Calendar Time

Guess what I spent my Friday night doing? Making calendar folders! I know, I know... I need a life. I have been thinking for a while now of how I can make our calendar time more engaging and meaningful. I saw this great idea from Heather at Kindergarten Days. Each child will have a calendar folder to keep at their seat. In the morning when we line up for our arts classes they will take their folder to their spot on the carpet before getting in line. This way it is there waiting for them when we return to do calendar. Here is what is in each folder:
A calendar. As we add days to our class calendar the students will trace the number on their own calendar. At the beginning of the month they will also trace the month and year. We will use this page to work on things like days of the week, first day of the month, last day of the month, how many saturdays, etc.

A weather graph. As we put up the weather each day the students will color in a corresponding box to graph the weather. At the end of the month we will count up the groups and mark more and less.

A 100s chart. Each day we add a number to our 100s bug on our wall. As we add the number the students will write it on their chart.

A Birthday Chart. At the beginning of each month the students will color in the cake for that month.  Each day that we have a birthday we will add that friends name under the correct month.

A tooth chart. As students loose teeth we will add tally marks to that months tooth. At the end of the month we will total them up.

Sight Word Practice. Each day we will choose one sight word to practice writing.

Tally Chart. Each day we will add one tally to practice making four tallys then crossing the fifth. On the line next to each row we will write the total number to practice counting by 5s.

Number Practice. For the month of October we will work on one number each day. Tracing, learning the number rhyme to go with it and coloring in that many objects.

Math Page. On this page we will graph our favorite animals. I will ask one or two children each day to pick their favorite and we will color in the corresponding boxes. Then we will practice counting dots on the dominoes and tracing the corresponding number.

I will update in a few weeks to let you know how our new calendar time is going!

Most of these pages can be found at Heathers Blog Kindergarten Days.