It seems obvious, but the first step to teaching kids about the calendar is to make sure we explain to them what a calendar is.
A
calendar is a series of pages that shows the days, weeks, and months of
a particular year. It is a tool we use to help us keep track of each
day, and allows us to visually see when different events will happen.
Teach Kids How To Read A Calendar Lesson Plan
The next step is to teach kids how to read a calendar. This could be split up into 4 different lessons.
Lesson 1: Days & Weeks
The objectives to cover in this lesson are:
each square represents one day
a group of 7 days in a row is called a week
one week is equal to 7 days
each day of the week has a name
show where the names of the days of the week are shown on a calendar
each square in a column under the name of a day of the week represents 1 day with that name. i.e. all squares under Wednesday represent 1 Wednesday
“If we are this day” (point to a square), “1 week later would be” (point to square underneath)
ask them which square would be 2 weeks later, or 3 weeks later
explain that a square above shows 1 week ago (in the past)
ask them which square would be 2 weeks ago or another number of weeks ago
Lesson 2: Order of Days of the Week
Today’s objective is
to work on learning the order of the days of the week and also to
realize that the days go in a continuous cycle (i.e. after Sunday is
Monday again).
Lesson 3: Months of the Year
30 or 31 days is grouped into a month
each year has 12 months
order of the months
after we get to the end of the last month we go into a new year and start the months back from the beginning
Lesson 4: Order of the Months of the Year
The
goal of today is to spend a few minutes learning the order of the
months of the year. Mastery isn’t the goal, it’s just to spend time
working on this skill. Think of it more as an introduction.
Daily Calendar Time
Not to worry if your kids aren’t experts at reading the calendar by the end of those 4 short lessons.
The concept of time is something that is taught over time. So with that in mind, we do daily calendar time.
Benefits of Daily Calendar Time
There are a variety of benefits of daily calendar time:
it takes only a few short minutes each day
it’s an enjoyable part of the day
a bit of writing practice
solid math skills are being mastered
skills are learned best when they apply to child’s real life
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