Monthly Calendars

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.

monthly calendar board on room divider
This is an example of a monthly calendar with tactile symbols.
monthly calendar board on room divider
The teacher is holding materials used to make the rows and columns for this tactile calendar.
monthly calendar closeup
The teacher’s hand is under the dark strip covering the tactile symbols on the monthly calendar. The dark strip is used to cover up past events.

 

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.