The 100th day of school is one of my FAVORITE days in all of Kindergarten! My classroom turns into one big ole party… and every year my kiddos squeal with excitement upon arriving to a not so ordinary day of school! I’d like to think every day in Kindergarten is a party, but there is something magical about this day in particular. While much prep and planning goes into making this day happen, I’m reminded every year that the work is more than worth it when your kiddos walk out of the classroom at the end of the day saying “Mrs. Evans, this was the funnest day of school EVER!” *insert crying heart eyes emoji here*
Today I’m giving you a little peek into our 100th day of Kindergarten! While COVID has brought many changes and protocols this year… my number one goal was to make the day as fun and normal as possible, while still following protocols. All students wear masks at all times in classrooms, my students are consistently sanitizing their hands with each transition and also their work stations after each use, and students are distanced as much as space allows in our classrooms.
I sent out a signup to parents a couple of weeks prior to our big day to sign up for snack items and a few other miscellaneous items needed such as plastic cups, balloons, and table cloths for the day’s activities. For the 100th day snack I sorted all items into individual plastic bags for each kiddo while wearing a mask and gloves a few days prior to the 100th day. Each student received 10 of each snack item: pretzel sticks, goldfish, teddy grahams, marshmallows, cheerios, fruit loops, raisins, m&ms, pieces of popcorn, and chocolate chips – to equal a 100 day snack! I gave each student the 100th day snack worksheet from this free resource by Mrs. Jones on TPT to sort their snack!
stations
I also used other items from that same pack as “stations” including the fruit loop necklace, “I can write to 100”, stamp it to 100 book, and then also the “When I am 100 Years Old” writing paper that we did whole group.
Other station ideas that I used included: making 100th day hats, building something with 100 plastic cups and 100 legos, a 100th day “how many licks” activity done with dum dum suckers, a 10 groups of 10 q-tip painting, 100th day gum-ball machines dot painted, and ordering number cards 1-100 with chain links. There are tons of great ideas and free resources on both TPT and Pinterest!
My station signs are from Differentiated Kindergarten and all of my plastic tubs were from either Dollar Tree, Amazon, or Hobby Lobby and I use them throughout the year for various purposes!
decor & balloons
Above all else, the balloons are always the biggest hit of the day! I don’t know what it is about 5 year olds… but they love them. Especially the spiral balloons. I do make a rule throughout the day that if they abuse the balloons or don’t follow directions, they don’t get to have the end of the day free dance balloon party, or take one home! This keeps them from popping them, hitting their friends, or doing anything that might be dangerous! I am always so surprised how respectful they are of that rule, and the past two years of covering my room with balloons hasn’t been an issue at all! At the very end of the day before packing up I turned on GoNoodle’s “Best Day of My Life” and they got to dance and toss around the 100 balloons, and the pure joy on their faces was everything!
I did make the arch myself… and I have to say I did *not* intend for it to be that big! I did the same last year and it was about 1/3 of the size of this years! While it was unintentionally ginormous, I always love the “life” a good rainbow balloon arch brings to the party scene! Rainbow ombré is like an elementary teachers love language! It was easy to make, and using an electric pump this year saved me SO much time! Worth every penny of the $19 investment! I just used a sewing needle and some clear fishing line to string the balloons together and then hung to my wall using command hooks and more fishing line!
I’ve linked as many of the products we used as possible below! Like I mentioned earlier though, I am so lucky to have such wonderful parents who are always willing and wanting to help out in any way they can! While we unfortunately cannot have parents up at the school this year to help out and volunteer in person, they have been so supportive by sending in supplies for special occasions such as this day or other holidays! The only items I personally bought for this day were the balloon pump and then a few additional balloons. Everything else was included on a sign up genius form and sent in with kiddos! I’ve learned you don’t have to break the bank to have magical days and transformations in your classroom, and 9 times out 10 parents want to help out!
I hope you enjoyed stepping into one of the most popular days in Mrs. Evans classroom! I hope this is a day my kiddos will always look back on as one of their favorites from elementary school!
xx,
Madison
