Monthly calendars are a great tool for teaching concepts such as seasons, holidays, and birthdays. Units can be taught, and time greatly expanded, through the use of Monthly Calendars.

Prerequisites to Using Monthly Calendars

• • After the student understands and uses Weekly Calendars proficiently a Monthly Calendar can be introduced.
  • Student should be proficient with days of week.
  • Student has, or is developing, concepts relating to seasons, holidays, birthdays, and other special events.

Using Monthly Calendars

• • When introducing a monthly calendar, schedule it to occur on the first day of a new month. (December is not a good month to begin a monthly calendar because of the extensive school vacation.)
  • Number the days so that the student can begin working on the dates as a way to track time (e.g. Tuesday the 3rd).
  • Learn the name of the current month.
  • Post Monthly Calendars on the wall in left to right sequence as the year progresses. This makes it easy for the student to refer to past events.
  • Highlight special events that happen throughout the year (i.e. birthdays, holidays, etc.).
  • Track the seasons of the year and note how they are different from each other (including any special events that happen during that particular season).

Monthly Calendar Vocabulary

• • Names of the months and seasons
  • Names of holidays and other special events that happen monthly or annually

Video Example:  Monthly Calendar

TVI Matt Schultz demonstrates the use of a Monthly Calendar with a student who is deafblind.