Calendar Math

I got this idea from Michael Moore so I am going to take no credit for it...but the Calendar Math section of the day that I do is the MOST rewarding and most enriching time of the entire day. I highly encourage all teachers to do it!!! Here is a basic run down of what I do:

The kids come in from recess and start working in their calendar journals. They work for about 15 minutes (during the time while they are getting their multiplication drill tests). They take their tests and continue working until I tell them to come to the rug and we do the calendar together. When we are together, this is what we do...

1. Tally of the Day
Add one more tally then count them aloud.

2. Weather Tally
Kids tell me what the weather is, we add one more tally. At times, I construct a graph (bar usually...) to go with the tallies.

3. Big Number
I write the number of the day (ie: today is June 5, 2005. The number of the day is 6,052,005) They read it out loud to me. Then they have to write it in expanded form and word form. They also need to round it to whatever place I specify that day.

4. Odd or Even?
They need to tell me if the number of the day is odd or even and give me at least 2 reasons why (ie: 5 is odd because it is in the odd group of 1,3,5,7,9 and it can not be divided by 2 without a remainder.)

5. Today's Arrays
The kids tell me all of the arrays that can be made with the number. We list and draw them. They then tell me if it is prime or composite and how they know (based on the factors...we draw a factor tree). If it is square they also tell me.

6. How Many Ways Can You Make __ ?
I take one way from each child. This gets really interesting when you teach them parentheses and square numbers. They start to give you equations such as 4 squared + 3 squared = 25 (if the day was 25!) It is amazing what you can get 3rd graders to understand and use!!

7. Problem of the Day
Taken from our math series. (Scott Foresman has a flipchart with one problem per page...we just use that one)

8. Patterns
The calendar numbers are set up in a pattern. The kids have to find at least one of the many different patterns that are up there. (ie: 1/4 turn to the right, 180 degree flip to the left, odds are yellow, all the multiples of 4 are facing down, etc...)

Hope this gives you some idea of what to do. I LOVE the calendar time. It is fabulous!!

Here is a picture of my calendar in January. It changes each month, adding new activities and losing others. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you want pictures of the items close up. I used them in a calendar workshop I did for our staff this year.

I checked out the website www.jmeacham.com. I got so many wonderful ideas for doing binders next year! Thanks again for posting about that!

The first picture is the Coin Counter. Everyday we add a penny to the penny bag. Then on day five we exchange the five pennies for a nickel, day 10 we exchange five pennies for a nickel and then two nickels for a dime, and so on.

The Shopping Problem (gets introduced either in November/December or January) is the second picture. I post a picture of an object and the students need to decide whether or not there is enough money in the coin counter to buy the object. If there is, they need to choose which coins to use to buy the object, then figure out how much change they would get if they used those coins. Later on, (February) when there is more money in the coin counter, I will have two objects, then the students must add the objects together, decide whether or not there is enough money in the coin counter, then choose the coins to use and figure out the change.

The third picture is the Everyday Clock. It serves different purposes in different months. In January, you start the clock at midnight. The students need to tell you whether it is day or night, then they need to tell you what they are doing at that time on an average day. You move the clock by the hour each day.

Next is the Temperature Graph. Everyday in January we figure out the temperature outside and graph it (it was very mild this January!).

On the Thermometer, we show what today's temperature is. I had a big thermometer that I found at a dollar store that I had tied to the window. I would put it outside when we began calendar time, by the time we got to this part, it was showing the accurate temperature.

I hope this helps you out some. If you have any more questions, please ask!!

When they built our part of the building they did not give us any bulletin boards. I put mine up on the wall. You have to find something that will keep it up for you though. I've found the 3M sticky clips work the best for heavy things like the calendar itself. They won't damage the wall either when you pull them down. For most everything else, we tape it up or use sticky tack. We're also allowed to use push pins in our walls since we don't have bulletin boards.

Other options: Do you have a SMARTBoard or Promethean Board? You could make slides to go with each part and project them onto the board. What about an overhead projector? You could have different transparencies for each part. You could make a blank calendar and draw the pieces on each day, make a coin counter transparancy and use overhead money, make a graph transparancy for whichever graph you are working on, etc. I know these are not ideal but they may help for now.

