This post is about the calendar. Introduce young learners to months, seasons, and the big wide world by helping them build their concepts with paper, glue, or whatever you have at hand.
1. Surprise
January is a surprise. Weren’t we done with months now? Wasn’t December the last one? No! January arrives right after December. The calendar doesn’t go on vacation or even take a deep breath before plunging into the next year. This surprises many of my younger students. They may know their birthday month or even be able to recite the months in order. But where the alphabet stops in its tracks at ‘z’ and numbers go ever on, the calendar months are wrung out and used all over again.
2. The antennae of time
When I teach younger students about the calendar, we build a disc for the year with antennae for the months. At the end of each month’s antenna is a card. The card holds details about how the dates line up with the days of the week – something that changes from year to year. Notes stored in an envelope or folded ribbons of paper stuck to the antenna celebrate the birthdays and significant events for each month.
3. Upside down world
Usually, I make these calendars from whatever paper happens to be available. My students and I industriously cut circles and ribbons and cards. We write labels and learn how to spell ‘February’. We discover which day of the week an important birthday falls on. We make an extra section with pictures or collages for each season and we learn where each season belongs. Then we turn the seasons upside down and learn that the world is expansive, resplendent, and divided into hemispheres.
4. What did we learn?
Students are always proud of their calendars. The disc with its antennae and the carefully written labels are only part of what they have achieved. By the time the calendars are complete, students have understood that January takes over from December just as June takes over from May. They understand that days of the week and dates have an ever-shifting relationship. They are a little less surprised when a new year replaces the retiring one.
5. Homework
For Christmas, I received selections of paper samples, including sheets with intricate patterns in rich colours. The textures were varied as well, putting me in mind of fabric swatches. January loomed obnoxiously, surprising me. 2018 dragged me from month to month without ceremony. There were no deep breaths between May and June, between Fall and Winter. So I made my own calendar. Here is a preview. In my next post, I’ll give you a tour!
