Since I am a huge fan of the dollar store, there was a time where I went to get inspired of what can be used to do a lesson. It was close to the first day of school and the dollar store usually has many teacher kits and décor for the classroom and there they were, the days of the week. Needless to say, this was going to be an experiment to see how interested the boys will be in learning about the days of the week. So I made this dollar purchase and took it home to start sharing.
Before going into too much detail with my 2 year old and newborn about how many days are in a week and how many days are in a month and so on, I just wanted to start saying that yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday, and tomorrow will be Saturday. As I said that yesterday was Thursday, I would have my 2 year old repeat the word aloud to me. I would ask him what was on the Thursday card; for example, the clock was on the Thursday card. This would be repeated for Friday and Saturday. Next, I wrote down the days of the week on his art easel. The idea was to show him that Mommy was not just pulling day cards out of the blue, there was an order to them.
At another store, it has a dollar section and it had this plaque with the month, date, and day that can be changed from day to day. I decide to do this instead of a regular calendar. Now that my oldest is 3 ½ and my youngest is 2, a changeable calendar will be set up. The boys might be ready to see how many days are in a week, how many days in a month, and how many months in a year.
Just so you know, my 3 ½ year old has been asking what tomorrow will be and what the day after that will be as well. It certainly helps now to use the names of the days when family is coming over, or when there is a play date to look forward to. The youngest is getting into this as well. It did take some time for them to start asking questions and using the days of the week, but the fact remains that they are applying the concept of time and sequence.
Where is this on the Schedule of Activities 18 months to 3 years?
Answer: It’s not. This will be on another adjusted calendar for 3-4 year olds that I am currently working on. Once this is semi-finished, it will be posted on the website and added on this blog. It will be under the categories of sequence and time. In any case, it is appropriate to do the days of the week for younger ages, but that it might be best to emphasize this for 3 to 4 year olds.
Something to think about:
When talking about the days of the week, this focuses on sequence. With sequence, something comes first, then second, and then third, of course. I really wanted my kids to be aware that a day begins and ends and then another day begins and ends. After some time had passed, in their eyes, one month begins and ends and another month begins. The goal is to give an opportunity to children to experience time.
As a parent, we might think that we need to hurry up on teaching certain things to our children so that they won’t fall behind. This allows us to become more stressed or pressured if our children are not learning at the rate we think they should. No worries….just breathe. Because even reading this blog and finding out how to help your child become more successful in math should tell you that you are a wonderful and caring parent. If your child takes more time to learn concepts, it is okay. We all learn at different times. Don’t worry too much. 🙂
copyright 2012 learning math with mom
Learning Math with Mom 