Counting the Days

Have you started counting the days until holiday vacation?  The holidays will be here before we know it.  The stores already have Christmas decorations on display!  What fun!  Both the students as well as the teachers are feeling the excitement.

Every month my students make a calendar to take home and help them keep track of what is happening during that month.  They write down the number of days in the month and color the art at the top.

Then we talk about what is happening during that month.  I'll use October as an example.  We color all the non school days with a yellow crayon.  If there are student birthdays we color those days pink.  Field trip days are colored green.  Holidays are colored with a color that is associated with that holiday. October is orange.  Special school assemblies, movies, rallies, etc, are colored light blue.  Then I tell the students that they will need to make an X at the end of each day to keep track of the days as they pass.

Once we have discussed and colored the important days in October the students take home the calendar and hang it up.  This really helps them keep track of events.
Here is a sample.

We also keep track of how many school days there are in each month.  We tally the days and count the tally marks daily and keep a running total.  This is part of our daily calendar routine.  If you are interested in a copy.  I have posted a copy in my TPT store.  Please click on the picture below to have a look.  Thank you.

Loving the Cooler Weather!

Kathy