Please Try to Remember the First of Octember! was another Dr. Seuss first for me! I had no idea he had even written this book until I was searching for “Dr. Seuss” on our library’s database. I’m so glad I found it because it offered us the PERFECT introduction to a calendar. This book and the following activities are geared more for older children, but even young children will enjoy reading this silly book and a brief discussion on calendars.
Big Brother and I read the book together and then talked about the days and months. We talked about why it’s important to know the days of the week (so that we know when to go to church, school, etc.) and the months of the year (so that we can know when to expect special events like birthdays and Christmas). If Big Brother was older (around 4.5-5 years), I would have gotten out the month names that go with our calendar and we could have ordered them together.
I recently got out my pocket chart calendar that has been in our basement in storage since leaving the classroom and placed it in the hallway coming in from our garage. I put all of the number dates back-facing and each day, Big Brother gets to turn over the number for that date. It has been a wonderful way to introduce numbers as well as days of the week and months of the year. We don’t spend more than a minute or two, but the repetition of the routine is what helps!
You certainly don’t need a pocket chart calendar to introduce your child to a calendar. If nothing else, simply print one off and let him/her color in the square for each date as you talk about the date and day of the week.
*Another fun activity to do with a school-age child who is already familiar with the months of the year would be to let your child name their very own month (i.e. Elephantember) and then tell about what wishes of theirs would come true on the first of that month! It would be a great pre-writing activity!