This blog will describe a lesson on how to teach kindergarten students the days of the week in order. First, I believe it is important for the teacher to have some type of "calendar time" at the beginning of every day. Every day, students will sit on the carpet facing the calendar. The teacher will ask students questions such as, "What day of the week is today?", "What day of the week was yesterday?", and "What day of the week is tomorrow?" Although this may be difficult at first, it will help students understand the concept of the days and help learn the order. A student from the class will be chosen, depending on behavior, to come up to the calendar and point to which day of the week it is. Then, every day the teacher will have the students get up and actively engage in a song about the days of the week. The teacher will have the class participate by singing along to the CD playing the days of the week song to the tune of "Oh my Darling." and possibly dancing or walking in a line or circle. The song goes, "There are seven days, there are seven days, there are seven days in a week; there are seven days, there are seven days, there are seven days in a week; Sunday Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday Friday, Saturday; Sunday Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday Friday, Saturday." By repeating this song every day and having students actively participate, they will have fun and the repetition will help them learn the days of the week in order. The teacher will read the students the book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." This book talks about the days of the week in order by saying what the caterpillar ate every day. Then, the teacher will have the students participate in an activity. The teacher will provide each student with eight circles, each made out of a different color construction paper, glue, crayons or markers, and a larger sheet of plain construction paper. Seven of the circles will have a day of the week printed on them. If the students are further along in the year, teachers can hand out circle tracers, full sheets of construction paper, and scissors to have the students construct the circles themselves. The teacher will explain to the students that the eight circles will be made into a caterpillar with the days of the week in order. The students can draw a face on the first circle, then glue the circles in order by the days of the week on the larger sheet of construction paper. Then, the students can draw on legs or anything else that they want to include on the caterpillar. The teacher will make a larger and more neat version of this project to hang in the classroom. The teacher will ask students to help her place each circle of the caterpillar in order by the days of the week. Each day, the teacher will have students place an arrow or pointer on the current day of the week. By hearing the days of the week in sequential order on the CD each day and then seeing the days of the week in order on the caterpillar every day and having calendar time, the students will have repetition and learn the days of the week in order!
