Perspectives

Ideas were passed around at my last team meeting about creating a calendar through the year that was meaningful to the kids and parents. We wanted something that parents could look at when they drop off and pick up their children. We all decided that in the hallway outside our doors we would have a place for each month of the school year. We will choose 2 pictures that represent what we learned about or was special that month and we would have the children create a piece of artwork to display under the pictures. We are hoping that this will be a way for us to build community in our families and classrooms throughout the year.  What are some of your ideas that you use for building community? 

Thoughts on calendar in an early childhood classroom are all very different. Some people have a lengthy calendar time, while others just say what day it is and move on. What are your thoughts?  Some of the research I have seen support a linear calendar to make the concept of time not quite so abstract to the young children. I personally like using a linear calendar, but I see benefits of exposing children to the traditional calendar. I like to have my linear week of Sunday through Saturday and then transfer it to another place in the classroom after the week is over to build the month. Or better yet I have built the calendar day by day and week by week on the smartboard.  How do you do calendar? What are advantages and disadvantages of how your calendar works?