Since the first of the month, our older kids have been working collaboratively to make a wall calendar.
Along with circle-time discussions, especially birthday celebrations, calendars are essential to children learning about the basic concepts of present and past, the beginnings of our history curriculum.
Calendars also teach us about the days of the week and how weeks become months. We are learning the days of the week and reinforcing some of the basic shapes (circle, triangle, ellipse, etc.) by choosing a shape to each day of the week. For example, as you see in the photo, the first day, Tuesday, May 1, is represented by a pentagon. Likewise, each Tuesday below it is a pentagon. Once they determine the shape and match the day & date, they are ready to make the square for that day.
Since this calendar is 100% student-created, you can imagine their enthusiasm and pride in it. The are excited to finish one week and start another. On their own, they bring math into this history and writing activity by counting up the days in each week, and the total days on the wall. By the end of this week, they will discover how one month (May) turns over to another (June). Just another example of how, left on their own, children make learning fun!
