One thing that will always be around is the calendar. In other words, there will always be a today, yesterday, and tomorrow. Plus, each of those days have a number! Why does this matter? It presents teachers the opportunity to use calendar math in their classroom daily. While there is some debate as to whether calendar time is important in the classroom, I believe it can be an engaging and effective way to practice essential grade-level concepts and skills daily.
Why Is Calendar Math Important?
Calendar time is an essential part of the morning routine in elementary schools especially in K-3. While some may think it’s boring and not interactive enough, I believe as teachers we are responsible for making engaging lessons. This can include calendar time. If one student is counting up to today’s number, then the whole class should be joining in. everyone can say, “Today is Tuesday; yesterday was Monday; tomorrow will be Wednesday.”
Not only can using calendar math be engaging, it can also help students practices essential grade-level concepts that will be on standardized assessments every day. Plus, it supports developing confidence in students’ math skills because of the regular exposure to the same tasks. This increase in confidence is a great way to increase student engagement as well. Finally, when you use calendar math it creates a safe learning environment for students. They will quickly learn the routine and understand expectations.
What Can be Taught?
Students can learn about the process of “voting” when you use calendar time daily. This can be done by having students choose which students they want to lead the calendar routine along with set expectations from you. The calendar leader helps the rest of the class with counting the days or choosing which number skip-counting song to sing that day. Students can also work on the following skills:
- Seasons of the year
- Months of the year
- Days of the week
- How to write the date
- How to read a calendar
- Counting and skip counting
- Even and odd numbers
- Patterns
- Less than, greater than, and equal to
- Representing numbers (i.e. money, tallies, words, equations, and base ten blocks)
I like to do a lot of singing during calendar time in my classroom. When I taught kindergarten and first grade, we used songs to memorize the days of the week and the months of the year. By second grade, students might not be as engaged by that, but it always depends on the class.
With older students, you can work on skip counting songs like counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. You can use this playlist to help teach concepts like even and odd, geometric shapes, and doubles. Singing songs help students memorize mathematical concepts.
How to Use Calendar Time in Grades K-3
You can use calendar math in a variety of ways in grades kindergarten through third grade. Here are ways I use calendar math in each grade.
Kindergarten Calendar Math Tips
To use calendar math in kindergarten you can:
- Teach one or two counting songs on the first day. Then add a new song every day the first week. (Days of the Week, Months of the Year, etc.)
- Explicitly teach the parts of the calendar including: the month, days of the week, and number of days. At the end of each month, review the special days that happened. Then, when starting a new month, go over the upcoming special days the class will experience.
- Use the number of school days to guide your instruction in math class.
First Grade Tips
To use calendar math in first grade you can:
- Review kindergarten skills at the beginning of the school year.
- Explicitly teach the parts of the calendar including: months, days of the week, and number of days. Additionally, practice the concept of yesterday was, today is, and tomorrow will be.
- Use the number of school days to guide your instruction.
Second Grade Calendar Math Tips
To use calendar math in second grade you can:
- Review first grade skills at the beginning of the school year.
- Incorporate money, skip counting by 5s, 10s, and 100s, and practice representing numbers using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form into your calendar time instruction.
- Preview third grade skills at the end of the school year.
Third Grade Calendar math Tips
To use calendar math in third grade you can:
- Review second grade skills at the beginning of the school year
- Make time for teaching the calendar a few times a week. It doesn’t have to happen every day.
- Incorporate telling time into your routine because this is the last year that this skills shows up in the Common Core.
When you use calendar math, your students will be able to do more than just recite the months or days of the week. They will also be able to practice valuable math skills including number sense and number skipping. If you’re looking for fun seasonal calendars, make sure you check out this classroom décor!
Or click on the image below for more details.
