By Cheryl Pratt

A Circle calendar can be used to:

• Show how the Earth revolves around the sun
• Display where the seasons actually change throughout the year
• Display times of the year that specific cultural events will take place
• Show the pattern of moon phases
• Tell birthdays of students and elders
• Displays times of holidays and special days
• Record plant phenology findings
• Create meaningful calendar activities
• Make calendar activities hands-on
• Show positions of the other planets in our solar system as compared to the Earth
• Display size relation of Earth to Sun
• Display size relation of other planets to Earth
• Show distant relation of planets to the Sun
• Keep track of goals and progress
• Counting activities that involve days, months and years
• Be creative with discussions of time and space
• And many other things……

Materials needed:

• 12 sentences strips to indicate months - 3 of the same color for each season
• 12 colored index cards to write the months on - 3 of each color to match the sentence strips
• 4 index cards to indicate seasons
• a lot of paper clips to hang from the days of the Circle Calendar
• a hole puncher to make 365 holes in the sentence strips - one for each day
• a glue stick to connect the sentence strips together in a circle
• a bead to be used for the Earth
• a Sun to place in the middle of the Circle Calendar
• markers to number the days above the holes punched in the sentence strips
• string and thumb tacks for hanging

Directions:

1. Begin with one sentence strip for January
2. Punch 31 evenly spaced holes along the bottom of the strip. Number the holes 1-31.
3. Take the same color of strip for Feb. and March and make the number of holes needed to get to the first day of spring.
4. Change color of sentence strip on the first day of spring. The sentence strips will overlap and be glued to change color within the month of March.
5. Do the same for each of the seasons throughout the year until you have come back around to January. Connect December and January to create the circle.
6. Hang to that the circle is parallel to the ceiling with string and thumb tacks.
7. Hang date tags where you wish, using opened paper clips.
8. Be creative in how you use the calendar.