Activity

1. Tell the children that they will work together to create a classroom calendar for the new year, 2001. Ask the children to share what they already know about calendars. Show the children several old or new calendars that have seasonal photographs. Review the months of the year with the children. Ask the children to look through the calendars together. Encourage them to talk about the calendars. How are the calendars similar? How are they different? What type of information can we learn from the different photographs?
    
   
2. On a sheet of chart paper write each month of the year, leaving space under each month for children's comments. Ask the children to think of words or images that describe each month. Record their comments.
    
   
3. Explain to the children that they will work in pairs or small groups to each make a calendar for one month of the year. Assign one group for each of the twelve months. Provide the children with a large sheet of oak tag paper, a calendar template, and the suggested art materials to decorate their calendars.
    
   
4. Provide children with a 2001 calendar so they can write the correct dates on their calendar templates.
    
   
5. Encourage the children to create drawings or collages that depict the month of the year. Children can refer to their language experience chart, photographs from calendars, or images depicted in the book A Child's Calendar. Children can also make smaller drawings on separate sheets of drawing paper, cut them out, and glue them onto the sheet of oak tag paper. Photographs depicting seasonal images can be cut out of old calendars, magazines, or catalogs and collaged onto paper.
    
   
6. Attach the appropriate calendar to the bottom of each group's artwork. Invite the children to share their calendars with their classmates during group time. Use the children's calendars each month to highlight and record the days of the week, special events or holidays, or other important information.