Calendar is one of my favorite parts of the day because there are so many different skills students can work on during calendar time. In my classroom use a linear calendar, but I also use a traditional calendar. You can get more information here on 5 Ways to make Calendar Engaging. There is a lot of discussion in the early childhood education world about calendars. Should you have a calendar? Should you use traditional calendars? Should you use linear calendars? My answer, after ten years in an early childhood classroom is yes, to all of the above! Be sure to grab the free linear calendar printables here!
There are many reasons why I will always be an advocate for having a calendar of some kind in my classroom. There is a lot of discussion over whether calendar is a "developmentally appropriate practice." There is a lot of memorization of days of the week, months of the year, and seasons. However, when I really look at what I teach during calendar time, it came down to the numbers and basic skills.
Numbers
It's so important that my students gain a full understanding of numbers and their values. When doing calendar we focus on the numbers 1-31; a smaller set of numbers. The main concept we are focusing on with numbers here is that each day our numbers get bigger. I find a linear calendar helpful here since the linear calendar acts as a number line which. For my students this calendar format makes it easier to see the number progression compared to a traditional calendar format.
Left to Right Progression
When kids are learning to read, sometimes it takes a while to train them to read left to right. Using a linear calendar helps with this learning process!
Patterns
I use the Classroom Calendar Days of the Year set to create patterns in the calendar pockets. Patterning can be an abstract concept for PreK, so the repetition is good for students.
How to Set It Up
When I set up my linear calendar, I took five of the Classroom Weather Charts and stapled them side by side underneath a bulletin board. Starting on the far left side, I put the first number and the day of the week that comes with the Classroom Weather Charts.
At this point you have two options on how you can set up your calendar. In the fall months I will put my calendar dates up and just address them each day. However, starting in the winter I will just put up the initial day, and each day I will either lay out all the days and have the students help me put the calendar together, or put up one day at a time.
How I Teach Calendar
Although the vocabulary in calendar is a higher level skill for PreK, I still like to introduce the students to words like: yesterday, today, tomorrow, etc. I love using these calendar pieces for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow that come with the Classroom Weather Charts. We address these calendar pieces each day then count to whatever day is marked as "today". After we've worked on the numbers, we look at the pattern and try to predict what comes next (if we don't have the entire month up already).
The final thing we do is decide if we are "at home" or "at school". I've included a free printable that has these cards to help. You can download the printable cards here! After deciding if we're at home or school, we count how many days we have been at home and how many days we have been at school. I will write both numbers on the board and the students decide which number is greater.
I love my linear calendar, and I hope you love it too. If you're looking for ways to make calendar time more engaging be sure to read this this article.
