This summer, I ran across this post about making a calendar notebook over at Mama Jenn’s and this post from Mrs. Meacham’s Classroom Snapshots. I loved the idea, because I don’t have a calendar area set-up in our schoolroom. I just don’t really want to give up the wall space to put up a calendar area! I decided this would work perfectly for a morning calendar time.
Now this is a little more school-ish than we normally do, but I noticed there were a few things my girls needed to work on concerning the months, dates, etc. We’ll probably just do this for a while and reevaluate in a few months. If they’ve mastered what I think they need, then we’ll move on and use the binders for something else!
Here’s a quick tour through our calendar binders at this point:
First, the girls fill in the day on the calendar. They also add a color to form a pattern. My youngest is doing a two-color pattern. My middle and oldest are doing three and four-color patterns…although one of them has already lost some of the original crayons she started out with!
The months of the year and days of the week come next. We sing The Months of the Year song and The Days of the Week Song. We also review our phone number and address. We just sing the number over and over to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Also, I like to make up a silly story with our address in it….like “Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived at _______________(insert address here). She loved to…”
Next, we add another day to our 100 Days of School chart. I usually draw the number in outline form and let my youngest daughter trace it.
We add a tally mark for each day.
We mark the weather for the day.
This math & calendar combo sheet is slipped into a plastic page protector, so it can be reused over and over. My five-year-old and eight-year-old work on this one. The four-year-old…not so much. It includes a place to write the date, write the expanded notation for today’s number (which is just whatever number we’ve written on our 100′s chart), write what comes before and after, draw a domino from the game box and turn it into a math fact, write the time I show them on a clock, and lay out coins to make the day’s number.
This is a little more time-intensive page, so it doesn’t always get finished. It depends on how much time we have….
The place value chart is made using sports card protectors (which I also use in my coupon binder). I put a sheet of colored paper behind it, so it is less distracting. I just cut down index cards and wrote the numbers on them to use for place value.
A few other sheets I’ve made, but we haven’t started yet:
- “Fix the Sentence” sheet (I’ll write a sentence with a few mistakes, and my oldest will find and correct them.)
- Today’s Date (A sheet to practice writing the date – definitely not something we would do every day.)
- Today’s Word (The younger girls will be working on a 3-4 letter sight word once or twice per week. This page is also in a page protector. I write the word. They say the letters. Then, they’ll trace it on the paper, in the air, or some other multi-sensory way. Next, they write it with dry erase colors. Finally, they use letter tiles to make the word.)
I’m also working with my oldest daughter on becoming more independent in her work, so I made up a few different sheets for her to use during our morning, too.
First, there is a weekly calendar. She can add the dates and write in her assignments.
Also included:
- Goal sheet (I don’t think it’s ever too early to set some goals!)
- Book log
- “My Great Ideas” sheet (She has lots of them, and I want to encourage her to write them down, so she can remember them!)
If you would like to use one (or more) of these sheets, feel free to do so. You can download the printable calendar binder sheets here! Please link back or pin this post if you choose to share the idea with friends.
There are 26 printable pages included in the pack. Just print what you need!
- 2012-2013 Calendar with dates for tracing (12 pages)
- Fix the Sentence
- Number of the Day Math and Calendar page
- 100 Days of School
- Today’s Date
- Days of School Tally
- Weather Graph
- Word of the Day Form
- Place Value Words
- Phone and Address Sheet
- Months and Days of the Week Sheet
- Weekly Calendar
- Goal Sheet
- Idea List
- Reading List
"God's Little Explorers"
Free Preschool Curriculum
Home Management Binder & Printables
101 Days of Summer Activities for Kids "Pin It")
 "Pin It")
Preschool Resurrection Eggs
FREE Homeschool Resources
Free ABC Resources
LOVE this! I have been needing extra wall space but the kids enjoy calendar time. Now I can have both! On top of that I think the kids will like their own calendar binders even better! Thank you so much for sharing!
Blessings,
Jenny
Stacie! Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this! I have recently noticed that I REALLY need to work on the concept of a calendar with my 5-year old Madeleine. Yesterday I went to Target to search for a resource to do that and came up empty – glad I did now! This is going to be perfect AND it is FREE!
