One of my favorite changes that I made in my classroom this year, was taking down my calendar! Yes, I did it, no more calendar. I'm sure some of you are reading this and maybe gasping, but it was a smart move. [Even our K teachers aren't allowed to spend longer than 10 minutes doing calendar!]
Calendar wasn't a good fit for all of my students, and honestly it wasn't in years past either, but things are so different this year that I had to let it go. Yes, it works on counting, but other than that my students were getting nothing from it this year. And with a class of low expressive communication, not that many were actually counting with us!
And, on top of that, yes there are more reasons, counting any higher than 20, maybe even 12 for some, was really just a waste of time. I found myself with maybe 3 students getting a high rate of instructional trials out of calendar, and the other 4, just sitting.
Bye-bye calendar. Insert pocket chart.
I had a picture of the new space, but didn't think I would get around to posting about it so I deleted it. Go figure.
Anywho, now, each week we have a different pocket chart activity that we do in place of calendar. I can constantly change the skills and address multiple areas, and each student gets more turns and a higher rate of participation. I am so happy with this decision! Now I'm sharing last week's activity with you, for FREE!
We worked on counting and number identification. I can give higher numbers to students at that level, and lower numbers to students who are still working on counting. We can place the hands on top of the numbers in the pocket chart and gradually narrow down the choices left, or place them behind the numbers to make the task more challenging.
Head over to my TpT store to download this freebie. And if you came here via Freebielicious, thanks for visiting! If it's your first time here and you like what you see, be sure to follow my blog! :)
8 comments
Great idea! In the past, my calendar was such a focal point each day. Now it is very basic- very- and we do "number talks" in the morning- I'll have to pick up these cards to go with it!
Squirrels
Going Nutty!
misssquirrels@yahoo.com
Love this idea for making a better use of "calendar" time! I shared it on my facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/PinkPolkaDotsandPreK?ref=hl
Thank you for the freebie! This activity will help some of my kinders who struggle with identification of numbers.
Thank you for the freebie! This will help my kinders who struggle with number recognition.
Thank you for the freebie! This will be a great help for my kinders who struggle with number recognition.
Just wanted to say I LOVE the new blog design!
Stephanie
Tales of Teaching in Heels
Love the new design!
Stephanie
Tales of Teaching in Heels
Oh my goodness...I was just thinking about taking away calendar time and replacing it with some other math activities. Reading your post has helped me decide it is a good idea :) Thanks for sharing!
Danielle
Carolina Teacher
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