On your blank calendar, using hook and loop fasteners for reuse in the following school year, attach the calendar numbers containing themed pictures to make mathematical patterns. For instance, during the Month of November, the number one for November first would also have a pumpkin on it and the number two (November 2) has a turkey. Repeat to encourage the students to pinpoint accurate patterns. Toward the end of the school year, incorporate a third or fourth picture to construct the calendar patterns.
Daily calendar activities also include observing the weather. Give each student a journal to tally the number of sunny, rainy, windy and snowy days each day. At the end of each month, create a bar graph with your first graders to view, at a glance, what the weather has been like during the month. The students will hand in their weather journals for a classwork grade.
Skip counting can be easier when looking at a calendar. When enough days have passed, count with the children by two, five, seven and ten. As an added activity, hand each student a blank calendar and encourage them to color the days used when counting by two, five, seven and ten. Ask each to look for a pattern in the colored days of each month.
Each day, students may use calendar math to reinforce place value lessons. Use straws and rubber bands for place value by placing one drinking straw into a ones place pocket on your calendar. When 10 days have passed, bundle the straws with a rubber band and transport to the tens place pocket. Repeat until the 100th day of school or until the end of the year. The activity may also be accomplished with money. Exchange five pennies for a nickel, five pennies and a nickel for a dime and so on until you have reached one dollar or until the year's end.