I LOVE our morning meetings! This seems to be the kids’ favorite way to start the day, too! Although this part of our day is quick, the kids get so much out of it…and they are totally responsible for doing everything on their own {with my guidance, of course ;)} Here’s just a little peek into our calendar/morning meeting area. I’d LOVE more suggestions of things I can add!!
%5B4%5D.jpg "calendar1 (2)")
Before starting our calendar time, I pull sticks to see who my calendar helpers will be. I usually choose 8 kids.
The calendar jobs are as follows:
*Change the “Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow…Last Month/This Month/Next Month” chart
*Add the date to the calendar
*Write the date {long form}
*Write the digital date {abbreviated}
*Add a tally to the tally chart
*Poppin’ Place Value…add cubes, group sets, change numbers
*Write the number word of the day
*Cross out a number on our 100’s chart
All of the kids will do this at the same time, except for my date writers. They take turns. After everything has been changed/added, we go over all the info together :)
I had to create these calendar helper cards because the others I had were too big for the board. These fit snug in those little $1 pocket charts I picked up at Target before the start of the school year! Click the link below to download yours!
click to download
Two different kids are responsible for changing out the date{s} every morning. This is a great way to reinforce recognition of the days of the week words and month words, too! We also have lots of talks about commas, dashes, and proper nouns.
Okay…so forgive the messy appearance of the tally chart. I actually went back in and cleaned it up after this. I like for the kids to see how two sets of 5 makes a set of 10, so that’s why they’re {very sloppily} circled. The kids love to practice skip counting. Kim Sutton has some pretty cute songs that the kids love to sing, and of course, Dr. Jean is always a crowd favorite, too!
I forgot to mention that we also have a weather watcher who helps us keep track of the weather. We record our weather data into our weather graphs in our science journals. They love to forecast the weather for the next day, too! And just like our meteorologists, they’re usually far from being right! HA!
I also post our words of the week and our weekly chunks in this area too so that I can throw out some quick reinforcement activities during our whole group time. This has been an awesome tool to help them prepare for their “spell checks” on Fridays!!
I put a little change purse up with my calendar (we call calendar activities "math calendar" activities so that I can always add in different concepts as I see needed). Anyhow, I put up a change purse and one student comes up to pull a coin out and identify it. Later in the year we pull several coins and begin adding coin amounts. Lots of fun!
ReplyDeleteWe have "Coins for the Date", they have to make 'add' the coins together to make the date. We have to use the least amount of coins that we can to make the date. Really helps with counting money and coin recognition.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a picture?
DeleteI love all your pictures and explanations. So helpful! :) I am going to be teaching for the first time and I was wondering...is calendar math a part of your morning meeting routine? Im not sure if its something I should do during morning meeting or if I do it right before Math?? Thank you! :)
ReplyDelete@ the polkadotowl
ReplyDeleteYou can choose when you think it's best to do calendar. I have always had a schedule where I have morning meeting first and then a literacy block so it doesn't make since for me to do calendar in the morning. After lunch we come back in the room and start calendar and that leads into math. It's a great introduction to starting a math lesson and gets the kids gathered on the floor. Hope this helps you! :)
Rambling About Reading
Thank you for sharing all of your ideas for your calendar routine. I was looking for some new ways/ideas to do my calendar and found them here! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love the messy circles on the tally mark poster. It shows that the children are doing it! :) Check out Everyday Calendar Math for more ideas on first grade level. I teach second and we have the third grade level because it covered more of our standards than second did...
ReplyDeleteYour morning meeting area looks fabulous!
Melly<><
Second Grade Strategies for Sizzlin' Second Graders!
The Yellow Rocking Chair
Love these ideas! I thought about adding a section to compare weight. I would use different pictures of animals and objects from home/school to compare weight. A helper could pull out two cards (or three cards at the end of the year) and the class would draw those pictures on a sheet in their binder to different questions that keep them on their toes. Which weighs less/the least? Which weighs more/the most? Which is heavier/the heaviest? ect. I also thought about adding a section for ordinal numbers. I thought about using different jungle animals and having a helper pull out a direction card. The same jungle animals would be on their sheet in their binder and directions could include Draw a line under/over the 3rd animal. Draw a box around the 5th animal. Draw a hat on the 8th animal. Draw shoes on the 2nd animal. etc. By the middle and end of the year, I would have a helper pull two or three cards to incorporate multiple-step directions. If the kids get bored of the jungle animals, I could use monthly themes like, "Draw a star on top of the 4th Christmas tree." Now I just need to find some time or clone myself and make this happen.
ReplyDeleteDo you use any songs during calendar time? I'm trying to find something different this year other than the Adam's Family Days of the Week or the Month Macerena! Any suggestions?!
ReplyDeleteStorybots has a days of the week and months of the year. Days of the week can be sung to the time of "Oh my darling, Clementine".
DeleteIt is so organized and colorful! I want to do the poppin place value!
ReplyDeleteMichelle