Calendar Time

After taking two weeks off for the holidays, we were all ready for school to start again.  Our calendar had been destroyed over those few weeks, so I took the opportunity to get a new, pocket-chart calendar and I reorganized the school room.  Here is our main "Calendar Time" wall:

I have been trying to take down all the "extra" posters and just have a focused wall of things we use.  Our coconut tree, which shows us which letters we have worked on, stayed the same.  Our ABC poster (from the Dollar Tree) stayed, and I added our sign-language flash cards, as well.  The LDS scripture verses are here, and our new calendar is hanging lower to the floor so the boys can help put the cards in the pockets each day.  Our focus letter for the week (the one we use for the coconut tree) will be above the calendar until the last activity where it is moved to the tree.

Our weather chart (also Dollar Tree) and Season chart (Confessions of a Homeschooler) are still next to the window so we can look outside to decide which weather card to put up.

This has given me some nice opportunities to revise what Calendar Time looks like.  Here is a general review of what we do during this time:

1. Update the calendar  

The boys take turns putting the new card up.  Sometimes I have them tell me what the next number should be. 

2. Today/Yesterday/Tomorrow

"Today is..." (ex: Monday, January 5)

"If today is Monday, what was yesterday?"

"If today is Monday, what will tomorrow be?"

Optional: Singing the Days of the Week song.

3. Review letter/sound of the week

"What letter are we learning about this week?"

"What does the 'j' say?"  

We usually sing the Leap Frog Letter Factory song for the letter sound. (The song starts about 38 seconds into the video)

4. Review sign language letters

We review all the letters each day.  Jackson usually likes to do this himself.

5. LDS Scripture Verse

We learn or review the verse corresponding to the letter of the week.

6. Weather Chart

We sing How's the Weather? and decide which card to put up.

7. Optional: Number review

Sometimes we count together from 1-20 (or even 1-100 if Jackson is feeling the need).  I have a Dollar Tree number poster up on another wall that we use for this purpose:

8. Notebook Time

The boys get out their Daily Learning Notebooks and sit down at their tables.  Jackson uses this one from Confessions of a Homeschooler, and Alex uses this one from 1+1+1=1.