You also might want to think about doing calendar binders/folders with your students. I'm going to start that this year just to make them a little more accountable for what we do. They won't do every piece in their binder but at least some. I'm going to have my kids do place value stickers, they'll have a blank calendar where they have to put in the date and the letter of the pattern (ABAB, AABB, etc.), for August/September they'll have a birthday graph, a page to keep track of their math facts that use 0, 1, and 2, and a 200 chart. I think we'll just do the coin counter together. I haven't figured out how to effectively put that on paper for them.

What do you think? Any questions?

When some of my studetns are having difficulty with a math skill, I incorporate that skill into my calendar time each morning. The more they see it, the better chances they have for understanding it. For example, I would say today is Nov. 7, yesterday was the 6th, what is 7-6? Or we have been at school for 53 days lets subtract those #, what is 5-3. Or like the above poster said, use the st. with a word problem each day, they'll eventually catch on. Good Luck!

One new addition to my calendar activities over the last few years is "Zero the Hero" He comes only on days ending in zero, the days where you bundle your 10 sticks and move them into the tens container. He brings something round like a zero (round cereal, crackers, mini cookies, etc) and we use that food to sort, graph, count by two, five, ten. Or we vote on our fav. flavor or color, or use them as markers on a math or vocab bingo game. Then we eat them. What I really like is something that starts happening a few months into calendar time, when the students say things like "37 days, only 3 more til Zero comes!) Then I know they're starting to "get it".

Calendar is my favorite part of the day (as well as my students)! My school uses Everyday Counts so the things that we do change each month. However, there are things that I do that never change. The materials that I need for these are:

A calendar
Calendar Numbers (preferably ones that you can change to make different patterns each month)
Days of the week cards (I've made these out of sentence strips)
Months of the year cards (I've made these out of sentence strips)
Straws
Base 10 blocks
A clock that the hands can move
Play money
Wipe-off sentence strips
Ziploc bags
A blank 100 Chart

When we come to the carpet we sing three songs:
The Calendar Song
To the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
When we do the calendar,
We learn the month, the date, the year.
Every week day has a name.
There are lots of numbers that look the same.
So let's begin to show you how
We do the calendar right now.

The Days of the Week
To the tune of The Addams Family
Days of the week (snap, snap)
Days of the week (snap, snap)
Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week (snap, snap)
There's Sunday and there's Monday,
There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday,
There's Thursday and there's Friday,
And then there's Saturday.
Days of the week, (snap, snap)
Days of the week, (snap, snap)
Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week. (snap, snap)

The Months of the Year
To the tune of the 10 Little Indians
January, February, March, and April,
May, June, July, and August
September, October, November, and December,
These are the months of the year.

Then, we decide what day of the week it is, what day of the week yesterday was, and what day of the week tomorrow will be. They must use sentences when they give their answers.
Then, the students say the pattern that the calendar numbers make and predict what will come next.
Then, I ask what the month, day, date, and year are.
Then we sing one more song:
Today Is...
To the tune of Frere Jacques
Today is (day of the week), Today is (day of the week).
(Month and date), (Month and date)
(Year), (Year)
That's the date, That's the date.

Then I have three ziploc bags of straws. Under one it says, hundreds, another says tens, and the last one says ones. Each day we add a straw to the ones bag (when we get ten we bundle them and put them in the tens bag, etc.) and count how many we have total. I have cards under each bag that tells how many groups of straws are in the bag. On the 168th day of school there is a one under the hundreds bag, a six under the tens bag, and an eight under the ones bag.

Next, I have three ziploc bags of Base 10 blocks. Under those bags I have a wipe-off sentence strip. We do basically the same thing as we do with the straws, but on the sentence strip on the 168th day it will say 100+60+8=168.

We move to the clock next. We start it off at 12:00am and add one hour each day and write the time on a wipe-off sentence strip. When we go from 11:00am to 12:00pm, we talk about why this happens. Each day we make a list of what we could be doing at that hour of the day. Once you get through 24 hours (if your kids understand it) you can move the minute hand by five minutes and eventually move it by one minute. This activity really helped my kids learn how to use the analog clock.

