Making a Monthly Calendar

I think as a teacher, one of my favorite activities I did each month with my students was creating a monthly calendar. I loved this activity because it has so many authentic purposes–

We all use calendars to plan our days, months and even years!
It was a great way to practice numeration, days of the weeks, months of the year and the number of days in a month
It was an excellent reinforcement of how we read, count etc from left to right
Good spelling practice
It gave my students a heads-up about important events that would occur throughout the month
It provided the necessary reminders about homework, spelling tests and special events at school. It also told them what days we were in school and what days were “stay home” days

I did this activity with my first, second and third graders. At each level, there were different expectations and the format was slightly different. With all ages, the students were provided a blank calendar to be filled in as a class. For the younger children, I made the calendar very large to accommodate their developing fine motor skills, the older students received a calendar the size of a regular 8 1/2 by 11 piece of paper. With the younger children, we spent a great deal of time creating the calendar- the name of the month and where to write it, where to begin the month, how to add the date to each day etc. With the older students, they were simply provided a list of things to include on the calendar and were then expected to create the calendar independently.

I enjoyed this activity so much that I decided to do it at home with my son. He was always asking things like, “Is today a stay home day?” or “When do I get to go to after school care?” So, I enlarged a blank calendar I made, put the dates on (he is too young to do this himself) and highlighted the stay-home days so he knew when they were. I also added the days he had special activities such as after school care or a play date with a friend. . He added a picture to go with each event so he could remember what it said on his own. We hung his calendar by his bed and each night we crossed off the day and talked about what was going to happen the next day and even later in the week if it came up. At first, he loved the idea and we did it religiously. Then, being five, he decided he did not like the calendar and was not going to do it anymore so, we put it on the back burner for a while. Then just last week he asked for it again so it back on his wall!

Boy Mama Teacher Mama: Making a Monthly Calendar

A blank calendar template I created on my computer and enlarged at a local copy shop.

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