What are we doing today?

What are we doing today? These are usually the first words that Ava comes out with each morning. This is usually repeated again a few times throughout the day when Ava forgets what I've told her we have planned!


About a year ago I decided to create a "calendar" for Ava to show the day of the week and the activities that we have planned for the day. Every morning when Ava asks what we will be doing we go to her calendar and put up the name of the day and the relevant activity.


The calendar consists of a laminated sheet with the words "Today is" and "Today I will". Underneath these two lines are velcro dots to attach the name of the day and the name of the activity. I added two lines of velcro dots for the activity cards for busy days. 
Ava drew decorative borders around the edges of the sheet and added a happy sun :)

The calendar in use

The empty calendar

I made laminated cards with the days of the week written on them as well as a second laminated sheet with the days in order. The day cards not in use on the calendar are kept on the second sheet to keep them in one place and so that Ava could learn the days of the week in order. She simply matches the day on the card with the day on the sheet to keep them in order.

The days of the week sheet alongside the calendar

I made laminated cards with the names of Ava's regular activities eg. "Go to ballet", "Go to pre-school", "Play with my friends" etc. 
As Ava can not yet read the cards she drew pictures of the activity on each one to help her recognise them.
I also made a few blank activity cards to use when we are doing something other than her regular activities. I keep a white board marker with the activity cards to use on the blank ones. This wipes off quite easily with paper towel.

Activity cards including the blank card and the reverse side showing the velcro dots.

This is a fun way for Ava to keep track of what is planned for the day. It also helped her to become familiar with her regular schedule of activities eg. ballet on Thursdays, pre-school on Mondays and Fridays, swimming on Saturdays etc.


By getting Ava involved in making the calendar it has encouraged her to want to use it. At the moment she still just recognises the activity cards by the pictures however over time she will begin to recognise the words as well. She recognises the days of the week from the letters they start with as well as the order that they appear on their sheet.