Finally, I have four ziploc bags for the play money. I have large color pictures of each coin above the bag. Each day we add 1 penny. When we get 5 pennies, we exchange for a nickel. Two nickels, we exchange for a dime, and so on. At the bottom on a wipe-off sentence strip I write: Today we have _____ or _____. Each day we fill in how much money we have in dollars ($1.68) and cents (168¢).

Hopefully, this can get you started. There are many books out there that can help you add some activities throughout the year (otherwise, the students will get bored quickly). The most important thing when doing calendar is questioning your students. Eventually, they will be able to lead it but it is important that you keep asking them those questions that keep them thinking. Here is a website with many great ideas as well: http://www.teachingheart.net/calendartime.html

Good luck and have fun!

but I do have a few things I do daily (I only spend about 15 minutes doing calendar, I did 30 minutes before December and was able to get all done):
DAILY:
day of the week, spell it, yesterday, tomorrow
date with tens & ones
one tally mark for each day (I color code this into 10's)
one straw for each day (on a hundreds, tens, ones chart)
add a penny for each day exchange it for a nickel, dime, quarter as needed)
representation for the date (today is 3st, so representations for 31, today I got 31 smiley faces, 31+0, 31-0, 3 tens 1 one, 100-69, 30+1, 31 tallies) I allow days of the week for numbers under 7 and months of the year for numbers under 12, and a letter of the alphabet for numbers under 26, we rotate this each month
If TIME allows (I can usually get 1-2 a day)
geometric shapes, identify, number of vertices, sides
algabraic equation for attendance (today we had one student absent, so 20=19 + A)
time (hour & half hour)
secret number on the number line (use math vocab)
weather calendar
count by 5s, 10s, 2s
use hundred's board to add & subtract 2 digit numbers
multiplication (I call it groups-there are 5 students wearing white uniform shirts and 5 students wearing blue uniform shirts how many are wearing these 2 color shirts, we write out the equation 2X5=10 2 groups of 5 is the same as 10)
calendar pattern (this is definitely done at the beginning of each month, we began in August with AB April will be AABBC)
I use calendar to begin teaching concepts needed about week or two early and a LOT of review.
Hope this helps!!!!

I have ONE Handy Helper for the day for ALL jobs ~ including calendar

Here are the things that I/we do (may not necessarily be in order):

Put up the date (Handy calls someone to tell date and what pattern it will be)

Do what day it is (Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow)

I have a running pattern with the number of days we've been in school. Basically, they are the shapes that our first graders are required to know: trapezoid, hexagon, parallelogram, circle, triangle, square, rectangle. I cut them out and laminated them on different colored construction paper. The Handy uses a wet-erase marker to write the number day we are on - today was 134.

I have a little piggy bank. Well, it's also drawn and laminated. I have pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters (and a dollar-fake). Each day we add a penny and change it as we can (5 pennies = 1 nickel).

We also add a tally mark to a chart for each day

We do straws in the pockets for ones, ten, hundred place.

We keep a weather graph

We have a BRAIN POP. This is a balloon that I put a cool fact of some kind in (written) and then blow it up. We count down and the Handy pops it and we read the cool fact. The kids LOVE this part of calendar.

We also do a Mystery number. I have a big 100 chart up. The Handy writes a number down (don't let anyone else see it). They call someone to guess a number. I have to little circles to cover as we go. If the number is 43 and someone says... 30 Handy and I say... no, its greater than 30. We cover 30. Then if someone guess 65. We say, no its less than 65, we cover it. Now we've narrowed it down to between 30 and 65. Handy keeps calling kiddos to guess until they get it.

At the end we stand up and the Handy leads us in a cadence. We march and repeat after the Handy. After the 100th day here's the cadence we do:

First Grade, first grade what you say
Kids repeat
We've been in school over a hundred days
Kids repeat
Every day we learn something new
Kids repeat
We can even count by twos
Kids Repeat
Sound off
Kids say 2, 4 (hold up that many fingers)
Sound off
Kids say 6, 8 (hold up)
Bring it down now
Kids say 2, 4, 6, 8 (hold up)

Hope this gives you some fresh ideas. :D

I do all of what you mentioned but I also do a few other things...