Thank you so much! I was trying to find some things I wanted and didn’t have time to make the rest and here they are, waiting for me!
I can’t thank you enough for these! This is just what I have been needing, but did not know it. I have tried putting our calendar, weather chart, and 100 day chart on the wall in various configurations and with different methods. The posters and papers just won’t stay on the wall! They always fall off or get messed up. Not to mention keeping it is more difficult for my beginning writer to write on the vertical surface. This will be perfect!
WOW! thank you for this set! I’m planning on using this with a couple of my younger learners and also as a refresher for a couple of my middles!
So perfect! I was just visiting a teacher store struggling with this because like you..I do not want to hang some big calendar on my wall….yet my kids need to work on this! Thank you so much!
I’m with you! I was happy to run across the calendar binder idea on those other blogs!
Thanks so much! We are doing a calendar binder this year and love it. You have some pages I didn’t have.
Perfect! This is exactly what I needed! Thank you so much!!!
Thanks, Kathleen!
Thank you so much for putting this together! We are on day 2 of school and I’m realizing this is definitely a growth area for my Kindergartener!!! Just what I was needing!!
You’re welcome! I hope it’s helpful!
Thank-you!!!!
Thank you so much for sharing! This will be perfect to use with my 5 and 7 yr olds.
Love this!!! Thank you!
love this – my boys love stuff like this and I was wanting to work on these kinds of concepts with them!
I started to make our kids a binder and have been looking for something exactly like this! It goes perfectly with My Fathers World Kindergarten. Thanks for the printables!
We’re MFW fans, too!
Love this!! Thank you so much for sharing!! I have been looking for “calendar time” ideas online as well, and this one looks great! I will be using this with my 6 year old son in our first year of homeschooling starting in a little over a week!
This was just the sort of thing I needed for orientation/calendar in our small space too. I cannot thank you enough for sharing your work with us. I worked on this as our first day of school with my 4.5 year-old (5 in November). She loved it. My weather station thing was taking up too much space and getting forgotten, but having “school-in-a-binder” for this Pre-K age is just perfect for now, for us.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I love that it doesn’t take up a huge wall space and I can print enough to give each child their own special way to keep track of calendar and weather! Thank you!
Oh my goodness! These are so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing them with us.
You’re very welcome! Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you so much for this. I will be starting school with my daughter next week and we needed some calendar practice, but don’t have wall space for one. This is perfect and cute to boot!
These are wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
We used these for the first time yesterday and they are awesome!! We love them! Thank you for sharing them!
Ok this may be silly but on your number of the day sheet what do you put on expanded notation spot and the money spot thanks would love a picture of the kids filled out one than ks
So… is the link broken? I REALLY want this calender notebook.
Hi, Renee! I just tried the link through my Chrome browser, and I didn’t have any trouble. You might try using a different browser? Also, sometimes if my site is getting traffic all at once, it will slow down, so you might try again at a later time! Let me know if neither of those works. Thanks!
I am using Google Chrome… the problem is that it is only loading the pdf 3/4 of the way… it never fully loads… please help me.
Never-mind Stac’, I got it. Thanks!
Great! I was just about to have you email me and I could send you the PDF. Thanks!
Thank you SOOO much for sharing this! These activities will help so much this year, and I LOVE the design.
Thanks, Charissa! Glad you can use it!
Thank you so much!
Hi Stacie. I love this. Thanks. I live in Australia. Our school year is from February to December. Is it possible for you to make the calendar printables for the remainder of 2013? Thanks so much.
Tanya
Hi, Tanya,
Let me think about that! I will look at it this weekend and see how difficult it would be to add! Thanks!
Thanks for doing all the work for us! I have been searching high and low for a calendar that I don’t mind seeing on my fridge. With a kindergartener and a two year old, we aren’t quite ready for a whole binder, but I look forward to incorporating more of the pages in the future. I will definitely keep coming back for more great ideas.
Hello,
Just found your website and just love it. I was wondering if you are going to be putting the calendar up for this up coming school year 2013-2014. I sure appreciate all of your hard work. Blessings, Denise
If there is enough interest, I would be glad to do so!