Montessori Linear Calendar
The Time Beam or Linear Calendar is a concrete, hands-on way to introduce the concepts of days, months, seasons and year. The calendar is at Yaseen's eye level, and placed horizontally along the wall in his bedroom, allowing him to see the entire year at once. (It turned out to be 3.2m long!) This helped him naturally learn the days of the week, the months, moon phases, seasons and more.
I've added a few features to make this calendar a conversation starter each morning:
- It includes both the Hijri and Gregorian calendars.
- It lists the months in both English and Arabic.
- It shows approximate moon phases. You’ll notice a small telescope icon on the 29th or
30th of each Hijri month. This encourages the sunnah of moon-sighting to determine
the month ahead.
It's coloured to match the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere (Gregorian side only). Islamic months follow the colour guide in "My first book of Islamic Months."
- Jumu'ah is highlighted to remind children of our “mini Eid” and to encourage the sunnahs of Jumu’ah.
(Update: The new calendar is mostly monochrome to encourage children to colour it in as they move through the months and seasons. I’ve also made sheet titled “Dates I’m Looking Forward To” so children can count down to special days. They can add personal events as well as important Islamic dates such as Ashura, Laylatul Qadr, Eid, and the Day of Arafah, then colour them on the calendar.)
So how exactly did we use this?
I began by explaining the difference between the Hijri and Gregorian calendars. The Hijri
calendar, used by Muslims, follows the lunar cycle. The Gregorian calendar, used
internationally, is based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun.
365 days to orbit the sun, while the moon takes approximately 354 days to orbit the
Earth. Because of this, the Hijri calendar is about 11 days shorter each year.
Almost every day, I would say the date aloud, for example: “Today is Monday, the first
of Muharram”, and we would note the corresponding Gregorian date (or the other way
around). My son marked off each day as it passed. Yaseen would often count the days ahead for special outings etc. We also went outside to sight the moon during the white days (13th, 14th, and 15th of each month) and at the start of each new month.
I have created and laminated a list of days of the week in English and Arabic for Yaseen to learn. Each morning he uses his finger to trace the correct day and say it in both languages. (This is no longer available.)
To expand on this calendar, I'll be using "My first book of Islamic Months" to create simple Montessori inspired activities each month based on our Hijri calendar, in sha Allah. I've also added a craft to teach Yaseen the seasons. We have created a tutorial on our 'Season Trees' HERE.
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