9.6
Understanding periods of time
Why is this important?
Understanding milestones of time (e.g. days of the week, months of the year,
seasons) provides structure and routine and helps children analyse what is a
complex concept.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What to do
• Start with the days of the week: there are rhymes and songs to help
remember the days.
• Make a chart putting the days at the top.
• Talk about what happens on the different days. Use the school-day and
children’s home-life experiences to pinpoint key events (e.g. there may be
PE on a Monday, music on a Thursday, etc. At home there may be swimming
on a Tuesday and a visit to Grandma on Sunday).
• Talk about Monday–Friday being ‘school’ days and Saturday–Sunday
as ‘home’ days.
• Use an arrow to point to what day it is and talk about key things that
happened yesterday and events that are going to happen tomorrow.
• Use photographs of the child engaging in activities to help him/her remember.