I drew a Piggy and laminated it (pink poster board outlined with black). A parent scanned all coins for me (front and back) and I put them on cardstock and laminated. Each day we add a penny. I write the total amount with a wet erase marker. We learn about making 5 pennies into a nickel, two nickels into a dime, etc. We also learn to add money.

I also do a daily pattern of the shapes we have to learn in our states first grade curriculum... hexagon, square, parallelogram, trapazoid, triangle, rectangle and circle. We also write the day we are on one a day to make a pattern. We learn patterns, the shapes, counting, pattern units, etc.

I also do a BRAIN POP! This is, by far, their favorite thing! I buy, at Walmart, a big bag of balloons 9 or 12 in. will do. I write a daily fact on a piece of paper, fold it up, put it in the balloon, blow the balloon and hang it up before they come in (usually before I leave day before). Then, I use a push pin and my Handy Helper (daily helper) calls on someone to give me the "magic number." It has to be from 1-10. We count together and when we get to the magic number I POP the balloon. Each fact starts with... Did you know that...Sometimes we count backwards, sometimes we change our voices in our countdown for variety.

I also have a huge 100 number chart. With this you can do so MANY activities. One thing that we do is... the Handy Helper writes a special number on a small post - it. No one sees but me. I have two circles and some putty for holding in place. They try to narrow the number down. First person will give a number... say the number is 49. One kid might say 56. Handy says... no the number is lower than 56. We take one circle and cover 56. And so on... does that make sense?

At the end to before we go to our seats. Everyone stands up and we march in place. Our Handy Helper leads us in our cadence and the other kids repeat each line after:

First Grade, First grade, what you say?
We're gonna have some fun today,
We're gonna read and write and spell,
We do these things very well.
Sound off (Handy says)
1, 2 (others say and hold up fingers
Sound off (Handy says)
3, 4 (others say and hold up fingers)
Bring it down now (Handy says)
1,2,3,4 (All say)

Hope this gives you some "fresh" ideas. :D
Sound off (Handy Helper says)
1, 2, (kid

Hello! Ok, so I'm just a student teacher but I have had to learn this program and incorporate it into my everday schedule. Here's how we have it set up. We have a whole bulletin board dedicated to calendar math. On this bulletin board is the calendar for the month in the center, a 'bank', a 100's chart, a clock, place value flip chart, a problem of the day center, and place value straws.

Here goes:

The calendar is pretty self explanatory. Everyday we talk about the date. I have them say "Today is, Tuesday, December __, 2007. Then we put up the piece on the calendar for today and as we go on through the weeks we talk about the pattern that the pieces make. The month of November was a diagonal pattern so we discussed that randomly thoughout the month. Also with the calendar I ask questions like if today is Tuesday, December __, then what is the Day and Date in two weeks, or two weeks ago. We discuss the months of the year, days of the week, and even incorporate abbreviations into it. There's a lot you can do with the calendar.

For the 100's chart we have a pattern going, all odd numbers have an x through them and the even numbers have a O around them. This gets us talking about odd and even, patterns, skip counting, addition and subtraction. Also, for every 5 days we take a red marker and put a red square around it. We do this everyday.

For the clock, we obviously discuss time. The hour is the month of the year, and the minutes are the day - so everyday we add on a minute to the clock. This gets us talking about telling time and ask higher level thinking questions using the clock.

For the bank, we have see through pockets labeled 'nickles' 'pennies' 'quarters' and 'dimes'. The amount of money in our bank corresponds with the number of days we've been in school - so I think on Friday we had like .72 cents in the bank. We add a penny everday - but we want to always have the fewest amount of coins in the bank. This gets the students understanding how 5 pennies = one nickel, etc. And we also write up the amount two ways. The first way is $.72 so they know where to put the decimal. and the other way is 72 with a cents sign.

