In the mornings (or around lunch time, whichever is more convenient), we got into a nice routine of doing some simple calendar work with rhymes and songs! Both girls love it π (yes, even Miss C! Who doesn’t like songs!)
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We start by singing the months of the year:
(Tune: 10 Little Indiens)
January, February, March and April
May, June, July, August and September
October, November, and December
These are the months of the year!
We usually shout out the current month (which has the little purple sticker, so A can see which month we’re at, and visualize it in the context of the whole year): “January, February, March and APRIL!!!” π
The image for the months of the year is taken from the Montessori for everyone site, right here, and the song comes from 1+1+1=1.
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Following that, we check the weather outside the window, and move the arrow to the correct section on the circle. Then we place a little sticker dot on the Weather Graph, to see how many days during the month it was sunny, rainy, cloudy, etc.
And then we sing this fun song from 1+1+1=1:
(Tune: Bingo)
Today the {sun} is in the sky
And SUNNY is the weather
S-U-N-N-Y (3x)
And SUNNY is the weather!
If you go on 1+1+1=1’s website, you’ll find all the alternatives for the other weather options. π
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Right afterwards, we talk about which season it is. As our weather chart says, currently the season is spring! We have a little sticker next the our season as well (season chart also from the Montessori site, right here).
And I made up this song for the season:
(Tune: Are You Sleeping/Frère Jacques)
Every year, has four seasons
Winter Spring, Summer Fall
This month the season is spring (2x)
March, April, May (2x)
You can sing:
This month the season is summer (2x)
June, July, August (2x)
This month the season is fall (2x)
September, October, November (2x) {yea… sing quickly lol}
This month the season is winter (2x)
December, January, February (2x) {another tongue twister!}
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Following that, we’ll read a story about the current season.
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Then we move on to the calendar itself!
I made a little scallop sticker that we move around every day, as well as a “2011” sign.
We sign two songs to learn the days of the week, both from 1+1+1=1’s calendar section.
Following that, we read the daily story from our DK Children’s Everyday Bible. I really like this book, I find that the stories are short enough for a young child, but not so simple that an older child will be bored, and the illustrations are just beautiful and very engaging. They go through the entire Bible, covering most of the books, in a story that flows well. It’s a GREAT introduction for the kids! Through it, they get their first complete exposure to the Bible, from where they can go more in depth as they get older, since all the stories will already be familiar to them. You can do it year after year without it being repetitive since it will be a whole full year before you repeat the same story. And it helps foster the habit of daily Bible studying π
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And that, is our calendar time!
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Some resource links:
- We got our calendar at our local office supply store, but you can also order it from Amazon here. I laminated it all to add durability, and also the repositionable stickers can peel on and off easily, as we move them every day or every month.
- DO visit 1+1+1=1’s calendar post, she has lots of great resources for you, free printables, ideas on how to set one up, etc. It’s very thorough!
- Homeschool Creations also have great calendar stuff, ideas and printables. I didn’t use them just yet because the calendar set is pretty complete and enough for A’s level, but as she gets older, I definitely might add some of her stuff!
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