I love the idea of calendar time, but I always found it to be a bit difficult with multiple children the exact same ages and similar skill levels. It was always hard to decide who would get to do what. But, this problem was solved once we started using calendar notebooks!
How Calendar Time Works for Us
My school age kids (two kindergarteners and one 2nd grader) each have their own 3-ring binders. This way, they are all doing ALL of the activities…and no one is left out of anything.
The kids complete their daily activities in their calendar notebooks in the mornings after they do their chores (before breakfast) while I get the younger twins changed and dressed. My 2nd grader is kind of in charge of helping out the kindergarteners as needed. Once we “officially” begin our school day (after breakfast), we go over what they did in their notebook with the help of our calendar time board.
Our Calendar Notebook Pages
Cover Page: The kids all enjoyed designing their very own cover page to slide into the clear cover of the binder! The download contains various different covers to choose from.
Monthly Calendar Pages: The kids write in the correct number for each day of the month. These pages can be downloaded from the Meach Calendar website.
Writing the Date Page: Right now, my 2nd grade daughter is the only one who does this page. I created these so that she gets daily practice with writing out the date.
Make The Date With Money: I created this activity to help practice counting coins. The kids have to “make the date” using the coin cards. For example, the pic above was taken on the 15th day of the month. So, my kids used the dime and nickel for 15 cents. We also discussed other ways to make 15 cents. FYI, the cards were cut so that they can slide into a 9 pocket sports card page protector. I also put a blank page behind it so that the background is solid color page…rather than the next page of the notebook.
Days of School: Each day the kids write in the number of days we have been in school. For example, this photo was taken on the 26th day of school. This page can be downloaded from the Meach Calendar website.
Place Value Page: We use a sports card page protector for this as well (with a blank page behind it). Each day the kids add a sticker to the ones card and slide in the appropriate number card below it. Once there are ten stickers on the card, it is moved over to the tens column. The number corresponds to the “Days of School” page shown above. For example, this photo was taken on our 26th day of school. There are two sets of cards with ten stickers in the tens column and one card with six stickers in the ones column.
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Tally Marks: Each day the kids add a tally mark. This also coordinates with the “Days of School” page. For example, this photo was taken on our 26th day of school. With the activity, the kids also get daily practice with counting by fives.
So, that’s how we use our calendar notebook! For more calendar time resources, read about our Calendar Board!
Noah’s Ark {paper plate} Craft
Amanda! I apologize for the delay! I have moved the files off 4shared and you should be able to download them directly from the post now! Please let me know if you have any trouble downloading them!
Thank you so much! I just love your stuff. 🙂
You are very welcome! Thank you for your kind words!
This is awesome. I have never seen it before, nor thought about it, as my son is so good at it naturally. But my second one might need a little extra help. This is perfect.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Ann, you are very welcome! Hopefully this will be helpful for you and your son!
First of all, thank you for all that you do! Your ideas and resources are amazing! My question is: Did you have the opportunity to upload the new files? I am having trouble downloading them from the 4shared site. It keeps trying to install exe files which I am hesitant to do because the last thing I need is to get a virus on my computer! lol Thank you, again! ~~Beverley
Thank you for sharing! I am still a newbie homeschooling mom. I started after Christmas break last school year…and have decided to keep going thanks to Mom’s like you! 🙂
Hey Mama Jenn, I love your blog. My twins are not homeschooled…yet…but I am always looking for cool stuff to print out for either now or future use. Thanks for sharing..
You are so welcome!!
Thank you so much for the downloadable printables! My kids are going to love their own calendar notebook.
I am so sorry you are having difficulties!
When you get to the 4shared site, you want to click on the blue download button. When I tried it, an ad popped up before I was able to click it. So, I had to close the ad and then click the blue download button. Wait for the countdown to download and once it hits zero, click the Download File Now link that is located just above the countdown. Then you should be able to save or open the file.
I am in the process of trying to move all of my files off for 4shared. In the meantime, if the above info doesn’t work for you, you may be able to find a few of the pages you are looking for here: http://www.mamajenn.com/MamaJenn/CalendarTime.html
I will announce it on the blog once I am able to get all of the files switched over…and I will post a comment here as well!
