This is the order of my calendar activities: Time -- 20-30 minutes

* Who's Here Today? -- We start Calendar Time by counting how many boys and girls are at school that day. In the morning, the children put up a card showing either a lunch tray or a lunch box in the sign-in pocket chart. (This helps me do attendance, lunch count, and plays a part during Calendar Time! The photo above shows a chain, but that's not what I have up now. I was using clips on the chain, but it was hard to read the names that way, so I changed it.) After we count how many boys and girls are present, we talk about whether there are more girls or boys at school that day, or if the number is the same.

* Naming the Date -- (See photo above.) We look for the red card in the calendar -- the "Today" card -- and follow it up the column to the top to see which day of the week it is. We then go up to the month slot and name the month. We say the beginning letter of the month and write it in the air. After that, I point to the number under the Today card, and we all say the number. We say those three elements together -- day of the week, month, and number date -- before going down to the pocket where all three are placed in order with the year. We say the entire date again while I point to the cards. I touch briefly on "Yesterday" and "Tomorrow" at this point using the other cards in the calendar.

I begin the year "giving all of the answers" as far as naming the days and months go, but soon I start calling on children to answer. We talk daily about what days start with which letter, how to tell the difference between Tuesday and Thursday, and Saturday and Sunday (look at the second letter). After a few weeks, we also talk about the beginning sound of each. Other activities that I do with the date are: showing how to write the date on the board (word ID, spacing, letter formation), clapping the days of the week or months to count syllables, clapping or hopping the number date, etc. Hopping the date is great because it gives the children a chance to move around.

*Place Value / Keeping Track of the Days in School -- We keep track of the days we've been in school using the little yellow pocket chart with straws in the photo above. After we add the straw and change the number cards, I write the number on a die cut (last year it was a sunshine), and we add it to the line on the wall. I make a big deal of how to write the numbers during this. We write it in the air several times, and they watch me write it on the sunshine. (Jack Hartman has a great song about how to write numbers.) After a few weeks, a student writes the number after we practice it in the air. I like to keep a number line of the days in school going around the room for three reasons: one, the children love to watch it "grow" as the year progresses; two, it gives them a meaningful exposure to numbers all of the time; and, three, they can use pointers to count the line during centers. If you don't have space for numbers around the room, I have seen it done using an adding maching tape roll attached to the calendar board.

You can also practice addition and subtraction with the number in the 1's pocket of the place value chart after you have talked for a while about the concept of 10 straws to make a bundle. The children get excited when they know we are close to bundling another bunch of straws because on the days when we "make another ten" we get to write the sunshine number for the wall in blue instead of black. So, to keep us on our toes, we subtract every day to see how many more days it will be until we make another bundle of ten. We hold up our ten fingers. We look to see what the number in the 1's pocket is. Whatever that number is, we put down that many fingers and count the fingers left. I also have a small magnetic white board that I keep nearby. It has 10 shape magnets on it that we use for the subtraction problem on some days. When we use the magnets, we also practice addition by putting the two groups back together and counting to make sure they make 10.

* Zero the Hero -- Zero the Hero is a special doggie visitor who comes every time we bundle the straws in the place-value chart. He loves to see numbers with zeros in them! We also sing, dance, and count in his song on the days that he visits. You can find the "Zero the Hero" song on Dr. Jean Feldman's CD Just for Fun. A picture of Zero the Hero is coming soon!

* Days of Week/Weather Chart -- After we finish with the date, we jump to the pocket chart, where children choose the words to fill in the sentences. (See photo above.) The calendar sentences I use are "Today is _____." "Yesterday was _______." "Tomorrow will be _______."  I start the year doing these and I model reading them, but soon the children take over and come up to put in the words and read the sentences with a pointer. Next, I call on the "Weather Person" (one of my classroom jobs) to come with me to look out the back door to help us fill in the remaining sentences on the chart: "Today's weather is _______." (sunny, rainy, cloudy, snowy, foggy) and "It is _____ outside." (hot, cold, warm, wet). Weather Person is a coveted job! That child checks the weather and comes back to fill in the chart and read the sentences.

Weather Graph Template

* Song Interlude -- At this point, especially for the first couple of months, I usually stop to stretch and sing. We sing Dr. Jean's songs "Days of the Week," "Today Is Sunday," and "Months Macarena."

NOTE: Before you print the day/month cards, you might want to check your printer setup. When you print Adobe files, you usually have the option to "page scale." If so, choose "Fit to Printable Area" or "Shrink to Printable Area." For some reason, these pages enlarged when converted to .pdf format.

Day cards for pocket chart

Month cards for pocket chart

Days of the Week Sorting Pack (uses different fonts)

* 100 Chart and Number Line -- Near the Weather Chart, I have a 100 Chart. We do not count the entire chart for the first few weeks. We work up to it gradually, but I don't wait too long because there are children who are ready to do that. They will be bored if you only count to 10 or 20 every day for the first half of the year! A good way to introduce counting all the way to 100 is with Dr. Jean's song "Zero, the Hero." I use a long pointer when counting at the 100 Chart because I don't want my arm in the way of the students' line of vision. We always count by ones first. I introduce counting by 10's next. I highlight all of the 10's numbers with yellow highlighting tape. After we have been counting by 1's and 10's for a couple of weeks, I introduce counting by 5's. I highlight the 5's numbers in green highlighting tape. Again, this might be too difficult for many, but they need to practice it and your more advanced children are ready for it.

After we count, we play the "Missing Number Game." I start out playing this on the fabric number line below my calendar. I have a laminated bear card that I use to cover up a number while the children close their eyes. When the number is covered, I take responses from the children about the missing number. When a child gives me an answer, we all say (after practicing this and what it means!), "Justify!" The child has to tell us why he chose the number he did: How did he know? What comes before it? What comes after it? The children like this game. Once we are pretty proficient with this game on the 0-10 fabric line, we move it over to the 100 Chart and find bigger numbers. Once you move to the 100 Chart, you can also talk about using patterns in the chart to find out what a missing number is.

* Patterning -- There is a patterning pocket with picture cards attached to my calendar, so we use these to do AB, ABB, AAB, and ABC patterns after I introduce those into the math program. (If you do not have a pocket chart near your calendar, you can make a pocket on your bulletin board by stapling a sentence strip on the sides and bottom to the board.) Some teachers also like to "build" the month with a pattern instead of having the whole month up at a time. Before you start picture patterns, do some sound and movement patterns for a while first: clap-stomp-clap-stomp, etc.

* Estimation Jar -- I usually wait until about the end of October to begin the Estimation Jar, after we have our other calendar activities running smoothly -- and after we have played with sets of objects and counted them for a while. My calendar came with a plastic jar filled with large lacing buttons, but you could use any clear container. I would stick with objects that are on the large size to begin because estimation is a difficult skill. We are just introducing it in kindergarten, and if you start out with a jar full of 100 marbles, you are going to get nothing but wild guesses! I start out with about five or six large buttons in the jar and work up from there. We talk about the children's estimates, and I count out other buttons on the floor to show what their guesses look like compared to what is in the jar.

* Coin Recognition & Value -- Both Dr. Jean Feldman and Jack Hartman have some wonderful money songs that are good daily reviews of the coins and their values.