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If you have any problems, email my techie Gary Ritner. People tend to get a little confused about where to find the login info on the receipt from PayPal. It is on the left side. Look for the word "Item #" (you are looking for two words and not a number).
If the Item # is 1010, then you clicked on the button for 'Ship a Hard Copy to Me.' If you meant to click on the download option, no, problem. Just email Gary Ritner here and he will send you the username and password after verifying your payment.
This section is all because of a wonderful website that I
found. Check out www.jmeacham.com. She has an entire section
devoted to different forms of Calendar Books. I adapted hers a
little bit. I would honestly have to say it made one of the biggest
differences in my Math instruction. My students have to do all of
the calendar activities for themselves. They can not be daydreaming
(well, not too much).
For my Calendar Book, I use a regular folder with 3 prongs. I
purchased a variety of colors. Every child uses the same folder all
year long. I leave in the first 2 pages and the last 2 pages and send
home the rest every month.
This is what they look like on the cover.
Click here for a download of the cover.
This is what the calendar book looks like on the inside. This year I
have added the pencil pouch. Each pouch will store a pencil, 2 crayons (matching the color of the
unifix cubes) and a variety of coins.
In 2007 I changed the way I did my Calendar Book. This is what they
look like now. I changed to the 3-Ring Binder to make it easier to
write on and more durable. It will also be a lot easier to change
out the pages every month. I found Sam's Club or Costco to be the
cheapest way to get them.
The days in school pages, months of the year, lost teeth and
birthdays pages are all run on cardstock for durability. I also put
hole reinforcers on those pages.
I changed to the zipper pouches with the metal zippers because I was
always putting the plastic zippers back on track.
Last year for money the kids all had a ziploc baggie with coins. I
was always replacing the baggies. This year I bought the coin
wallets (we don't call them purses for the boy's sake) from Oriental
Trading. I wrote the child's initials on the wallets with puffy paint.
The cover is created using clipart from www.djinkers.com.
The first 2 pages in the calendar book are the days in school
sheets. I downloaded these from www.jmeacham.com. When I write how
many days we have been in school, the kids also have to write the
numeral in their book. If we count by 1's, 5's or 10's the kids have
to point to the numerals as we are counting out loud. These 2
sheets stay in the book all year long.
Zero the Hero - Every 10th day of school we will celebrate Zero the Hero using this page. The kids will have to color in Zero and the number every 10th day of school. Of course Zero the Hero will bring us some Zero shaped snacks on that day. I run this page off on cardstock for durability. A big thanks to my friend John Rasmussen who drew the great Zero the Hero.
Click here for a PDF.
I discovered I wasn't saying the months of the year often enough so I
added this page to the book. It stays in every month. The students
have to point to the words as we read them. We also say the months
in Spanish.
Click here for the Months of the Year PDF.
The next sheet in the book is the monthly songs that we sing. For copyright reasons I can not include them all. The first one is a little tune that Julie Torkelson made up. The next song is adapted from www.kinderkorner.com. It is the Good Morning Song for that month. The last song is the monthly poem from Maurice Sendak's Chicken Soup With Rice. The poems are in a pocket chart and we sing them every time we do calendar. After the first few days in a month, the kids follow the text in their own calendar book.
The next page is the calendar. I downloaded the ones I use from
www.jmeacham.com. Her downloads for this year are even better. The
squares where there are no numbers are blacked out.
We start doing the next page in October. I write the date on the
white board and the kids also write the date in their book. This is
how we date our journal entries. The kids loved to see patterns in
the date. They couldn't wait for 06-06-06. (I didn't have the heart
to tell them that a lot of people think it is a bad date.)
Click Here for the Write the Date page.
Someone emailed me and asked if I had a page for "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow." I didn't have one, but I thought it was a great idea so I created a page. For this page the kids have to circle whatever day of the week that it is. Then in that same row they right a Y on the day that was yesterday and a T on the day that tomorrow will be. Doing this activity has really helped my kids with this concept.
Click here for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow PDF
For this page I make the tally or tallies on the board and the kids
have to make the tally/tallies in their book. I start doing this
page in October.
We start doing the Odd/Even page in November or December. We put up
a unifix cube(s) in the holder (see my Daily calendar section). The
kids have to tell me if the number is an odd number or an even
number. They know if all the cubes have a partner then it is an even
number. If they don't all have a partner, it is an odd number. The
kids have to write the numeral and circle odd or even in their book.
