DIY Circle Time Calendar & Focus Board
Elani was ready for more of a challenge at circle time so I figured that it was time to move from a focus board to a calendar with a focus board. As usual, I saw many great ideas online but decided to create my own using colors and images that I liked. All of the parts for this calendar (including pocket template) are available here with my free printables.
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The letter cards were something that I paid special attention to. Two things that were very important to me when I made this calendar were that the uppercase letter on the “Jj” card had a “hat” and the uppercase letter on the “Ii” card did not look like a lowercase “l” (unlike how they look in this font). Another thing that was important to me was that the “Xx” card did not have a picture of a xylophone or x-ray because those are not proper representations of the sound that the letter “x” makes. I also wanted to include something on the number cards that allowed for counting. Since they are actually the smallest cards out of all of the calendar parts, I decided to use small dots. Fitting 31 of anything else would have been very difficult! Lastly, I wanted the sides of the cards to be rounded since I knew that I would be cutting them in a way that rounded the corners. I love laminated things, but it can make the corners very sharp.
Once everything was cut, I laminated all of the cards and then cut them out again. My laminator is still going strong after three years. They have come out with new versions, but the one that I linked is the most affordable with the best reviews!
Using my Cricut, I designed and cut little pockets (like the kind that were in library books). I assembled them, laminated them, cut the pocket open with an X-Acto knife, and then labeled them.
I had originally planned to put the pockets on the outsides of the board so I played around with a few layouts that would allow for that. Ultimately, I decided to put most of the pockets on the inside of the board for easier access. I also went back and forth between my larger and smaller boards, but I liked the spacing of everything on the smaller tri-fold board the best.
A mistake that I came across as I was putting the calendar portion of the board together was how many rows of numbers I would need. When I first put all of the velcro circles on the board, I had not considered starting with the first of the month on a Saturday. As I was putting the numbers on the board for August (which started on a Saturday this year) I realized my mistake. I had not left enough room for another row of numbers. The velcro is strong, which is what I love about it, but removing it from the board without damaging the board is very difficult so make sure that the layout is exactly what you want before attaching the velcro to the board! In the end, it all turned out just fine.
I placed the calendar-related content (day of the week, weather, and season) on the left side of the board. I made sure the match the colors for the large day of the week cards to the colors of the small day of the week cards that are on the calendar. My goal was the help make the correlation between the two. When I have my daughter look for the correct day of the week, we focus on the beginning letter (since she can’t read), but the color of the card helps as well when that is difficult. I had considered adding a temperature card, but we do not go outside to check the weather (we look out of the window) and I did not feel that it was a necessary part of the board for now. We discuss temperature when we actually go outside later in the day and that works fine for us.
You can see that I split the letter cards into two pockets. This was not the original plan. The second mistake that I made when assembling this board was not considering how much bulkier the pockets would get once the velcro was added. I could not fit all of the letters in one pocket so I used what was supposed to be my “seasons” pocket for the other half of the letters. In doing this, I had to move things around.
I had originally planned on the “days” pocket being on the inside of the board. I moved it to the outside to make space for the two “letters” pockets. Also, I had not made an extra pocket so, for now, I am having the weather cards and the seasons cards share the same pocket.
The only other pocket on the outside of the board is the one that holds the cards for the months. I had already planned on this being on the outside of the board because it does not need to be changed daily. I did not use my cricut for this one since it was larger and I only have a 12×12 mat. Instead, I cut it out by hand using two pieces of cardstock and glued them together.
On the inside right of the board, I have the focus wall topics (letter, shape, and color). I purposefully did not put “of the day” or “of the week” because I believe in flexibility with education. For example, Elani may need only one day focusing on the color green, but multiple days focusing on the color purple. I wanted to keep it so that I could change the cards (or not change them) based on her actual needs.
I absolutely love how the board turned out. We do not have the space to devote an entire wall or an entire room to learning. Also, this board can travel with us (not that we are traveling much these days)! If you would like to download the circle time calendar and my free printables, make sure that you are subscribed to my blog. I appreciate your support and hope that my tips and ideas are helpful to you!
