100 Days of school project ideas

In this guide

• If I was 100
• Songs
• Books
• Counting to 100
• Story in 100 words
• 100 people on Earth
• 100 steps
• Special guest
• 100 treats
• 101st day

A fun tradition that a lot of schools (mostly elementary, but also middle school) participate in every year is the 100th Day of School. This is a time to acknowledge that the school year is more than half-way finished, and to celebrate the learning and accomplishments that have happened throughout the year.

Many schools embrace the concept of 100 days by having students participate in engaging projects and activities on that day, or even leading up to that day. Here are some ideas:

1) If I was 100

This is such a cute way to inspire kids to celebrate the 100th day. The purpose is to get students to think about what it would be like if they were 100 years old. 

You could start this activity weeks in advance, by communicating with families that students are encouraged to dress up for the 100th day of school, by pretending to be 100 years old. 

Man oh man, this is equally adorable and hilarious. I’ve seen kids show up in wigs, wearing crocheted shawls, waving around a walking cane, and pushing glasses up the bridge of their nose. It’s so cute.

Additionally, this theme provides a great opportunity for a writing assignment. The goal would be to prompt students to pretend they were 100, and imagine what their lives would look like. 

What would they be doing? How might they look? How would they act? What would be going on around them?

2) Songs

I think a catchy approach to get your students really excited about celebrating 100 days of school is to learn and sing some songs together. This could set the tone or culminate the day’s activities.

Below are a couple of quick, fun songs that could be sung at the beginning of class, and/or at the end of the day to wrap up the day of excitement:

• 100 Days of School
• Miniclips: 100 Days of School

3) Books

There are LOTS of books that you can read, to celebrate the 100th day of school. Depending on the grade level, here are some suggestions that I have used, or fellow teachers I know have used:

• Emily’s First 100 Days of School by Rosemary Wells
• 100 Days of Cool by Stuart J. Murphy
• Fancy Nancy: The 100th Day of School by Jane O’Connor
• Jake’s 100th Day of School by Lester Laminack
• 100 School Days by Anne Rockwell
• Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School by E. Lockhart
• 100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli by David Larochelle and Lian Cho
• Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
• Fergus and Zeke and the 100th Day of School by Kate Messner
• 100th Day Worries by Margery Cuyler

This could be done through a read aloud as a class, or if you have enough books, they could choose one to read on their own (or in partners?). These books could lead to a discussion and/or drawing related to the story. 

4) Counting to 100

What better way to commemorate 100 days of school than with a little math? 

There are many ways you can use math during this celebration. One way would be to simply practice counting to 100. Here are some videos that guide and inspire students through the counting: 

• Numberock: Counting to 100
• Count to 100
• Numberock: Skip Counting and Multiples: Skip Counting by 100
• Numberock: Addition: Adding by 10 and 100

Here are a few other math songs that could tie into the theme of 100:

• Numberock: Number Lines
• Numberock: Powers of 10

Something fun to try with your class (depending on the grade level) is to do a class counting activity. This is where the class works together to count as high as possible without repeating any numbers. 

The way this works is:

1. The first student to speak shouts out “One!”
2. The next student to speak shouts out “Two!”
3. This continues until two people try to shout out the same number, or if someone accidentally says the wrong number.
4. Once a mistake is made, you start over.

The ultimate goal would be 100, but I can tell you that it can be a challenge, even with middle school students! But, it’s a fun activity that encourages communication and teamwork.

One variation could be to count by 2,’s, 5,’s, 10’s, etc.. This would increase your chances of reaching 100.

You could also use blocks, snap cubes, counting bears or other objects to have students count to 100. This could be broken into counting by 5, 10’s, etc. This could also open up a discussion on why we use different methods for counting.

Another activity that would practice counting, but also give students insight into other cultures would be to give students a chance to count in other languages. These videos give examples of this, but you may also have students that speak other languages, and could share as well:

• Counting to 100 in Spanish
• Counting to 100 in Portuguese
• Counting to 100 in Arabic
• Counting to 100 in French
• Counting to 100 in Chinese

After watching these videos, students could compare and contrast the differences and similarities to counting numbers in English.

5) Story in 100 words

Another fun way to celebrate the 100th day of school would be to have students write a story in 100 words. I would say that this would work best with students that are at least third grade, but could work up through middle school. 

This is as flexible as you want to make it. You could give students a very specific prompt that follows the theme (ex. “If you had $100, what would you do with it?” or “If you were taking a 100-day vacation, where would you go?” or “If you had 100 of a certain snack or food, what would you ask for?”), or let it be open-ended. 

The only requirement would be that the story was 100 words exactly. You can get creative as you want to be with this. Depending on the grade, 100 words is one decent sized paragraph, or a couple of small paragraphs. 

In some ways, this could be extra challenging for the student that likes to write a lot. I have found that it can really stretch students, to limit what they include in their writing. 

