#1482. Name That Guest!

Language, level: Pre-School
Posted Sat Jan 1 18:43:11 PST 2000 by jeanne (jmhart@worldnet.att.net).
Wood Elementary School, Arlington, TX USA
Materials Required: caledar, picture cards, date cards
Activity Time: 5 - 15 minutes
Concepts Taught: Calendar skills, prediction, pattern recognition

OBJECTIVES: to familiarize children with the recurring nature
of weekday names; to help children learn that some activities
occur regularly on one or two week days; to assist children in
predicting events and patterns in the environment

DO: sing days of the week song -- having a child point to the
days as the group sings ... the goal is not to have the children
learn the day names, but to see that all names in the MONDAY column
are MONDAY -- not Saturday, etc.
if you use your calendar as a pattern-teaching tool (ABAB, ABBABB,
etc.) have the child predict today and tomorrow based on the existing
pattern, then select the correct pattern piece/numeral for the current
date ... if not, have the child place the correct numeral on the date --
after the group counts to the day.
when the day is determined, look to see if 'special events' are noted
for the particular day (birthday, event, etc.) ; ask if there are any
'special guests' coming on that day ... music, speech, library, etc. As the
children come to understand who comes in relation to others, ask about who
might come tomorrow, etc. To help children associate a certain person with
a given weekday, it might be helpful to mark that date with a symbol or
photo of that person for a few weeks -- to help them draw the relationship
between the day and the appearance of the person as you discuss the plan for
the day.

ASSESSMENT: as the children become more proficient in pattern recognition,
they should be able to predict the pattern out farther and farther into the
month; when children understand the cyclical nature of the weekly schedule,
they should be able to predict who the 'special visitors' will be to the
classroom based on yesterday's guests, etc.