Kindergartners in the Seaford and Wantagh school districts marked the 100th day of school with celebrations, reflections and hands-on activities.
At Seaford Harbor Elementary School, students dressed as if they were 100 years old on Feb. 11, donning glasses, wigs, dresses and suspenders. They paraded through the school as students in first through fifth grades lined the hallways to cheer and give high-fives.
Back in their classrooms, students used 100 as inspiration for posters and crowns. They also stacked 100 cups, built with 100 blocks and made gumball machines with 100 colorful stamps.
At Mandalay Elementary School in Wantagh, students — also dressed as 100-year-olds — rotated through activity stations that highlighted the milestone. Family members volunteered to help with stacking cups, making gumball machines and rolling dice to reach 100.
In the days leading up to the Feb. 12 celebrations, students counted straws each day, bundling them by tens. Teachers read stories aloud, including “100th Day Worries” and “Fancy Nancy: The 100th Day of School.” Students practiced counting to 100 by ones and tens.
They also wrote about what they would do with $100. At home, students gathered 100 of a specific item to place in a clear plastic bag. At school, they analyzed the objects to compare size and weight in a math measuring activity.
The origins of celebrating the 100th day of school date back to 1979 in Livermore, California.
Teacher Lynn Taylor marked the 100th day in her classroom to help children understand the number 100, using a puppet of the “Sesame Street” character Count von Count to turn 100 pennies into a dollar.
The idea spread quickly. Teachers across the country adopted the 100-day celebration, turning it into a mainstream classroom event. Today, thousands of printable lesson plans, activities and celebration ideas are available.
The 100th day is viewed as an important milestone because it means students are more than halfway through the 180-day school year. It also highlights how much progress children have made since the beginning of the academic year.
Marking the 100th day is especially popular in kindergarten through second-grade classrooms, when teachers focus heavily on reinforcing foundational math skills and number recognition.