I am having a hard time downloading the pages you have on 4 shared. how do I get these? (the ones, tens, and hundreds page, and the money page for example)
Hi Karyn,
Perhaps you may have misunderstood me or maybe you are confusing me with someone else, but I don’t use (don’t have) a Smart Board. I am a homeschool mama with a “class” of only 5 students! 😉
These resources are great! Thank you. I have a question for you. I see that you now use your SmartBoard to do calendar. I was doing the same thing with my Promethean Board. Do you still have the students fill out the Math Binders? If so, when? as you go along? later during centers? Also, how much time do you spend on Calendar each day? I was spending too much time on Calendar and had to back off, but I want to pick it back up in a more efficient way where everyone is engaged, not just the ones I call on. Any suggestions on Calendar implementation and procedures? One more question, do you put this binder on your supply list for the parents to get at the beginning of the year? What about the baseball card page protector? Do you just buy that pack and give every student one? Thank you so much for your help. I look forward to hearing from you soon 🙂
I LOVE this idea. It is a fantastic way for all the children to be able to do everything during calendar time. I really like the page to write the date (we have not been doing anything like that and I do think it is important!) I also like the way you set up the page for the hundreds tens and ones. I will definitely be utilizing this idea. Thank you so much!
Love that! I may have to do something like this with my kiddos.
There is a birthday graph very similar to yours at teacherspayteachers.com. You have to join the site but you can get a limited membership free. The birthday graph download is free.
There is a birthday graph very similar to the one you have on teacherspayteachers.com you have to join which you can do for free – not all downloads are free but this one is.
I LOVE the notebook!!!!!
Hi Jenn,
I really like the notebook idea because we don’t have a school “room”–I usually have to move our stuff into the Living Room and do our circle time there and then as soon as we’re done, clean up b/f my 18 mth gets up from his a.m. nap. Otherwise he will be into everything! Soooo…doing a notebook like this will be great b/c it’s mobile and small. Love it! 🙂
Saw your link on WTM….I may not have room to do the Calendar Time wall but I definitely am going to do the Calendar Notebook! Thanks!! :o)
Saw your link on WTM….I may not have room to do the Calendar Time wall but I definitely am going to do the Calendar Notebook! Thanks!! :o)
Hi Jenn,
I really like the notebook idea because we don’t have a school “room”–I usually have to move our stuff into the Living Room and do our circle time there and then as soon as we’re done, clean up b/f my 18 mth gets up from his a.m. nap. Otherwise he will be into everything! Soooo…doing a notebook like this will be great b/c it’s mobile and small. Love it! 🙂
Starting this in the AM…Love the set up, and think it will work out well. Thanks for sharing! I figured we can count our 100 days starting with the new year since we didnt have this when school started.
Kelly~
Use the link and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page where it says “Blank 100th Day Grids.” Hope that helps!!! I think I will update the blog post with that info!
I can not find the page on how many days have we been in school. Can you help please? I looked for it on the link you posted…..
Great idea…looking forward to starting it.
Thanks
I never thought of doing it this way. Will begin to implement ASAP thanks for sharing.
Wonderful!! Thank you SO much!
Jennifer G
Apparently, the link to the Homeschool Highway blog is not working. (This is where I downloaded the Weather & Birthday printables.) I am not sure what is going on, but I know that you can download a similar weather page and a birthday page from the Meach Calendar Site. Hopefully this will help!!!
Hi there! I was trying to print another copy of the weather chart and the link isn’t working. Do you have a copy of this that you can post or maybe another link? Any help would be great! I am terrible at making my own templates!
This is perfect. This is just what I need! I am going to do this. Thank you, Jenn! *Ü*
What great ideas!
I love the place value cards!
Ooo! I like the hundreds-tens-ones page. Have to think about how I could start that now.
We do this at our house too- It really helps enforce place value, which has proven VERY helpful for Baby Girl!
I like your method for counting days of the school year. I don’t like how we did this year, and actually ended up discontinuing it because it just wasn’t working…..
Wonderful ideas!! I’ll put that in my idea book for next schoolyear. 🙂
I LOVE the notebook!!!!!
I use Jessica Meacham’s site all the time…it’s a great resource.