Using A Theme To Count Up To 100-Day

Having a theme in place is a fun way to manage what you’ll do on 100-Day. I have several suggestions in this two-part article to help get you thinking.

Caterpillars:

We're Wiggling Our Way To 100 Day!

• Is a cute way to count up to 100-Day.
• Make a copy of my caterpillar head out of emerald green construction paper.
•  Add wiggle eyes, a pink pom pom nose, some pipe cleaners for antennae, stickers for cheeks and draw in a magic marker mouth and you’ve got yourself a beautiful bug.

•  Cut 50 yellow and 50-lime green cirles from my template to make100-segmented body pieces.
• Have students vote on a name for their caterpillar creature.

•  Each day choose a child to write that day’s number on either a yellow or lime-green circle and then add it to the growing body of your caterpillar.
• Hang the caterpillar in the middle of a hallway wall, close to the restrooms.

•  That way, when students are using the bathroom, you can review patterns and count up to whatever number you’re at, while you wait for everyone to finish.
  
• On 100-Day you can have gummy caterpillar-worms as a special treat/snack!
  
• Click on the link to view/print 100-Day Wiggles and the things I have related to him.

Butterflies:

• Our second graders study Monarch butterflies in September. 
• I don’t do butterflies ‘til April, but I thought it would be fun to whip some “Fluttering Our Way To 100-Day” stuff together as I LOVE LOVE LOVE butterflies!  If you do too, maybe this is the theme for you!

•  Perhaps you’d like to toss in a butterfly thing or two with your caterpillars!  After all, metamorphosis could have taken place in those 100 days of counting!  How cute would that be!
  

• Simply draw a big jar (use clipart) on construction paper and cut it out.
• You can make your jar out of light blue or gray paper and the lid can be wrapped in aluminum foil.  This is a photo of my firefly bug jar.
• Put my poster (see photo above-left) above or beside your jar.
  
• You can make this poster 3-D by cutting two sets of butterflies.
  
• Glue only the thorax to the bottom butterfly; fold the wings up and wahla "flying butterly!"
  

•  Buy 100 butterfly stickers.
• Each day choose a student to add a butterfly to the jar.
• 
• On 100-Day choose a “pick me” Popsicle stick that has your students’ names written on them and that child gets to take the poster home as a 100-Day prize!

•  Click on the link to view/print some Counting to 100-Day Butterfly things.

•  Just like the blog before, I’m endeavoring to keep things brief, so I have another mini-sub article after this one.
• Keep scrolling down if you’d like to see more tips on this topic and read about trains and apples as  themes for counting up to 100-Day!