Calendar Time – October 2010

Here is a short update on our calendar time (you can read my previous calendar post here).

Apart from the new header, I have now added cards with the words “yesterday”, “today” and “tomorrow”, which we attach to the bottom of the corresponding number card with the help of tiny decorative pegs.

It was LM who gave me the idea: the first couple of times after we had put up a new number on the board, she would take the next one from the hook at the bottom of the board and attempt to pin it in the following cell. I explained to her that that was something we would do “tomorrow”. So now every time we put up the new date, she would point to the following card on the hook and say, “That’s tomorrow!”

This month I also started using our calendar time for doing some simple math activities. We count forward all the number cards we have so far put up and then, more importantly, we count them backwards, as it is something I haven’t done with LM so far. This has been quite painless so far as we have started with just a few numbers and will be gradually increasing them to 30.

I also decided to let LM choose the colour of the pin with which we attach the card to the board to create a pattern. For example, this month we have started with the easiest ABAB pattern and we alternate red and green pins.

That’s all for now but I will be adding more activities to our calendar time as it has so far been a big hit with LM.

Calendar Time - September 2010

Somehow I always feel that September is a great month to start something new – to make a new resolution, sign up for a new course, refresh the CV, bin that clutter, etc. I guess it must have something to do with the end of summer holidays and the start of the new academic year, which after many years of attending numerous schools and a few years of working as a teacher, has been firmly ingrained in me.

This September, I am celebrating the beginning of the new academic year with the start of this blog, which is something I have wanted to do for a while, and this little DIY project:

My daughter is a visual learner and I hope this will help her grasp some temporal concepts, such as dates, months of the year, days of the week, and seasons. Our mornings now start with fixing the new date on the board and saying out loud what it is. We then change the day of the week to the current one. I also make LM look out of the window and decide what the weather is like outside and change the sticker as necessary. She seems to be enjoying this new routine.

I spent a few hours trying to find a ready-made board calendar set online and was quite surprised at the very limited choice available to the UK. So I decided to make one myself. I must say it has been quite a time-consuming process, but I am pleased with the result and I know LM will be using this calendar for a while.

I used a cork board and yellow sticky tape to create the calendar outline. I also printed out the month header and the numbers, stuck them on cheap stripy wrapping paper and laminated each piece to make them last. I then punched holes in each number and hang them on a hook under the calendar (I used the hook from one of LM’s broken hangers and stuck it to the back of the board). I use coloured pins to attach the numbers to the board (although LM is old enough to handle these, she only does it under my supervision, so if you have a very young child and would like to do this activity, you may consider using some alternatives, such as Velcro).

The pieces under the calendar are:

1.   An envelope (laminated) with days of the week – I made these the same way I made the month header and the numbers. There are pieces of Velcro attached to the back of each card and there is another piece on the front of the envelope to hold the current day card;

2.   A weather envelope little holding pictures of different weather conditions with a piece of Velcro on the back to go on the front of the envelope – all laminated;

3.   A seasons chart with a little arrow – also laminated and hung on the number hook.

I used free Microsoft clipart and tweaked it a bit to design the printable pieces. If anyone would like to use these and commit to this project, please let me know, I will be happy to share the files.

This is still very much a work-in-progress and I am planning to add a few more things to it in the nearest future. I think LM is ready for some more calendar activities. I will post about them separately.

Bye for now,

LM’s Mum