We also have a 'store'. we have little cards and everday we buy something new. The items may cost like $.08. Each week we work with a different coin. so for instance, this week we're working with the dime. So if we're paying with a dime and our item costs 8 cents, how much change are we going to get in return? This is a hard skill for some students to learn. We use a dry erase board to help figure out the answer, write out the number sentence, etc. There's a lot you can do with that as well.

For the place value flip chart, its just a chart where the number of the day corresponds with the amount of days we've been in school. We talk about how many tens are in our number, how many ones, we add, subtract, etc. Again - a lot of skills you can incorrporate. The straws go along with this. Right now we have 7 bundles of 10 and 4 single straws, both in seperate containers to show tens and ones.

The problem of the day is usually a type of question they will see on our State Standards test. They have the whole day to answer the question on a small piece of paper and put it into the container. Then when we do calendar math, We read through the problem, work it out together, and I'll draw out answers. The first 3 students who get the answer correct get something from the goody jar.

We also try to incorrporate skills that we're working on in math at the time. So like right now I"m teaching two digit addition, money, and ordinal numbers, so I'm really going to hit those skills as well in calendar math. last month I had a large thermometer and everday we found the temperate and learned how to read and move the red in the thermometer. We do a lot of work with geometry with the shapes on the pieces on the calendar. A lot of times as well I'll give the students some manipulatives to get them more involved. So if we're working with Money, they'll each have a little bag of money to do some problems along with me.

you can also have a calendar helper each week. that student helps write things, put up the pieces on the calendar, and little things, just to give them something to do. they love it!

Well - sry for writing a book but I hope this helps. If you have anymore questions just let me know!
Good luck!

I will be updating my second grade calendar math procedure to use when I move to third grade this year.

We have a series of charts on the math board that we complete each day to review math skills. Often, but not always they relate to the calendar date.

The student of the day completes the charts as we discuss them together.

DATE: What is the date? What will the date be in a week? What day of the week will it be on the 20th?

DAYS IN SCHOOL: How many days have we been in school? How many days are left in the schoolyear. We have two counting charts - one from 1 - 100 and one from 101 - 200. We use 2 different special marker to count down the days left in school and count up the days that have passed in the schoolyear.

LESS THAN/ GREATER THAN - One number is provided in each inequality. The student provides the other number.
291> ____ 642< _____

ODD or EVEN? 432 is _________

MONEY Count the money. (Magnetic coins& bills are on the board.) Write the amount.


MEASURING. A line is drawn on the chart. Students measure & record the length in inches or centimeters.

PATTERN: Continue the pattern. Geometric or numerical patterns are written on a sentence strip. The student extends the pattern. If it is a numeric pattern, they also state the rule.

FRACTION: Name the fraction. Pattern block stickers are used to make many whole shaped divided into fractional parts. Student write the fractions that correspond to the parts.

TIME. A clock is set to a particular time. Student tells the time in at least two ways. Also used for elasped time. Student tells what time it will be in 20 minutes, for example.

WAYS TO MAKE. A number of the day is written on the chart. Students use any operation or combination of operations to write as many number sentences as possible that equal the number of the day.

I'd like to add a chart for DATA/GRAPHING and one for PLACE VALUE, too.

Calendar activities that I do:

Today's date
Number line (write number on adding tape to correspond with how many days of school we've had)
Do same as above except use and display toy coins (i.e. 13th day of school would be: 1 dime and 3 pennies).
Do same as above except use straws as counters and put in correct pockets on calendar bulletin board: hundreds, tens, and ones pockets (reinforece place value concepts).
Today's weather and graph results
What's for lunch?
Who's today's leader, helper(s)?, etc.
Daily news (assembly today, spell. test later this morning, etc.)
Days of the week
Months of the year
Pattern of calendar cutouts (like use green apple, red apple, green apple, red apple for months of Aug. or Sept.; the AB pattern)
Days of the week and months of the year song singing
Who lost a tooth last night ?; (or over the weekend if today is Mon.)
What is today's Special (Music or P.E., Art class, computer lab, etc.)
Birthdays
You could also model use of tally marks to keep count of number of days of school. This skill will come in handy later on in the year like when you have kids interpret tally mark graphs).
I use a number of ideas from above listed that I learned years ago when I took the "Math Their Way" workshop training.

