A Year is Ending? Hang On to those Old Calendars!

Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle – whatever you call it, old calendars are USEFUL!

When I was a child people used the image of “yesterday’s newspaper” to symbolize something worthless (I haven’t heard any reference to that in a long time!) . Perhaps you think that last year’s calendars fall into the same category, and are worthless.

Not if they are repurposed for educational use!

Tell EVERYONE you know – save your old calendars for a teacher! Within two years, as long you smile and say “thank you”, you can have all your friends and relatives “trained” to save the old calendar they have just replaced for you.

I’ve been using old calendars in multiple ways in my classroom for years now and I have to admit – I’m still discovering new ways to use them!

Would you realize that the following were made from calendars if I hadn’t told you?

Take a look!

3 different uses of calendars in this picture!

These black “clear pocket” binders are used for supplementary material for the literature program. They are somewhat old and worn. Did you notice that:

  • …the binders are decorated /covered by large pictures taken from calendars?
  • … the numbers used to designate the level of the material in each binder were cut out from the borderline sections of pages of a calendar, (the parts under/above the squares depicting the dates of a certain month)?
  • …the sign on the storage box which says “LITERATURE”  was cut out of a stiff cardboard-like calendar, (either the top/bottom part of a page, or simply the reverse side of a page)?
Our “Proud of YOU” board

I’ve posted about the importance of the “Proud of YOU!” board in our classroom. The accordion-like border for the “breaking news” section comes from the edges of a calendar. The back parts of the pockets to hold the cards the students receive are from stiff-backed calendars. As you can see, some pockets were created from a calendar devoted to space photos, others from calendars devoted to seasonal flowers and several devoted to photos from Italy.  No consistency required here!

Dividers

This is a brand new use of old calendars. Our new Personal Exam Folders (which I recently posted about) were confusing to navigate, even though they have a table of contents. I needed dividers that would “stick out” above the pages. These are strips cut out of calendars with lined paper wrapped around the top. These were made by two 11th grade students. In most pages (except this one, actually) the divider slides in between two pages back that are back-to-back in the plastic pocket, so you only see the top part.

Before I overwhelm you with more ideas, let  me just say the following:

  • You can find more ways to use calendars (including one actively involving younger learners) on a previous post of mine on the iTDi blog, here:  “New Uses for Old Calendars”      
  • Full disclosure – I didn’t make most of this goodness on my own. I collect the material and ideas, define the needs, but many volunteers and students have done almost all of the actual cutting and pasting. I have two left hands!
  • Many thanks to Eric Cohen Books who supply English teachers with a new calendar every year. Many things were made from old calendars sent by them.

So, what do YOU do with old calendars? I’d love to hear more ideas!

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