Calendar Math FREEBIE

This is what is playing over and over again in my head:

At the end of this song EACH.AND.EVERY.TIME the kiddos say VERY matter of factly... "Ender is not a real word".  

I have my Kinder teacher bestie-friend to thank for this. Several of my kiddos learned it in her class last year. Now they've taught the rest of my kiddos. They love it, and repeat it. Constantly. Incessantly. Whenever they can. Whenever they feel it is appropriate.

Which is pretty much whenever anyone mentions a month.

So, it's a given that I hear it at calendar time. That's at the beginning of the day people. Then it is playing over and over again in my head for far too many hours. And, if they are feeling especially silly.... they sing it all.day.long. It also may have something to do with the fact that they usually crack me up with it.

Is it now playing in your head? You're welcome. :D

I haven't always been a fan of calendar time. Mine has definitely gone through a lot of tweaking over the years. For me it has to be quick, effective, and helpful.

Here is my calendar board:

The stuff on the bottom is where we focus each morning.

The ten frames represent the date... 25th here. This part is helpful in figuring out coins. Each ten frame = 1 dime. A row of dots by itself = 1 nickel. 1-4 dots = 1 penny each. When we get to where we did today... two and a half 10 frames we have a quarter/25 cents. Practicing coins this way has been SUPER helpful.

We also use the date to practice tens and ones.

The ten more and ten less grid is centered around how many days in school. 91 today! Halfway done with the year. Wow!

The days of the week is self explanatory. After I added the black circles to the yellow background and laminated it, I added those self-sticking removable hooks to hold the day cards for yesterday, today and tomorrow. I just have little holes punched into the day cards.

 

At the beginning of the year, I complete this board. Modeling each step. Talking about my thought process out loud.

After a couple weeks, I call on random kids to do the various parts. We discuss what's right, wrong and confusing.

Then we progress into all of the kiddos doing it on their own each day.

This is how:
When the kids come in each morning they grab a pen and a card.

I use thin dry erase markers with little pom poms hot glued to the caps. The pom poms serve as erasers. THANK YOU Pinterest for this idea.

The cards are a piece of paper glued to a thin piece of cardboard (thicker than cardstock) and then laminated.

Sorry for the glare.

It's our morning routine to come in, grab the pen and card and sit on the rug area in front of the calendar board. They get to work immediately filling in all the info.

This is so simple. It's been very effective. The kids enjoy it. It is totally quiet while they are all engaged. I am able to take attendance and lunch count while they are filling in their cards. All of the kids get to practice each and every day instead of just a handful that get called upon.

They erase each part as we go over the answers together and I put the correct answers on the board. By the time we are done, the boards are clean, caps are already back on the pens and we've practiced 5 different math standards in just a few minutes.

Click the pic below to grab a copy of all my calendar math makings.

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