New Year and the Four Seasons
It is very quickly going to be time to get back to school and begin the new year. I like to take a calendar and tear off each month. During a lesson on the new year, I place all the months out on the floor and discus with the children how each block on the calendar represents one day (See picture below). We talk about how many days there are in the year and go over the names of the months.
This is also when I show them that some months make up the season of Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall (Autumn). Then we highlight the seasons and what kinds of things happen during each season. Various activities can enhance such lessons. The calendar is one that is always available as a daily work choice for the children. Older children can write out the names of each month and the days of the week. Younger children enjoy work choices such as seasonal trees. As always it is important to have plenty of works on the shelves so that the children have a wide selection of activities to keep their minds engaged. Some activities can use your Circle Time discussion topic but allow the children to be creative, like using the seasonal foliage as an art project. Puzzles, art, games and other activities broaden the abstract thinking ability of the child by using concrete examples. The absorbent mind takes over and connects each activity with the topic discussed and expands the child’s knowledge base of reference. Amazing!
I made these with craft foam sheets. Flowers, leaves, and snowflakes are from a craft store. Make labels naming each season to be matched by the children.
I used a large felt piece of fabric and a white puff paint pen to make the calendar. I bought small tiles and wrote out the numbers on each one. Months of the year and days of the week cards are also placed on the tray for children to organize on the calendar. I have different colors for each month.
More on seasons and the new year can be found in Week 19-Day 1, Week 19-Day 3, and Week 20-Day 1 of the curriculum pages.