(O: Hope this helps!
Jana

One of my children's favorite calendar activities is riddle of the day. On the back of the calendar pieces I have written riddles with the answers upside down. In September I use trivia instead-things like what state do we live in, who is our nurse, how many are in a dozen, etc. In Oct. I start the riddles. For awhile I am the only one laughing, but it becomes a great vocab. developer and what they start to "get it" it's amazing! One child is picked to tell the janitor in the lunchroom the daily riddle. He gets a kick out of it.

I can't attach yet because I'm a "new" member (at least I don't think I can), but I copied and pasted what I use (below). I have this cut out and put on a colorful piece of construction paper and laminate. It stays in the bag with the box. I bought a plain yellow gift bag from the dollar tree (it actually had 2 bags with it one smaller one bigger). I wrote on it: Mystery Bag and some question marks. Then I had this metal box that looks like a miniature lunch box (about 6" by 8" and 3" deep). It opens like a lunch box too. It also has on the front an area to slide a picture or something in it. I think it's a photo box or something. I made a sign that says Mystery box and slid it down in the front. You can use any sturdy box but it would probably be better if it had a flip top of some kind so the top doesn't get lost. The dollar tree, I'm sure, would have something. :-) I took 20 index cards and hole punched a corner and made one a cover that said Clues! I wrote the word Name at the top of each one. I fastened them with one of those ring things (do you know what I mean?). :-) The box, the instructions, and the index booklet goes home with a child each night. I started this in January after our winter break. The kids LOVE this. After the first clue is read, the person calls on ONE student for a guess. If that person doesn't get it he/she reads the second clue and so on. It's kinda like show and tell, but NOT show and tell. I don't have time for that in the day. But the kids love to bring things from home so this gives them the chance. :-) Plus, they get to practice writing and we focus on descriptive words-adjectives. You'll love it. One of my fellow teachers walked in one day while we were doing it and fell in love with it and now she does it too. :-) I hope I made sense with what I was saying... if not I'll elaborate more just let me know. Here's what I send home in the bag (it's colorful and cuter with a border and pictures and bullets for the bottom things). If you want my attachment I can email it to you just let me know. Thanks for the compliments.

Mystery Box


It is your child’s turn with our class MYSTERY BOX! Please help your child choose an item to place in the mystery box (it MUST fit in the box). Then, help them decide on 3 clues to share with their classmates about what the item inside the box is.
They must use the index card booklet to write down their 3 clues (should be inside box). Go to the next blank page and let THEM write their name and the clues. When they bring the box back they will come up and read each clue as their classmates try to guess what’s inside! Please return as soon as possible! 

Make sure that THEY do the writing
Make sure the item fits in the box
Make sure they have 3 clues
Make sure the item won’t spill/leak
Make sure everything is returned (bag, box, book & these directions)
Make sure they take care of it
Make sure that they HAVE FUN!

Terri -
Here are some of the things I do during calendar. I usually use popscicle sticks to choose kids to answer. I ask them :
-What is the month
-How do you spell it (whole class); close your eyes and spell it
-What is today's number date, what will the date be on Wed.
-At the beginning of the year I do what day was yesterday, what day is today, what day will tomorrow be
-Later in the year I ask what was the date a week before today/after today
-How do you write the date using all numbers (7/6/07) and what does the 7 stand for (month) etc.
-I choose several kids to give equations for today's date (if it is the 6th they might say 7-1=6, 100-94=6, 5+1=6, etc.) They loved this and they get really good at it towards the end of the year with multiplication and division!
-The calendar helper will write the money for the date (6 cents) and then I ask them what coins do we use to show 6 cents (takes longer as you get into bigger numbers since there are more combinations)
-I choose a time and the helper writes it on the digital clock and then I ask where is the minute hand when it's that time, where is the hour hand
-We use the straws to show how many days in school
-We do the weather (sing a song and then helper puts up weather piece)
-I use the hundreds chart in different ways depending on what we are learning. We may skip count by 2s, 3s, 5s, etc. I may ask what is one less then 95 or one more (this confuses some kids) or what is 10 more then 23 or 10 less.
-I have a couple poems that we read.
-These are just some of the things that came to mind. I change it up quite a bit or the kids get bored.
-I attached a couple pictures of my calendar wall from last year.
Hope this helps :)

