Daily Planner

I have been mulling over getting a planner or calendar for the Professors for awhile, but, I could never find one that fit our needs. I had it in my mind to wait till Fall also, but in the process of our classroom redesign/move/move back in, I thought it was a good time to introduce it. I looked around again online for ideas, then headed to our local learning store to see what they had for me to work with. Masha' Allah, boy did they have some super fun ones! I had my eye on two or three, one of which I really wanted to rationalize buying because it was so fun. It was perfect for BP and Professor #3, but I felt the twins were a little too old for it. One of the features was a big felt gum ball machine, which you could stick on gum balls for counting, or number of the day learning. When I thought about those gum balls all over the playroom, thrown down vents, stuffed in, and under sofas, I snapped back to reality and passed. 

This is what I settled on and Masha' Allah, its perfect for us. 

We do our circle time now first thing, before breakfast even, and it takes around 20 minutes. Its a great start to the day for the Professors, they understand what is on the schedule for the day, what day it is, and what the weather is. No more crying and whining about 'When is Park Day?' 'Can we paint nooowwww!' I just point to the Special Events sections and they can see what's on tap for the day. There is also a section for a question of the day, though there aren't too many cards. (I am going to make some of my own insha' Allah). Today's question was: 'What is your favorite kind of weather?' Even though its June, we got two votes for Snow.

I kept our old calendar, and calendar headers in the playroom. I have read that children who only see digital clocks have a harder time learning the concept of time. I feel this is the same with the calendar, I want them to see the entire month, which will hopefully make the day of the month more relatable.

Insha' Allah, as the Professors get more familiar with the flow of the new calendar, I plan to have them take turns filling in the sections, and leading circle time.

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