[Bash1626]

I would like to see pictures of your Calendar math wall/area. I would like to get new ideas for next year. Thank you for sharing!

[Socks]

This is mine from last January. I teach 2nd though so I hope you find it useful!

[ms.ally]

Calender Math is something completely new to me. Could you please give me some ideas on how I could use one in my classroom?

[Socks]

Calendar is my favorite part of the day (as well as my students)! My school uses Everyday Counts so the things that we do change each month. However, there are things that I do that never change. The materials that I need for these are:

A calendar
Calendar Numbers (preferably ones that you can change to make different patterns each month)
Days of the week cards (I've made these out of sentence strips)
Months of the year cards (I've made these out of sentence strips)
Straws
Base 10 blocks
A clock that the hands can move
Play money
Wipe-off sentence strips
Ziploc bags
A blank 100 Chart

When we come to the carpet we sing three songs:
The Calendar Song
To the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
When we do the calendar,
We learn the month, the date, the year.
Every week day has a name.
There are lots of numbers that look the same.
So let's begin to show you how
We do the calendar right now.

The Days of the Week
To the tune of The Addams Family
Days of the week (snap, snap)
Days of the week (snap, snap)
Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week (snap, snap)
There's Sunday and there's Monday,
There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday,
There's Thursday and there's Friday,
And then there's Saturday.
Days of the week, (snap, snap)
Days of the week, (snap, snap)
Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week. (snap, snap)

The Months of the Year
To the tune of the 10 Little Indians
January, February, March, and April,
May, June, July, and August
September, October, November, and December,
These are the months of the year.

Then, we decide what day of the week it is, what day of the week yesterday was, and what day of the week tomorrow will be. They must use sentences when they give their answers.
Then, the students say the pattern that the calendar numbers make and predict what will come next.
Then, I ask what the month, day, date, and year are.
Then we sing one more song:
Today Is...
To the tune of Frere Jacques
Today is (day of the week), Today is (day of the week).
(Month and date), (Month and date)
(Year), (Year)
That's the date, That's the date.

Then I have three ziploc bags of straws. Under one it says, hundreds, another says tens, and the last one says ones. Each day we add a straw to the ones bag (when we get ten we bundle them and put them in the tens bag, etc.) and count how many we have total. I have cards under each bag that tells how many groups of straws are in the bag. On the 168th day of school there is a one under the hundreds bag, a six under the tens bag, and an eight under the ones bag.

Next, I have three ziploc bags of Base 10 blocks. Under those bags I have a wipe-off sentence strip. We do basically the same thing as we do with the straws, but on the sentence strip on the 168th day it will say 100+60+8=168.

We move to the clock next. We start it off at 12:00am and add one hour each day and write the time on a wipe-off sentence strip. When we go from 11:00am to 12:00pm, we talk about why this happens. Each day we make a list of what we could be doing at that hour of the day. Once you get through 24 hours (if your kids understand it) you can move the minute hand by five minutes and eventually move it by one minute. This activity really helped my kids learn how to use the analog clock.

Finally, I have four ziploc bags for the play money. I have large color pictures of each coin above the bag. Each day we add 1 penny. When we get 5 pennies, we exchange for a nickel. Two nickels, we exchange for a dime, and so on. At the bottom on a wipe-off sentence strip I write: Today we have _____ or _____. Each day we fill in how much money we have in dollars ($1.68) and cents (168¢).

Hopefully, this can get you started. There are many books out there that can help you add some activities throughout the year (otherwise, the students will get bored quickly). The most important thing when doing calendar is questioning your students. Eventually, they will be able to lead it but it is important that you keep asking them those questions that keep them thinking. Here is a website with many great ideas as well: http://www.teachingheart.net/calendartime.html

Good luck and have fun!

[mollsmum]

Thanks so much for writing all of this that you do each morning!!! I rememebr teaching first grade and we did some of the same things that you do. I was wondering if most of you do many of these things for third grade as well? I was wondering that now that I will be teaching third grade whether I will need more than a monthly calendar. Please advise.
Thansk so much!!!!

[christina4062]

http://www.teacherweb.com/mi/central...xplanation.pdf is a link to a picture & description of my calendar area.

We do calendar before math every day. There are three sections of 2nd grade in my building. As far as I know, I am the only one who does such an involved calendar. But I still feel it's important to review these skills daily. I don't think it would hurt at 3rd grade to do it too. It only takes about 12-15 minutes each day and it's such a great review!