Kindergarten Spring History — Calendar Time, Holidays Across Traditions, and Mapping Our Neighborhood
Lesson 3 25 min hist.gK.s.lesson_03

Twelve months in a year, four seasons in a year

Skills targeted
Objectives
  • Students can recite the 12 months in order with chart support.
  • Students can name which season the current month belongs to.
Vocabulary
monthyearseasonwinterspringsummerfallautumnJanuaryDecember

Lesson plan

Warm-up

4 min

Daily Calendar Circle. Then introduce: 'A YEAR is 12 months long. Watch as I name them in order.' Teacher recites Jan-Feb-Mar... while pointing to month-tile chart.

Teacher moves
  • Recite slowly, pointing
  • Pause on current month and circle in dry-erase
  • Ask 'who has a birthday in this month?'
Media
M-K-S-CHR-03-C Audio Physical / non-image

60-second a cappella recording of a Twelve Months song (tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider expanded). 'January, February, March, April, May / June, July, August / September comes our way / October and November / and last comes December / Twelve months in a year, and we did it together!' Voice: warm adult female; backing finger-snaps on beat.

Direct instruction

9 min

The year is divided into 12 MONTHS. The 12 months also fit into 4 SEASONS. Winter is December, January, February (cold months in many places). Spring is March, April, May (when many plants grow). Summer is June, July, August (hot months in many places). Fall is September, October, November (when many leaves change color). Watch as I place each month-tile on the seasons-round chart.

Key examples
  • Notice: 3 months in each season, and 4 seasons make a year.
    model Dec/Jan/Feb in WINTER quadrant; Mar/Apr/May in SPRING; Jun/Jul/Aug in SUMMER; Sep/Oct/Nov in FALL
    prompt Place 12 month-tiles on the MG-7 Seasons-Round chart in 4 quadrants
Checks for understanding
  • Which season is the current month in?
  • How many months are in one season?
Sourcework
Source type
calendar as source extended
Routine
CALENDAR-NOTICE-WONDER: NOTICE the layout (12 grids, named months); WONDER why some months have 30 days and some 31
Details
Twelve-month year calendar (commercial or school-made) — a chart that shows the whole year.
Media
M-K-S-CHR-03-A Chart
36x6-inch horizontal strip with 12 month-tiles (3x3 inches each). Each tile has month name in 24pt, abbreviation in 14pt

36x6-inch horizontal strip with 12 month-tiles (3x3 inches each). Each tile has month name in 24pt, abbreviation in 14pt, and a season-color border (Dec/Jan/Feb soft blue; Mar/Apr/May leaf-green; Jun/Jul/Aug sun-yellow; Sep/Oct/Nov leaf-orange). A tiny picture icon on each tile shows a seasonal cue (snowflake, tulip, sun, falling leaf).

MG-7 Chart
Seasons-Round chart — a 36-inch circular chart divided into 4 quadrants (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall — sequenced starti

Seasons-Round chart — a 36-inch circular chart divided into 4 quadrants (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall — sequenced starting at top with the current season). Each quadrant has 3 'evidence cards' added during lesson 14: a clothing card (parka/raincoat/swimsuit/sweater), a weather card (snow/rain-bud/sun/falling-leaves), and a celebration card (winter holidays/spring festivals/summer block-party/fall harvest). Pointer-arrow shows current season.

M-K-S-CHR-03-B Chart
36-inch diameter circular chart on foam-core, divided into 4 equal quadrants. Each quadrant labeled (WINTER top-left in

36-inch diameter circular chart on foam-core, divided into 4 equal quadrants. Each quadrant labeled (WINTER top-left in pale blue with snowman; SPRING top-right in light green with budding flower; SUMMER bottom-right in soft yellow with sun; FALL bottom-left in soft orange with falling leaf). Empty Velcro circles ready for month-tile placement. Center has a rotating pointer-arrow showing current season.

Guided practice

7 min
Tasks
  • Find your birthday month on the month-tile chart and place a star sticker
    scaffold Teacher reads names aloud for children who don't yet read
  • Group children by season-of-birthday and count: how many of us have winter birthdays? Spring? Summer? Fall?
    scaffold 4-bin chart on floor with season labels

Formative assessment

2 min
Exit ticket
  • What season is it RIGHT NOW? Name one month in that season.
scoring Both correct = mastery; one correct = practicing; neither = re-teach next session

Closure

Moves
  • Add the 4 season-words to the Word Wall
  • Preview: tomorrow we'll use BEFORE and AFTER with months

Homework

5 min
Tasks
  • Ask a family member: 'What is your favorite season and why?' Bring back the answer tomorrow.

Exercises in this lesson

hist.gK.s.chr.months_and_seasons.ex_01
Place each of these 4 month-tiles on the correct quadrant of the Seasons-Round chart: December, April, July, October.
 place tiles on seasons round · diff 3

Differentiation

Scaffolds
  • Month-tiles with season-color borders (blue=winter, green=spring, yellow=summer, orange=fall)
  • Sentence frame 'My birthday is in ___, which is in ___ season'
Extensions
  • Name all 3 months in your favorite season
  • Find another season pattern (which months have 31 days vs. 30)
English Learners
  • Bilingual month names
  • Song verses in home language where available
Ieps 504s
  • Allow pointing only
  • Smaller subset (4 months at a time)
  • Extended time

Teacher notes

Avoid the trap of treating Northern-Hemisphere seasonal conventions as universal. Acknowledge briefly: 'In some parts of the world, June is winter — the seasons are reversed below the equator.' Don't dwell on it for K, but seed the idea so it's not a shock in Grade 2. Also acknowledge cultural variation: some traditions divide the year into more seasons (Indigenous Anishinaabe 13 moons in lesson 14; Hindu six seasons; etc.) — lesson 14 will revisit. Today, keep the 4-season frame as a useful K starting point.