I think the program is great. My first year teaching it I had trouble keeping up with changing it. Unfortunately, the last day of the month isn't always the most convenient day to change the whole calendar board! Over last summer I spent time going through the book and making all of the copies and graphs that are needed for each month. I then put each month into a baggie. I hung a shower bar across my windows and used skirt hangers to hang each bag. This made it SO much easier to make the switch each month because everything was already made. I had also laminated everything so all I had to do at the end of the month was clean off the marker and put it back in the baggie for next year.

I attached a picture below. Let me know if you have any questions!

I have a set of laminated bears and a set of tee shirts- each a different color. there is a Velcro dot on the bear and one on each shirt.The helper starts with my direction," put the green shirt on the fourth bear, then the helper chooses the next student. and so forth. I taught kindergarten last year, but will teach ordinal in first grade too.You could probably make a set of shirts with different letters on each one, then the students would put them in ABC order......You could use the bears for all sorts of skills at carpet time.:)

Here it is! Sorry sorry about yesterday! Enjoy!!

Yes I do! Otherwise I'd go mad... :) I also change the time of day as we don't always do it in the morning. What kinds of things do you cover as part of your calendar? So far this is what we do:

Today is day _____ of the 100 days of school (We will have a party in February with various centres. Our day usually falls the same week as Valentine's Day.)
Number w/ Straws and digits in the pocket chart
Base Ten Magents
Read Poem(s)
Calendar: What is the calendar number?
Calendar Pattern (All my calendar cover ups now have patterns. I bought them for the whole year last year it just made sense for me considering the time and cost it would be for me to make them myself.)
Day of the week bears. (We have hats that say Yesterday was..., Today is..., Tomorrow will be... which go on bears with the days of the week.
Jolly Phonics letter (s) (I cover 3 in a 6 day cycle until we cover all 42 English letters and letter sound combinations.) We will complete this by the end of January and that will make room for me to change it out with something else.
Count by 2, 5 or 10 all the way to _________. (We don't usually count all 3 ways each day. We change it up.)
Curves sticker? If I work out at Curves the students give me a sticker on my teacher calendar. :)
Word Wall Words: I introduce 3-5 words that are on our word wall. I do various things with these as time permits.
Hug, Handshake, High-Five I usually have 4 daily helpers chosen by table. Those that are there that day get to give me a hug, handshake or a high-five. I ihank them for being a helepr and we tally their choices on a small chart.
Other ___________________________________
I have the other blank just in case I have an idea I want to try or a reminder for the kiddos.

After the holidays in Jan/Feb. I plan to introduce a number of the day/week where we will make it in base ten and use digi block etc. I also will do the date in money - Jan. 8 would be one nickel and 3 pennies. We always try and use the fewest coins and then once ina while when I have time we will make the amount a "different" way.

I also have a can of math facts flashcards that we pull from and solve as time permits. I introduce telling time to the hour and measure ment through my calendar time.

I teach on a 6 day cycle. The first 3 days is "new" information but on Days 4, 5 and 6 it is all review so I often can have students at their tables completing work or making corrections before they join us for calendar.

Also I was very bored having it first thing every morning so I just don't. ;)

Day 1: 11:20-11:55
Day 2: 1:00-1:45
Day 3: 11:20-11:55
Day 4: 1:00-11:55
Day 5: 2:45-3:25
Day 6: 1:00-1:45

We need about 30-40 minutes so sometimes we have 5-10 minutes of quiet work time or when I have door duty until 1:00 it takes a few minutes to really get in, take attendance and get settled.

I'd love to know what others are doing. I always like to have a few new ideas to play with.

sdwl;)

701Here is mine....I teach 3rd grade.