hopefully their parents will, and appreciate a teacher’s efforts at creating special things to make their child’s days at school extra fun.

I was inspired by Mary Beth’s “O-fish-ally” play on words on her Nothing But Country site, where she attached a die cut fish to bags of cinnamon cookie fish, as gifts for Teacher Appreciation Week. Click on the link to see this cute idea.

I revamped this concept for a quick and inexpensive thing teachers can whip together for their students for 100 Day. I chose the colored Goldfish and put 20 in netting.  These tulle circles are sold at The Dollar Store (20 in a pack).

I’ve included a graphing extension that you can do if you want, as there are 4 colors of fish. Tie shut with curling ribbon or yarn and you are done in a jiffy!

I made a poem to go with it, so students can practice their rhyming skills.  There’s one for August as well as September.  Here in Michigan we don’t start ‘til after Labor Day.

I loved this play on words so much that I also made a matching 100 Day certificate.

Many teachers also have 100 Day counting mats where students put 10 things in each one of the circles and then count by 10’s.  Students could munch down 10 goldfish and then use the other 10 fishy crackers for one of their counters on the mat.

Click on the link to print my 100 Day circle counting mat.

Click on the link to print the “O-fish-ally” 100 Days smarter stuff.

Click on the link for other 100 Day freebies including art projects, center activities, bulletin board ideas + an 85-page unit.  Be sure and check back tomorrow for yet another 100 Day idea!

 Whatever you’ve planned for your 100 Day, I hope it’s “golden!”

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others will find helpful.

"There's a way to do it better! Find it." -Thomas Edison

I give credit for using reinforcement holes to construct a snowman to my fellow teacher Anita.  Mrs. Kosack's has lots of cute ideas for her kindergartners.  I've used reinforcement holes in the past for the various shapes, but this is just too cute. I revamped her concept with this idea just in time for 100 Day!

• Run off the 5x7 circle template on blue construction paper, or if you want your picture’s background bigger like mine, make circle templates from a file folder and students can trace larger banner-size backgrounds, or a room helper can have these traced for younger students.  Make sure to remind students if they are tracing that they need to leave a gap in between the circles.

• Students or a room helper can punch the mini dots or you can use micro sticker dots for this part.

• If you opt to use the hole punched dots, put a dollop of glue on a paper plate.  Using a toothpick, students put tiny dots of glue on their picture.  Using a different toothpick, they put the smallest dot of glue on the tip, to pick up their mini dots on the edge of the circle, and then press them on the little glue specks.

• You can keep things simple for younger students and have them just follow the circle outlines and make only a reinforcement hole snowman. They can then add details with colored chalk.

• You can also stop with the micro dots as shown in the photo, or turn this into a 100-Day activity, and have students dip the end of their pencil into a tiny amount of white paint. Press the eraser on the blue background to make 26 snowflakes. 
• If you’ve followed the amount of dots and reinforcement holes used on my picture they will equal 74.  74 + 26 snowflakes will give students 100 dots to spot!

• These look nice hung on an aluminum foil background on your bulletin board, or punch a hole in either corner, add a yarn tie and hang back-to-back from the ceiling or in a row along the top wall in your hallway.  Brrr-illiant!

Click on the link to view/print the 100 Day Reinforcement Hole snowman patterns, pix and directions from this article.  Would love a comment if you print or download my freebies.  I truly enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com

Be sure and pop back tomorrow for another 100 Day idea!   Click on the link to view other 100-Day Freebies!

Punched 100 Day Banners

I wanted to give you plenty of time to dash off to the store to get some cool metal punches or track down the teacher or scrapbook queen who has a great collection, so that you can borrow them for 100 Day, so I’m posting this 100 Day idea a bit early for some of you, others may be celebrating in January all-to-soon!

This quick and easy center makes an awesome bulletin board, or punch a hole in the top corners, slide a piece of yarn through and you’ve got lovely banners to hang back-to-back from the ceiling or as a border along the top wall of your hallway.

Simply set up a table with a variety of punches, this could also be done with stamps or stickers.  Add a student's picture in the top corner and you've made a nice keepsake.

Inform your students that the things they cut out or stamp will take the place of zeros, and that they will also need to make a 1 to go in front.

Since my punches are large, I cut construction paper banners that were 5 ½ x 11 ½.  Make yours smaller if you’re using stamps or stickers.   These will make cute bookmarks.

To expedite things and make the banners pop, I made up labels.  You could also have your students practice their writing skills and have them write at the top and bottom of their banners.

I’m posting the label templates in DOC format so that you can simply type in something else if you want.

Highlight my name and type in your students’ names.  Put Avery labels in your printer (my printer has them face-down) and click print.  I do ONE sheet at a time. Click on the links to view/print the 100 Day, name label #1 and 100 days smarter label #2 

Put your labels at your table top center.  Students find their name, peel and stick!  Click on the link to view/print the article's directions & pix, 100-Day Banner idea.   Click on the link to zoom to my other 100-Day FREEBIES.

Thank you for visiting. Feel free to PIN anything you think others will find helpful.

"It is a happy talent to know how to play." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

100 Words For 100 Day!

I know it's a bit early, but for some of you who started school in August, 100 Day will soon be here.  I wanted to whip this 100 Day idea off so that it's in plenty of time for you to make these 100 Day booklets so you can start this activity 10 days BEFORE you celebrate 100 Day or 9 days if you want to write the last 10 words to = 100 words on 100 Day!

Challenge your students to try and learn 10 new words each day before the big day and by 100 Day they will have learned 100 new words!  Wow.

Or...  you could choose to review 10 words each day that you’ve been working on since whenever.  This is great for word wall words, CVC words, or spelling words.

Run off my cover, or have students create their own “My Word Book” covers by stamping letters with your letter stamps or cutting out letters from magazines, like a ransome note and then spelling out the title on their favorite half sheet of colored construction paper.

Staple their cover along with 10 sheets of writing paper and the other ½ of their construction paper for a back, and you’ve got a nifty word book in a jiffy!

When your students have completed their 100 words for 100 Day booklets, reward their worderful word work with a special 100 Day Whiz Kid Word certificate.  I have 2 to choose from. They can glue it as the last page of their booklet. 

Click on the link to view/print the 100 Day word certificates.

Click on the link to view/print the article's directions, pix, cover & certificates. 100 Day Word Booklet. Read Michael Frith’s I’ll Teach My Dog 100 Words as the perfect introduction to this activity. 

I LOVE this book.  It’s a Cat in the Hat “Bright and Early” reader for the “youngest of the young.”

These stories are “brief and funny” the words are “few and easy” and have a “happy catchy rhythm”.  This one rhymes.  The pictures are colorful and perfect clues for your emergent readers!

Happy soon-to-be 100 Day!  For more fun activities to celebrate this great day check out my FREE 100 Day bulletin board ideas and my FREE 85-page 100 Day Unit.

Thanks for visiting. Feel free to PIN anything you think others might ejoy.

"There are 3 choices in life: give up, give in, or give it all you've got!"