Calendar
A group of children work with their teacher to add today’s date to the calendar during circle time. The children demonstrate an emerging understanding about the conventions of the calendar, number recognition, sequence and counting.
Notice that Noah demonstrates his knowledge about the spatial organization of the calendar by moving his hand from left to right as he points to each number that is counted out loud by the class (00:08-00:29). By pointing, Noah also shows his understanding that there is a one-to-one correspondence between each day of the month and the numeric representations included on the calendar.
The teacher helps the children determine “what number comes next” by encouraging the class group to count along with her, starting with the first day of the month - number one. As they count together by saying, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12…23, 24,” the children demonstrate their knowledge of counting words, their ability to verbally count, and their understanding of the standard number sequence.
When the teacher asks, “And what day are you putting it under?” Noah uses the graphic organization of the calendar to help him decide on which day of the week to place the thumbtack. He moves his hand directly up the row. Noah knows that the set of words written above the numbers represent the days of the week. He also understands that the numbers (dates) located linearly below each word occur on that day of the week (i.e., Tuesday).
Notice that Noah uses wrote memory to help him determine the name of the day of the week (00:24). He has likely memorized the days of the week in sequence, so as a strategy for determining what today is called, Noah moves his hand all the way to the left and lightly touches the first day of the week (Sunday), then the second day of the week (Monday), then the third day of the week (Tuesday), he then turns towards the teacher and says, “Tuesday.”
In addition, Noah shows that he not only has knowledge about one and two-digit numbers, but may also recognize four-digit numbers as he points to the year (2004) at top, right corner of calendar (01:40).
Keywords: Fives, Literacy, Numbers, Sequence, Math
Length of video: 1 minute 43 seconds
