Calendar Routine

 I have been working on this for a while now.  I knew I wanted to set up a calendar area this year for N's preschool.  But I didn't know where I would put it.  Saved by the grandparents I was blessed with a wonderful set of bookshelves!  And so my calendar area found its home on the backside of one of the bookshelves. 

 I created the space using duct tape, posterboard, paint chips, and some cheap supplies all found at my local Dollar General. Well, the paint chips were from a home improvement store.  My laminator also came in handy!

Days of the week squares were created using FREE paint chips!  They are attached with blue sticky tack (the yellow doesn't work very well IMO!)

My apples were created with a free template from Teachers Pay Teachers.  I then created a PDF document with 6 apples.  I opened this in Photoshop and added the numbers or letters, printed the pages off, and then laminated them with my Scotch laminator.  You could easily use contact paper as well.  This took the most time and you could easily create something similar with post-it notes or paint chips.  Or if you are really crafty you could use a cute paper punch and make some adorable letter/number cards!

 Here is our rourine:

1.  We sing a good morning song followed by the months of the year song and a days of the week song.

2. Next we talk about what day yesterday was, what day today is, and what day tomorrow will be. I will throw in some color activities here, too.  I am working on new color cards with the color words on them.  Those will be added soon.

3.  We find the number of the date and add the apple, then count all the days of the month. I would like to work on making another set of numbers, either another color set or a completely new set.  In the classroom setting this is where teachers work on patterns.  All of the odd numbers would be one type of card (apples for example) and the even numbers would be another type of card (oranges for example).  So students would repeat the pattern after they have counted the days.  Plus my apples don't really go with the zebra duct tape (but I love it!).

4.  Add one more number to our # of days in school.

We count each day we do our calendar time as a day of school.  Some days there is not enough time to do other seat work or activities.   But N is still learning from the calendar activities that we do.  We are beginning the process of place value with tens and ones.
(source: homeschoolcreations.com)

5.  We add one tally mark to our days of school in each month.  N is beginning to learn a little about tally marks.  Eventually we will practice counting by 5's.
(source:  homeschoolcreations.com)

6.  We also use sticks to count our days.  The tub is an icing tub wrapped in duct tape (thanks to my oldest daughter for buying some!)  Once we reach 10 sticks I bundle them with a rubber band and then we will start our counting from 10 (ex.  10, 11 12... instead of starting with one).  Counting up starting with a random number builds sequencing skills.  As we get more bundles of 10 we will begin counting by 10's. 

7.  Each day N decides what the weather is and chooses on or two weather cards to describe it.  We talk about the temperature, but we are not graphing it yet.  That will come soon.

8.  N adds a sticker to her chart for each day she is in school.  We do some counting activities each day for that number (clap 19 times, hop 19 times, do 19 jumping jacks, etc.).  I will be writing numbers by 10's down the right side eventually working up to counting by 10's.

9.  Each day I remove the apples (made the same as our number apples) and ask N to build her name.  Eventually I plan on making apples to build sibling names, parent names, pet names, color words, and later on sight words.

10.  One last calendar activity we do is our Alphabet Clap.  I am teaching the alphabet in order so we started with A.  Alternate clapping once and slapping your knees once and repeat the following:

A (name), short A sound, alligator
B (name), B sound, butterfly
C (name), hard C sound (ck), caterpillar

We say it as many times as N would like to.  Sometimes she says it with me, other times she repeats it.  I am thinking of adding the long A sound and the soft C sound eventually.  Right now the focus is on the most common uses of each letter sound.  We also talk a little about consonants and vowels.  Mostly I just state that A is a vowel and B is a consonant. 

Side Notes:

We are taking our time getting through the alphabet, focusing on each letter.  As she learns all the routines and knows what to expect we will speed things up a bit.

One of the most important things you can do for your child is to go at their pace-especially while they are young.  I don't allow N to be lazy, but I also don't push her.  I want this to be a fun learning experience for her so that when she does start school she will be ready.  

Is a calendar really necessary for your child?  Not at all!  You do what works for you!  I taught my older two children without a calendar routine at home and they are doing fine!  I just wanted to create one at home for my next two.  Maybe I'm getting the itch to go back to work!  Maybe I'm considering teaching preschool when I do!  Who knows!  Teaching N and K at home fills that desire for me to teach right now. 

There are so many ways to create a calendar space for your child!  Get on pinterest and start looking around!  You can purchase pre-made ones or order the fabric ones!  You may even be crafty enough to make your own with fabric! I wanted to try and create mine with as little cost as I could to show readers you can create things while being frugal.  There is a plethora of resources out there and they are free!  All you have to do is look for them!