What Day is Today?

I remember when working in daycare, we often had a class calendar that we would work with everyday at circle time. I remember finding it very tiresome and felt it was so unnecessary. I mean, really, do kids need to know what the date is?? But now that I am into the homeschooling scheme of things I have come to recognize the importance of this in a child's life.

First of all, vocabulary. I am constantly amazed at the fact that Piper doesn't undertand certain words that I take for granted. Like November or yesterday or FRIDAY! How quickly I forget that she has only lived in this world for three years!

Secondly, I sometimes find it hard to help her comprehend why she can't go to dance class today because it doesn't happen until tomorrow. She has no concrete idea of time therefore this can become very difficult and frustrating for her! Having a calendar provides her with a visual representation of time and such abstract words as yesterday, today and tomorrow.

 Furthermore, important things such as sequencing, counting skills and letter recognition are taught and strengthened through this daily exercise!

Coming to these conclusions, I decided this was something I needed to implement in Piper's homeschooling! I went on the hunt and found a year round calendar package and we now have it posted in our kitchen. I found the calendar at Scholar's Choice in Moncton but you can also buy it here: http://childcare.scholarschoice.ca/products/Year-Round-Calendar-Bulletin-Board-Set-p2517/pstart1/  or make your own! I added velcro to the calenadar and the backs of the numbers so that there would be less wear and tear from adding and removing the numbers on a monthly basis.

 Piper loves being able to put the new number up for the day and together we repeat the day, month, date and year. We talk about what happened yesterday, what is going to happen today and what our plans are for tomorrow. We also will be putting up any special holidays or events so we can have a countdown to whatever occasion is coming up! And if you're 3, countdowns are exciting! We also sing a song about the days of the week. Songs, of course, are an extremely effective way to help kids memorize so hopefully before too long she will able to recite them!

As an added benefit, I no longer lose track of what day it is myself! :) But look out! That days of the week song is pretty hard to get out of your head...you just might be singing it to yourself for the rest of the day!

Days of the Week Song{to the tune of Oh My Darlin' Clementine}

There are seven days, there are seven days,
There are seven days in a week.
There are seven days, there are seven days,
There are seven days in a week.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday.