What are your thoughts on having all the calendar days exposed? I used to flip a day each day as we would predict the pattern. But then I thought it might be more beneficial for them to see the calendar as real calendars are made - with all the days there. Each day they have to look at the whole calendar and figure out the date. Do you think it is okay to expose all the days? Granted, we only get the anticipation of a new pattern once a month...
I guess I'm just asking if there is any harm in leaving all days exposed, instead of learning what day it is by flipping over one day at a time.
I think leaving the all the days exposed is great for first grade. In K they learn how a calendar works by adding a day. I think it would be appropriate in first for them to get practice actually using a calendar: looking at one and figuring out which day it is, etc. You don't want it to be identical to what they were doing in K.
I leave my calendar exposed. I sort of prefer it that way. There are many times that I check my calendar for a particular date or something...I have to look ahead. My students refer to the calendar often as well. I think to have all the numbers exposed allows the students to use the calendar the way it's supposed to be used.
I started teaching 1st grade 2 years ago in the middle of the year. The teacher I replaced quit and didn't teach calendar one day the whole 1st semester. When I took over I started doing calendar everyday. Most of my kids couldn't tell me the date or day of the week. They even had trouble with the months. We worked really hard on learning "the calendar" that semester. I looped with my kids to 2nd and decided that they didn't need the calendar routine after the first month. I started showing the whole month instead flipping over each day. The whole year a lot of them still struggled to know which day was 'today'. I think in 1st they still need the flipping over for each day. If you need a calendar for reference, maybe hang up a smaller one by your desk. Just my (little :unsure experience.
I show the dates exposed. We talk extensively about the date and which date is the current date. I use the Smartboard to do my calendar. So I always have the kids move an object on Today. We discuss the numbers and patterns. They seemed to do fine with this plus I found that I had more time to do some higher level thinking with it too.
In K i flipped each day as it came, but when I moved up to Grade Two I had the entire month exposed. For most of the kids they hadn't seen a whole month altogether and I think it was really benficial for the 2s. Not sure what I would do with the 1s.... I'm teaching a K/1 this year so I plan to flip the dates as they come. But if you're interested I was got a fantastic resource from Christina Bainbridges' website that are called "Calendar Task Cards" and they ask questions based around the calendar and upcoming dates. It seemed to really boost the understanding of my students lastyear. http://www.bainbridgeclass.com/CalendarTaskCards.pdf p.s. If you have never been on Christina's site before, you are in for a real treat. She has absolutely AMAZING ideas!!!!
I cut and laminated my copy and the star of the day/special helper would read 2 or 3 task cards to the class each day. The special helper would choose people to answer the task :thumb:
Last school year I started off by flipping over each day but by the second nine weeks my students had to solve problems using the calendar ( like if today is wednesday the 17 what is the date of the party on Saturday) so I just filled in the entire month to incorporate questions about dates and days into calendar math time
I have the entire month exposed. During Calendar time I choose a different student to come up and point to the day on the calendar, then another student writes the date. Of course, I give a lot of support at the beginning, but the students catch on fast. I write in special events (birthday, assemblies, special days off of school, ect) at the beginning of the month and almost every year the kids count down the days to special events on their own. I think that having the whole calendar exposed in first grade allows for more extension activities.
I have done my share of substitutiing and teaching in my own classroom...this year i will be teaching in my own room again and have decided that i am going to incorporate the calendar with my morning work. I am going to give a packet in the beginning of the week that students can work on when they arrive the first page will be somethng that i have made up that has Today is _____________, ____________ ______, ________ Tomorrow is Yesterday was I am going to put the days of the week on the bottom I am not a fan of circle time asI think that you can incorporate so much more through other activities just my input
