Sunday, September 9, 2012

Calendar Time

(31 Months)


I've been wanting to making this board for several weeks now.  Calendar time offers so much learning in one confined space.  For the past few weeks, after the kidabunks were asleep in bed for the night I searched blog after blog, Pinterest board after board, looking for ideas.  The process seemed to be too time-consuming to tackle during a once-a-day, hour long nap.  Then, one wonderful day last week they took a two-hour nap (two glorious uninterrupted hours).  It was the jump start I needed to get this project underway.  Once I started, it actually came together pretty quickly (although not as fast as homemade play-doh).  

I had certain goals that I wanted to accomplish in using this board, which determined the material that I placed on the board.  My goals over the next year+ are to practice learning:
  • the days of the week (in order)
  • the months of the year (in order)
  • the concept of yesterday, today and tomorrow
  • what the weather is outside (cloudy, sunny, rainy)
  • the names of the seasons and our current season
  • learning about each number 
  • learning numbers in sequence, through a real-world number line
  • begin learning about word families
  • understand that there are several ways to draw a basic shape
  • practice in forming letters (out of shaving cream, play doh, blocks, sticks, pom poms) 
  • -this one is for me, I wanted a board that requires little time to update, and that will grow with the kidabunks for the next two plus years.

The board is finally finished!  The ideas and inspiration came from my Pinterest board and Today's Weather is a free printable from Homeschool Creations (thank you, to all of you incredible mommies out there for posting your terrific ideas).  We're going to start using the board tomorrow and I have a lot of fun activities planned for us that I'm so excited to share with the kidabunks.




We sing the Days of the Week song to the tune of "Oh My Darlin'"-
There are seven days,
there are seven days, 
there are seven days in a week.
There are seven days,
there are seven days,
there are seven days in a week.
Sunday, Monday
Tuesday, Wednesday
Thursday, Friday
Saturday.

Sunday, Monday
Tuesday, Wednesday
Thursday, Friday
Saturday.

We sing the Months of the Year song to the tune of "Ten Little Indians" - 
January, February, March and April
May, June, July and August
September, October, November, December
Those are the months of the year
(repeat two or three more times)

I'm so excited for tomorrow!

5 comments:

  1. I just adore your board))) I'm now in search of a similar thing to do for my kids and i'm happy to having come across yours) it's perfect)) thanks for sharing)

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  2. yes, I love the board. I will be making a similar one for my toddlers.

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  3. Thank you! It's been almost a year and they STILL enjoy calendar time. We each take turns playing teacher, it's actually a lot of fun:) I hope your toddlers like it also.

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  4. gosh, I'm so late to this post, but I'm wondering how you attached the colorful days of the week so that the popsicle stick fit inside? I tried contact paper but couldn't get it to work.

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