Mathematics, Measurement (includes Time), Problem Solving
Grade 5- 8
Objective
Students use a calendar to solve math problems.
Directions
Show students a calendar in the classroom or the calendar shown below. Tell them that this is a typical calendar for one month:
| Sun. |
Mon. |
Tue. |
Wed. |
Thur. |
Fri. |
Sat. |
| |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
| 7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
| 14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
| 21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
| 28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
|
|
There are always seven days in a week. A week will often continue on to the next month. Any day of the week--such as a Sunday--is always seven days after the previous Sunday and seven days before the next Sunday.
| These months have 30 days: |
| April |
June |
September |
November |
| These months have 31 days: |
| January |
March |
May |
July |
August |
October |
December |
(Note: February has 28 days except leap year when it has 29 days.)
Years
Look at the following information about years:
| 1 year = 12 months |
1 year = 365 days |
100 years = 1 century |
| 1 year = 52 weeks |
10 years = 1 decade |
1,000 years = 1 millennium |
Leap Years
- Leap years are scheduled every four years on years ending with a multiple of 4. Leap years usually coincide with presidential election years in the United States.
- A leap year has 366 days. Leap years are not scheduled for the first year of a century unless the year is divisible by 400. The year 2000 is evenly divisible by 400 and thus is a leap year. The year 1900 is not evenly divisible by 400 and thus was not a leap year.
| Recent and Future Leap Years |
| 1992 |
1996 |
2000 |
2004 |
2008 |
Have them use the calendar to solve the problems on the activity sheet.
Resources
- Calendar Computation activity sheets
- pencils
