Setting up your Calendar Area for Success in Preschool

One of the most important, yet time consuming areas of the classroom to set up in preschool is the carpet time/calendar area.  This will be the main meeting area for the class throughout the year.  The children will learn to follow routines and rules, learn how to be a kind friend, listen to stories, sing and learn what school is all about.  Follow these simple steps and you will have the most amazing carpet time area.

1.  Location is Everything 

When scoping out a location for your carpet there are a few things to keep in mind:

• proximity to the door or cubby 

 I like to greet the children from the carpet in order to allow them to independently complete our morning routine, so I like the carpet area to be close to the entrance of the room or close to where they hang their backpacks.  That way I am able to keep an eye on them while chatting with the students on the carpet.  This will also limit the distractions.   

• plenty of wall space for a calendar and other fun calendar time activities

 Back in the day you moved your classroom around based on the locations of the bulletin boards.  Now days there are a lot of bulletin hacks, like hanging fabrics and other easy DIY bulletin boards that you can choose a location that is the most convenient for you.

• access to a plug in or could safely run an extension cord to a plug in from the location 

Whether you can run an extension cord will be up to your center or school, so keep this is mind when you are looking for a location!

2.  Have a Plan

This is one of my favorite areas to set up.  I put a lot of thought as to what I will place on the walls.  I use the early learning standards, district standards and what is expected at the beginning of kindergarten to plan out the concepts that I want to cover.  It is one of the easiest places to observe children so I like to include concepts that are a big part of our progress report.  

Several items to include in your carpet area are a calendar, direction icons, alphabet and skill of the day activities.  

• Set up the calendar on the floor first.  This will help you determine how much space/paper you will need.

• Always cut the paper a little longer than needed.

To be on the safe side I like to place a little more paper then needed.  It is easy to cut off any extra when I have added the items.  I love this fo wood paper.  I found this at Lakeshore.

• Mix up patterned borders

 I love these cute forest themed borders.  Students will love looking at these cute little guys everyday!

• Staple the top corner over the side border

I seriously took a class for my preschool minor that had lessons on how to put up a bulletin board and this was something that the professor would dock us for...make those corners neat:)

3.  What to Include in your Calendar Area

• Calendar

One thing I always include is a calendar.  For the first few months of preschool and kindergarten we focus on one week. 

I like the boys and girls to start to recognize that there are 7 days in a week and we attend school 5 of those days.  The boys and girls take turns pointing to the calendar as we sing out "Days of the Week" songs by Dr. Jean and other youtube artists.     There are so many ways to change up calendar time to make it fun and exciting.   

Our theme this year was forest animals.  I tried to make our calendar as interactive as possible.  
I used a laminated Calendar and added cute forest library pocket charts. 

I take cute popsicle sticks and cut them in a little over a half to fit into each of the pockets.  I add the numbers 1-30 to the stickers to use for the day of the week.  During the first few weeks I put an X at the top for the days we do not have school (weekends).  We switch over to the number system by October in Kindergarten and November in Preschool.

Get the fabric patterned sticks (here) (affl)  

Each day we will flip the stick to reveal the number.  This is a simple way to make a calendar more appropriate for preschool.  

• Shape of the Day and or any Skill of the Day Activity

I also, like to include a concept of the day.  Shape of the Day is the skill we work on when school begins.  We will work on shapes for several weeks and then move on to Name of the Day, Number of the Day and Letter of the Day before we return back to Shape of the Day.  This unit will work in a small or large area with large and small pieces, as well as colored and black and white options.   

What I like about skills of the day activities is that you can differentiate throughout the year to meet the needs of your students.  Many preschool students have not mastered shapes and need lots of practice.  We work on one shape a week.  

The boys and girls will search and compare shapes circling the shape of the day.

  

In Trace It and Draw It the boys and girls work on shape formation.

2D Shapes is a great way for students to make shape connections from their environment.

• Visual Directions

I always include visual directions in our calendar area.  As I give directions to projects and activities I place the visual direction in order from 1-4.  If the children become confused they know where to go for help.

•  Alphabet

Repetition is key for any concept in preschool.  When a child is the calendar helper they take a turn pointing to each letter as we sing or say the alphabet song.  As the year progresses I have the students try to spell there name, look for what letter comes next and a few of the kids will look for sounds.  Depending on the levels in the classroom.  

A few other things you may want to include in this area are a greeting board or question of the day, weather chart and job chart.