For some, it’s easier to write 1,000 words than 100. They will need to be precise and careful with their word choice.

For others, 100 words may seem daunting or out of reach. Perhaps a modification would be 100 letters/characters, or a drawing/comic strip in place of the writing.

If you need ideas or would like to provide your students with examples, here are a couple of 100 word stories, if you choose to assign an open-ended prompt:

• Storykids: Zoe Norton-Lodge’s 100 Word Story Special
• Storykids: Andy Griffiths’ 100 Word Story Special

6) 100 people on Earth

This activity gives students a chance to think critically about the world they live in. And although this is focused on social studies/geography/civics, it could work in other subjects as well.

The concept is to ask students, “If there were only 100 people on Earth, where do you think they would be located? How would Earth look different? Would that be better or worse than it is in real life?”

It would be important for students to have a general understanding of the world population and the sizes of countries. Prior knowledge of world geography and society would be helpful. Because of this, I would suggest this for upper elementary/middle school ages.

If I was teaching this lesson, I would:

• Pose the questions above.
• Give them think time (perhaps 3-5 minutes).
• Have them journal what first comes to mind.
• Encourage them to discuss with a partner or small group.
• Ask for volunteers to share their thoughts.
• Begin an initial conversation about this concept.
• Show the following video, pausing at discussion points to engage the class: If There Were 100 People on Earth.
• Have students return to their journaling and add to their thoughts.
• Have students draw or write what came to mind afterwards

This could provide opportunity for a larger lesson that could include research, debate, presentations, etc.

7) 100 steps

There’s a really good chance that your kiddos are going to be hyped up and have tons of energy on this special day, with all the excitement and activities (who wouldn’t be?). Some of the above suggestions would require students to sit and be still. 

So, if you want something to get them up and moving, try having them take 100 steps. This could be done in the classroom or outside, perhaps on the playground. 

Have students spread out (as much as possible), and find their starting point. Then, tell them that they will be taking 100 steps, and will see where everyone ends up. 

Tell the students to take a step each time they hear (or say) the next number. Start counting, and you can have them count along with you. They can choose to take small or large steps.

It’s a lot of fun to see where they land. If it’s in the classroom, they may have to walk in circles and repeat places they’ve walked before. Outside, you could encourage them to try not to step where they did previously.

When you reach 100, tell them all to stop where they are. Have students look around, and see how far their friends are from them.

You could also talk about why some students are much closer or further away (maybe because they take larger steps?), and how this would have turned out differently in a smaller or larger space.

8) Special guest

I would highly recommend reaching out to your school community in advance, and see if you can connect with someone that is 100 years old to come visit, and speak with the students.

This may be tricky to make happen, but what a wonderful opportunity for them to hear the stories and perspectives of someone that has been around for 100 years.

This could be done as a whole school assembly, or even just a visitor for your class only. If possible, it could be helpful to frontload information to the students, so they can come up with questions in advance.

Another option since elderly people may have difficulty visiting in person would be to use Zoom or Skype. This way, they can visit from their homes. 

The guest could share what life has been like for 100 years-what they have seen and learned. Perhaps how the world has changed.

After the person visits, a kind gesture would be to have students write a Thank You letter or card, expressing their appreciation for the visitor taking time out to share their life with the students. They could also include what they learned about the past 100 years.

9) 100 treats

Nothing says “party” or “celebration” like a special treat to commemorate the day. 

One thing I have done in the past for this day is to bring in 100 treats to share with the class. This could be 100 donut holes, 100 animal crackers, 100 M&M’s, 100 Skittles, 100 Cheerios, etc. If it’s something small, the cost is minimal (and a more reasonable treat for your class!).

You could simply just present them to the class, and then hand them out. Or, it could be turned into a math problem, and have students estimate how many each of them would get. 

You could start with giving every student 1, then talk the class through how many times you could go around the class.

A more cost efficient option would be 100 stickers, kind notes, free homework passes, etc. The options are endless.

10) 101st day

After the delight of the 100th day of school has subsided, you could continue the revelry the next day. 

This could follow a similar theme, by tracking 101 of something. Perhaps showing the movie “101 Dalmatians”? 

The 101st day can also be a great time to make goals and celebrate victories, to lead into the last portion of the school year. Students can recognize that it is now past the 100th day, and there is a lot to be proud of, but also to look forward to.

Here are some videos that could help your students set goals for success, for the remainder of the school year:

• Create-to-Learn: Writing Art-Inspired Stories: The Future I See
• What You Need to Succeed: Entrepreneurial Skills: How to Set Goals
• Crash Course: The Engineering Process: Defining Success

Goals could be set for the rest of the school year, or perhaps further in the future. 

To wrap up

As I mentioned before, celebrating the 100th day of school can be a lot of fun. And there are deeper, more meaningful benefits as well.