If you LOVE having a 120th Day celebration with your students, you’re in the right place! We dressed up as cowboys/cowgirls and had a Texas-themed celebration. We also asked some parents to help out with our stations. We are fortunate enough to have a big neighborhood around our first-grade classes, so we use that to house all of our stations.
We also used Google Slides to show the rotations with 8 minutes each. We have a smartboard out in our neighborhood to show the slides with a timer. The students make a star badge and color it red, yellow, orange, green, blue, or purple. We tell them which color their badge will be, so they know which group they will be in. All the first graders are mixed up so they can be with other kids from other classes.
Our 12 stations include: Bluebonnet Painting, 120 Exercises, Snake in a Boot, 120 Pasta Necklaces, 120 Things We Love About Our School, 120 Cup Stacking, Race to 120, 120 Day Hat Decorating, 120 Commitments to Good Choices, 120 Day Quilt, 120 Day Snack and Decorating an Alamo.
Here is an example of one of our Google Slides we used. We had 12 different colored stars, and under each star we had a picture of the station. As each station was over, we would switch the slide to the next round. We had 12 rounds altogether with 8 minutes each. That means it took us a total of 96 minutes for the whole thing.
1.) Bluebonnet Painting
We set up blank bluebonnet pictures with blue tempera paint and Q-tips. The students dipped the Q-tips into the paint to decorate their bluebonnets. Their challenge was to dab 120 times.
2.) 120 Exercises
We had a station where the students could do 120 jumping jacks, 120 sit-ups, 120 hops, 120 skips, 120 shoulder rolls, and whatever else they could come up with! What a great way to exercise!!!
3.) 120 Cup Staking
We put out a small carpet with 120 red solo cups, and the students stack them in a structure and try to keep it from falling. You can do this with small dixie cups as well if you don’t have a large space. The kids love this station and get really competitive!
4.) 120 Snack
120 Snack: We used 12 different ingredients: Cheerios, Goldfish, gummy bears, M&M’s, raisins, white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, Fruit Loops, Kix, and cheese-its, etc. We used the plastic chip trays from the dollar store. The students had baggies that they put their snacks in to eat later. We gave the students plastic gloves to use so germs would not spread as easily. When they were finished making their snack, they would carry their baggie to their desk in their classroom for later.
5.) 120 Pasta Necklace
120 Necklace: We used 12 Penne Pasta for the 10s and 12 Wagon Wheel Pasta to separate the 10s to make our necklace. We also used yarn to string the pasta onto and then tied the necklace around each student’s neck. If you used yarn, you would need to put some tape on the end of the yarn so it would slide through the pasta easily.
6.) 120 Hats
Another station is the 120th Day Hats. We got the hat template from TPT, and the kids colored it and then the parents stapled it together. The students could wear the hats right then, or carry the hats to their desks to wear home later. We had baskets of crayons and markers at this station. They are super cute!
7.) Race to 120
For this station, we used plastic horses and a foam dice to roll to race to 120 on the floor mat. We had a huge floor mat of numbers up to 120, and the students could partner up and play the game. All they have to do is roll the dice and move their horse to the new number as they add them together. Whoever gets to 120 first wins!
8.) 120 Quilt
Each student made a number to make a 120 chart on the carpet. We had a large carpet they would lay their number down after they drew it on a piece of white paper. At the end, it made a huge 120 chart. The students could decorate their chosen number any way they wanted. And then, they had to place their number where they think it would go. It was so fun!
9.) 120 Commitments to Good Choices
The students wrote on cut-out stars about making a good choice and put it on the bulletin board that said: “We’re Roping Commitments!” This was a great way to incorporate writing into our stations with a Texas twist! We put up white butcher paper with a Texas border and it looked super cute when finished!
10.) Snake in a Boot
The students used rubber snakes to throw the snake in the boot to see if they could make it. We had some old pair of cowboy boots and they took turns throwing rubber snakes to see if they could land inside the boots! They loved it!
11.) 120 Things We Love About Fabra
We put up a sign on another bulletin board that says: 120 Reasons Why We Love Fabra. So, the students wrote on a cut out heart why they love our school and then we taped up all the hearts on the bulletin board. It was super cute and just another way to incorporate writing into our stations!
12.) Alamo Decorating
Last but not least, we gave each student an Alamo template and had them color it and then glue 120 beans around the border of the Alamo to make it look old. If you don’t know, in Texas we have the Alamo Mission in San Antonio where a huge battle was fought and lost to our Texan defenders. This battle paved the way to our Texas Indepedence at San Jacinto later on.
And that’s it! All 12 stations that we used in our 120th Day the Texas Way!!! If you’re interested in my Cross-Curricular Day in First Grade, click HERE.
I hope your 120th Day is just as exciting! Have fun and email me at: rickmankara@gmail.com if you have any questions! Let’s take your classroom to the next level!
Love, Kara
