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Do you know those calendars that are a series of cards, one for each month?
I have one of those on my desk at home.
The cat jumped on my desk while I was at school yesterday and knocked it off on to the floor.
Now they are all muddled up.
I do not know which month is which and I don't know how to put them back in the right order.
Can you help?
Here is a sheet you can print off and cut up into twelve cards, one for each month. Or you could use the interactivity below which allows you to drag the month cards so you can try out your ideas.
Can you put the cards in the right order?
This activity will help learners become more familiar with our calendar. In particular, the task will reinforce the order of months in a year and the number of days in each month.
It would be a good idea to say little else at this stage. Give pairs or small groups a copy of the cards and give them plenty of time to have a go. If you have access to tablets or a suite of computers, you could invite learners to use the interactivity. Emphasise that you are particularly keen to understand how they approach the task, not simply to know their answer.
At an appropriate point, you may like to draw everyone back together for a class sharing of ideas (mini plenary). Some learners may be stuck and need some help to see how to move forward. Others may benefit from articulating their emergent ideas. You can then give them more time to continue with the task.
Each pair/group could make a poster about the task, outlining the reasoning that has led to the solution. They could stick down the cards to show the completed calendar.
What do you know about the number of days in each month?
It might also help to have several current calendars available so children can remind themselves of its structure.
Calendar Sorting
Age 7 to 11
Challenge Level 
Calendar Sorting
Do you know those calendars that are a series of cards, one for each month?
I have one of those on my desk at home.
The cat jumped on my desk while I was at school yesterday and knocked it off on to the floor.
Now they are all muddled up.
I do not know which month is which and I don't know how to put them back in the right order.
Can you help?
Here is a sheet you can print off and cut up into twelve cards, one for each month. Or you could use the interactivity below which allows you to drag the month cards so you can try out your ideas.
Can you put the cards in the right order?
Why do this problem?
This activity will help learners become more familiar with our calendar. In particular, the task will reinforce the order of months in a year and the number of days in each month.Possible approach
Introduce the task by telling the story about your cat jumping on to your desk and knocking the calendar onto the floor (or something similar). You need the class' help to sort out the calendar cards.It would be a good idea to say little else at this stage. Give pairs or small groups a copy of the cards and give them plenty of time to have a go. If you have access to tablets or a suite of computers, you could invite learners to use the interactivity. Emphasise that you are particularly keen to understand how they approach the task, not simply to know their answer.
At an appropriate point, you may like to draw everyone back together for a class sharing of ideas (mini plenary). Some learners may be stuck and need some help to see how to move forward. Others may benefit from articulating their emergent ideas. You can then give them more time to continue with the task.
Each pair/group could make a poster about the task, outlining the reasoning that has led to the solution. They could stick down the cards to show the completed calendar.
Key questions
How might you start?What do you know about the number of days in each month?
Possible extension
For an extra challenge, why not give children the cards from these sheets which are the months from a three-year calendar. This time, they have to sort them into the three consecutive years, month by month.Possible support
These cards (word, pdf) follow the same idea but with more support. The months are from a different year to the main task, and are colour coded according to the season. Key dates are marked with pictures to provide some starting points for the children.It might also help to have several current calendars available so children can remind themselves of its structure.
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