What Day is Today?

I remember when working in daycare, we often had a class calendar that we would work with everyday at circle time. I remember finding it very tiresome and felt it was so unnecessary. I mean, really, do kids need to know what the date is?? But now that I am into the homeschooling scheme of things I have come to recognize the importance of this in a child's life.

First of all, vocabulary. I am constantly amazed at the fact that Piper doesn't undertand certain words that I take for granted. Like November or yesterday or FRIDAY! How quickly I forget that she has only lived in this world for three years!

Secondly, I sometimes find it hard to help her comprehend why she can't go to dance class today because it doesn't happen until tomorrow. She has no concrete idea of time therefore this can become very difficult and frustrating for her! Having a calendar provides her with a visual representation of time and such abstract words as yesterday, today and tomorrow.

 Furthermore, important things such as sequencing, counting skills and letter recognition are taught and strengthened through this daily exercise!

Coming to these conclusions, I decided this was something I needed to implement in Piper's homeschooling! I went on the hunt and found a year round calendar package and we now have it posted in our kitchen. I found the calendar at Scholar's Choice in Moncton but you can also buy it here: http://childcare.scholarschoice.ca/products/Year-Round-Calendar-Bulletin-Board-Set-p2517/pstart1/  or make your own! I added velcro to the calenadar and the backs of the numbers so that there would be less wear and tear from adding and removing the numbers on a monthly basis.

 Piper loves being able to put the new number up for the day and together we repeat the day, month, date and year. We talk about what happened yesterday, what is going to happen today and what our plans are for tomorrow. We also will be putting up any special holidays or events so we can have a countdown to whatever occasion is coming up! And if you're 3, countdowns are exciting! We also sing a song about the days of the week. Songs, of course, are an extremely effective way to help kids memorize so hopefully before too long she will able to recite them!

As an added benefit, I no longer lose track of what day it is myself! :) But look out! That days of the week song is pretty hard to get out of your head...you just might be singing it to yourself for the rest of the day!














Days of the Week Song{to the tune of Oh My Darlin' Clementine}

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.

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3 comments:

Unknown said...

This was so timely. I just had a very frustrating (for me) conversation with Alana. I was trying to explain that we would put up the Christmas tree on Saturday. It went a little like this.
Me: We'll put the tree up on Saturday when daddy is home all day
Her: daddy come home (happy happy face)
me: no, not right now.
her: oh, how come
Me: well he is at work but on Saturday he doesn't have to work so we will do it then.
Her: after I wake up? (cause daddy usually comes home a little after her afternoon nap).
Me: okay...after dance class on Friday, then you go to bed and then you wake up and it is Saturday and we will do it then.
her: dance class??? now? I needa get my dress.
me: arghhhhhH!
hahahaha! I think I will go by a calander!

Unknown said...

I think my friend left herself signed in on my computer...this is NOT rebecca...it is Michelle! :-)

Gina said...

hahaha! I know all about it! It gets tricky esp. since they are old enough to understand and get excited about activites that are happening just no sense of time! The calendar thing has been working quite well and I really like that we can post a special event on it so she can see how far away it is and count the days to it! Good luck with your calendar! I'm sure Alana will love it!

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