As we’ve discussed previously, it’s best to help kids make personal connections during calendar time activities so that they are meaningful and more memorable. Because of this you may not need to follow a set routine each day for calendar time, or you may want to have a routine mapped out and follow it loosely. Below are a couple of options to help you think through what you would like calendar time to look like.
LESSON PLAN SEQUENCE OPTIONS
Open Discussion
If you don’t want to follow a set routine you might have a more open format where you sit down together near your calendar and have a discussion. During that time you might:
- Discuss your plan for the day using vocabulary like first, next, then, and last.
- Discuss some important memories or details from yesterday.
- Discuss something you will be doing tomorrow.
- Find out the date by identifying the new number on the calendar and then chatting about the month and the day of the week if it is of interest to your child at this time.
- Take a look outside and discuss the weather and how it compares to yesterday’s weather.
In this format you’ll focus on having an open dialogue and follow the conversation where it takes you, so you might not cover every aspect of the calendar each day. That’s okay. Remember that we want kids to begin to show an awareness of time and the rhythms of the weeks, months, and year, but our goal isn’t rote memorization in preschool.
Lesson Plan Sequence
As with the open discussion mentioned above our goal is to focus on helping kids learn about calendar and numeracy concepts by making meaningful connections, so you’ll be having many of the same discussions. However, the lesson plan sequence approach provides a little more structure for those who prefer it.
Download the full calendar lesson plan here.
Create Your Own
Want to create your own plan for calendar time? Use the blank editable calendar planning chart to include the components you want.