Today while Trevor napped, I assembled an interactive calendar on the wall above our kitchen table. Those of you who know me well, know that I often would rather create my own ___________ (fill in the blank) than purchase the same thing ready made. I get a picture of how I want something in my head, and when the store bought item doesn't match that, I would just rather take the time to create exactly what I want. This is what happened with the calendar. They sell many varieties of calendars at teacher's stores, but nothing was quite right.
This is what I put together...
- A wipe-off calendar (store bought) that I can fill out each month, and I printed and laminated pictures/symbols of things that might happen in a given month to stick on the day they will happen (garbage day, grandma and grandpa, Easter, etc.). My desire is to help Trevor get the concept of "in two days we will...." or "on Friday we are going...." so he can start to understand the big concept of how time passes.
- A list of ways we talk about the day. I want him to start understanding that each day has a name, a number, and is part of a certain month/season/year. My desire is that each morning (perhaps during breakfast) we will look at that list and say what the current day is, changing the ones that need to be changed.
- To-Do Lists for Trevor and me. I don't think I will start this with him yet, but eventually I want to write down (or find pictures to represent) the things he does in his day (eat breakfast, get dressed, do a chore, etc.) Also, I thought it would be a good way to show him that I have things to do each day too.
Each of the pieces on my wall are able to be stuck and re-stuck over and over using Scotch Reusable Tabs. This is necessary since we will be changing some of the pieces daily! I've never used these before, but they look promising! Has anyone tried these out?
Really, I wasn't planning on introducing the calendar concept until next year, but I got too impatient to wait, so here it is!
Happy Learning!
Pretty sure you were meant to be a teacher!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm definitely going to be a teacher to my kids! I think I mentioned in a previous post, though, I'm definitely much better at the planning/preparing than I am at the actual teaching part, so I'll have to grow in that area!
ReplyDeleteYou know I laughed out loud at the "...rather create my own ___________ (fill in the blank) than purchase.." :) I LOVE you for that! And I LOVE everything about your interactive wall calendar!
ReplyDeleteLinds, obviously I thought of you when I wrote that! Ha!
ReplyDelete