Calendar Notebooks for Spanish Class

Earlier this year I wrote about how I set up and do calendar time in my elementary Spanish classes. You can read Part One here and Part Two here. I also mentioned that I was trying something new with having calendar notebooks. It was an idea I found on either Pinterest or Instagram from a second grade teacher who did it daily for calendar math.

I implemented them in the last two months of school and they were a such BIG hit in first and second grade that I think I might expand to other grades.

What you need:

Three ring binders - enough for each student plus a couple extra
Sheet protectors
Dry erase markers - I sent a quick email to the other teachers at my school and the general consensus was the smaller ones are better for this kind of thing.
Calendar pages - get your copy here.
Other pages with song lyrics or writing pages with things you want practiced regularly

I quickly made this title page with my bitmoji and google slides

How I used them:

Firstly, I was lucky to have a student teacher around the time I was implementing these so I was able to assemble them while she did her solo week. I have two different versions of the Mi Calendario pages - one for first grade and one for second grade. I printed them on different colored paper so that students could easily find which page they should be on. I also included the song lyrics to most of the songs & chants we sing on a regular basis or that I want to introduce. Just having the words in front of them is good for literacy and it's wonderful for visual learners like me!

First grade calendar page

I keep my binders in six different tubs under my SMART board so I can quickly pass them out. In the tubs are the binders and socks for erasing when they're done. I used to keep the markers in there too but my kiddos were having a hard time putting the caps on and I had a lot of dried out markers. So now I keep them in a cup on my desk and quickly pass them out.


The students LOVED filling out the pages. I filled one out as an example and walked around to make sure everyone was on task and getting the right answers. The first grade page is simpler and just includes days of the week, weather, and clothing. The second grade page has the day, month, date, season, weather and temperature. On the back side was clothing and they even had their own bear to dress!

Second grade calendar page

They do take some time - about 10 minutes, which in a 25 minute class is an eternity. If you have a longer class however these are a perfect way to start the lesson. They were also great for those random classes at the end of the year where one group is off schedule because of field trips, assemblies, parties etc. If one class was way ahead I could pull these out for a fun review. When they're done they simply wipe off their answers and put their binder back in the box!

One thing I realized while doing them was that I hadn't included enough clothing - specifically warm weather clothing so I had to update those pages and will make new copies before the start of the year. I was also tasked with making sandals, a water bottle, and hot chocolate for our class weather bear - this after I'd already made pajamas, slippers, a hoodie, and sweater. 2nd graders can be very demanding!

So those are my calendar notebooks. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions! How do you do calendar in your class? Share in the comments below.