Math in the Month

Thanks to Sheri Lear at Open Door Learning Center - Lake Street for sharing this tip!

Purpose: Calendars are replete with opportunities to reinforce numeracy concepts. This activity addresses many of those concepts, while also giving students the responsibility of setting attendance goals and monitoring their own attendance.

Prep: 20 minutes

Materials: Monthly calendar and page of associated multiple-choice questions (see links below).

Procedure: 

1. On the first class day of the month, pass out a monthly calendar to each student. You can either have the calendar completed (like the one attached) or just hand out a blank calendar and have students fill in the month, days, and dates.
2. Go through the month, reading the dates as ordinal numbers. Have students repeat. Go through the days of the week to practice pronunciation.
3. Examine the calendar as a group, pointing out holidays or informing students of any changes in the regular schedule (ex: substitute teacher, speaker, testing day, etc). Fill in the “# of days” and “# of days of class” sections.
4. Teacher models the “My goal” section by self talking the process (ex: "I have a conference on the 5th, so I won’t be here and I will be out of town on the 17th and 18th. So my goal is to be here 12 days this month”). Then give students a chance to set their goals, and share it with a couple classmates. (Model the dialogue: “My goal is to come to school 12 days this month. What is your goal?)
5. Pass out the questions and give students time to answer them on their own. Then have them compare their answers with a partner or small group.
6. Review questions as a group.