Monday, September 24, 2012

Calendar Time

I remember calendar time or circle time from when I was a kid being the time of day when we discussed the date and the weather. It was a quick 1 minute lesson.

I remember when my first son entered Kindergarten and I found calendar time to be more in depth and included colors, numbers, letters, and sounds of the week. A quick 5 minute lesson.

NOW... with all the things that students are expected to know this simple time now takes 20-30 minutes to do. This is the time we use to get in all of those things that students should know but aren't really taught anywhere in the curriculum.

Someday I will share with you our routine but for today... I wanted to share just our calendar.


What makes this calendar so unique? Look under the cute number squares... do you see it? Its the date in digital format!

Each day the student goes over the date saying the day and the year just as always but so often we see dates as a code of numbers and expect one to know what it means.

You can't tell me you are not silently reciting the months and counting to see what month 9 is are you? It is kinda like the alphabet song we all sing it in our head when alphabetizing. This helps students learn the months are equal to numbers and reinforces it every day of the month!

Genuis!

My mentor teacher shrunk down regular calendar numbers in order to leave room to write. I carry several versions of calendar numbers in my store. I LOVE calendar numbers. Yes... I know I am strange.

So what is my obsession with these things?

I love using these as an easy seasonal decoration. I have to take all the numbers off the calendar to change out the month anyways. It is not so difficult to switch from one design to another. I can also use it for patterning as I can use multiple sets to create the pattern of the month. This is a great way to get in another skill students need with minimal work.

I am all about easy!

I decided to offer two versions of my calendar numbers in all of my new sets but still keep the same price!


One is the traditional format and the other has space for you to write in the digital date. Simply print on card stalk and laminate as you would normally do. Then you can use a dry-erase marker to add in the date. They are still reusable year after year.

Added bonus - the size remains the same so these numbers will still fit on a calendar of your choosing. The size is perfect for both pocket chart and poster calendars.

All my new calendar sets are made with Melonheadz Graphics. If you need something specific, feel free to leave your request in the comments. As always, I will be giving away a free set of your choosing to one of my amazing followers!

3 comments:

  1. I really like the idea of patterning during the month. We've been talking about the patterns in poetry, so making the same pattern on the calendar would really help the idea stick.

    Thanks for the tip!

    tokyoshoes (at) hotmail (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes- I totally agree with you! I think so often we forget to work on teaching the date in number format! I started doing that last year and it made such a difference. Great idea writing it right on the calendar number :)

    - Sasha
    The Autism Helper

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this idea!
    Liz
    teachinginthevalley@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

I love comments! Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. =)