Click here for the odd/even page.
The adding the date page is based upon the unifix cubes. The cubes
match the date. Last year the kids only used their pencils to color
in the squares. This next year, the kids will use the correct color
of crayon to color in the squares. After coloring in the squares,
the kids have to say the number sentence that matches the cubes. For
example: on the second you should have 1 orange cube with 1 blue
cube. The number sentence the kids would write 1 + 1 = 2.
Click here for the adding the
date page.
We started doing money in January or February. I just had the kids
write the date in cents. For example: It is the seventh so we would
write 7(cents sign). This year, the kids will show me different ways to make
the amount using real coins. That is why they will keep coins in
their pencil pouch.
Click here for Money
We start telling time as part of the calendar in March or April. I
flip the cards on my clock to a certain time. (The clock is from
Lakeshore.) I call up one child to move the hands of the clock to
that time. The kids write that time down in the book. I didn't make
a special page for this. They just write on the back of the money page.
In 2007 I added a real clock page. Because the kids had a blue and
an orange crayon in their pencil pouch for coloring in the unifix
cubes, I decided they should draw the hands on the clock. They write
the given time in the box. They used the orange crayon to make the
red hand and blue for the blue hand. I added this page in April. I
ran off 2 pages, back-to-back.
Click here for the Calendar page.
The next page in the book is the weather graph. It matches the one
that the class does together. We will attempt to start to do this
graph in September.
Click Here for Weather Graph PDF
I also added a temperature page. We started it in January. The
first month I tried this it was very frustrating for the first few
days. After a while the kids got the hang of it. It was a wonderful
way for kids to start learning what 10s numbers a number is in
between. The weather helper checks outside and finds the temperature
on the internet. The students color in the thermometer with their
orange crayon. Click here for a PDF.
In 2007, my students were very disappointed one month when I did not
add anything new the the Calendar binder. So in May I added the dice
graph. I will probably add it in March or April next year. For this
page, I rolled 2 dice, 2 times every day. We had to say the number
sentence and then color the sum in the graph. It was a great way to
talk about probability. I used the big foam dice for some added
fun. I reduced the graph a little to fit in the binder.
Click here for the Dice Graph PDF.
The lost tooth page is from www.jmeacham.com. When I child loses a
tooth, we write their name in that month. This is one of the pages
that is in the book in September and stays in every month.
The last page is the Birthday Page. On the first day of the month,
we write the names of everyone celebrating a birthday that month. We
also do half birthdays for June, July and August. This form is from
www.jmeacham.com. D J Inkers also has a great new form in their new
Celebrations and School Events Clip Art book. You can check it out
at www.djinkers.com.
Many people have written to me and asked me when and how I do my
Calendar Book. I am a little different from a lot of teachers because
I do Calendar after lunch and recess. My students have to sit and
listen too long in the morning. We do Morning Meeting and greetings
in the morning so we do the calendar as part of my Math Block in the
afternoon.
I am fortunate to have a "pit" area in my classroom. It is 3 steps
going down. It makes it easier for kids to write in their books and
still be right in front of the calendar. Here are some photos of
what it looks like in my classroom. I would be standing by the
calendar and calling kids up during this time.
Place Value Dominoes - I added this page in May, but I think I will
add it in April next year. The skills that are taught are so
wonderful that I want to do it earlier. For this page, the weather
helper draws a domino (double nines set) out of a bag. The child
decides which number will be on the left and which will be on the
right. Then we say what that number would be with the number on the
left being the 10's place and the right the 1's place. We write the
number on the line and then copy the domino. Finally, the kids
highlight the number on the hundreds chart.
Click here for the Place Value Dominoes PDF.
Calendar can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes depending on how in depth I want to get. Sometimes we skip songs or saying the months, etc. I do not start with all of the pages in the book. All of these pages are only done in May. We add new activities every month. The old pages go home at the end of the month and new pages with the old activities and 1 new activity are added to the book. The cardstock pages stay in the book all year long.
Below you will find a list of when I add activities.
September- Days in School, Zero the Hero, months, September songs, September calendar, tallies (?), lost teeth and birthdays
Leave in Days in School, Zero the Hero, months, lost teeth and birthdays page every month - replace the other pages each month and add a new skill
October - add odd and even
November - add Adding the Date page and money (but no coins)
December - give students coins
January - add temperature page
February - add Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow page
March - add graph the dice sum page
April - add time page
May - add domino tens place page (possibly add sooner)
