Time and date patterns have gained in popularity in recent years and seem to pop up in my social media feeds almost every month. Every year, for example, on February 22nd at 10:22 p.m.(and 22 seconds), the date and time can be written as 2-22 22:22:22. And in the year 2022, the pattern increased by two digits!
It could be fun to kick off the new year with some calendar challenges! These can be presented as weekly warm-ups or ongoing monthly challenges with responses posted on a bulletin board. The activity can also serve as an occasional brain teaser for those times when you have five or ten minutes to kill before lunch or recess!
INTRODUCING THE ACTIVITIES
(1) It’s always fun to start with a puzzle to solve, and the one shown below is actually a RiDDLE WITHIN A PUZZLE! Have students first solve the “falling phrases” puzzle. If you and your students are unfamiliar with this type of puzzle, you can watch this video tutorial. When students have completed the puzzle, they are confronted with a riddle to solve. (Note: Subscribers received an ANSWER KEY via email. If you are not a subscriber to this site, you may request an answer key here.) Students who enjoy this type of puzzle would also like Quotation Quizzlers, which are easy to incorporate into other units of study (affiliate link- read more here).
(2) The riddle reveals the focus of the activity! You may want to discuss what students already know about our Gregorian calendar and its origin (optional- see video below).
(3) Ask students how many different ways the date for January 8th can be written using numbers only. Students in the U.S. will probably come up with these two: 01/08/2024 and 1/8/24. Ask them if they are aware that in other countries, the date might be written differently. For example, in most European countries, the day comes before the month (3 January): 08/01/2024, and in the Chinese language, the year comes first: 2024/01/8.
(4) Elicit from students what they know about date patterns. If they don’t know what you mean by that, ask them what’s special about this date: 4-21-24. Someone in the class may recognize that it’s a palindrome, but if not, prompt them to read each number from left to right and then from right to left. If your students need an introduction to palindromes, Ian Byrd has a great article HERE. Explain to students that “Palindrome Days” represent only one type of pattern to be found in dates.
(5) Present this slide show which shows samples of patterns and math equations that can be made from dates (you can make your own copy HERE). Before this, you may want to show students how to convert hours and minutes to 24-hour military time (pause the video every few seconds ~ no lengthy lesson required). At the end of the slide show, students are challenged to come up with their own patterns and equations for the first week of January. Remind them that they can use any version (European, North American, or Chinese) for writing dates numerically. You may want to set a time limit, or even limit the dates (e.g. just do January 4th). When time is up, have students share. Then click on each date to reveal possible patterns.
(6) Having seen some examples of sequential, repeating, and math equation patterns, as well as palindromes, students can then be challenged to discover time/date patterns each month, again, as an ongoing challenge or an occasional brain teaser activity. THIS DATE PATTERN CALCULATOR can be very helpful, and you can set search parameters if you are overwhelmed by what it generates! Browse other pages of the Time Date Pattern website to discover other helpful resources, too.
DISPLAY AND SHARE! Your math-obsessed students might dive deeply into this, so I would create a calendar bulletin board or a display outside your door where students can post their discoveries for each date throughout the month. You could also have a contest with a buddy class in the district (or across grade levels) to see which class comes up with the most patterns and equations.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Learn a Calendar Trick ~ Explain the Math! – Perform these calendar tricks for your students and challenge them to figure out how you are doing them! Then, have them explore calendar patterns and use them to create their own tricks!
Mathematicalendars ~ while researching for this article, I found this cool website. The creator designed it with students in mind (primary through high school). I love that there are math enthusiasts connecting math patterns and the calendar dates!
Calendar Facts for Kids ~ Click on any date and you’ll get lists of facts about events that happened on that date, statistics, etc.
Calendar Confusion Puzzle ~ two more riddles
Calendar Capers Math Problems – from NRich Maths
Special Calendar Dates: I’ve written about how much I enjoy celebrating Pi Day (3/14) Powers of Ten Day (10/10), and Fibonacci Day (11/23). You can find class activities for all of these HERE. Students might find some on their own, or even create special days and “moments” using the digits of the date. For example: Could April 21st be Probability Day (as in the odds are 4 to 1)?
Video Lessons ~ Information presented in these videos opens up the possibility for some depth and complexity (Multiple Perspectives and Ethics, Origins, Relate Over Time, Rules, etc). The questions above each video can prompt discussion.
WHAT LED TO THE ORIGIN OF THE CALENDAR WE USE TODAY?
WHAT DO YOUR FINGERS HAVE TO DO WITH TIME? and WHY USE MILITARY TIME?
WHAT WAS THE Y2K SCARE and WHAT DID PEOPLE DO?
Many of you reading this are not old enough to remember the Y2K scare when we reached the end of a millennium (see “Understanding Time: A Timeline Lesson for 3rd – 8th). The connection between the calendar and computer coding is pretty fascinating, so you might like to share this 4-minute video with your students as well.
If you have other ideas to add to these, please share! Your comments and feedback benefit many teachers! If you’d like to be notified when new lesson ideas and resources are posted on this site, please subscribe to receive emails about twice a month.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
RELATED RESOURCES
January 25 is National Opposite Day!
New Year’s Day Progressive Puzzle
Find more HERE.
My students absolutely loved your falling phrases puzzle. Have you made any more or know where I can find more puzzles like this? Thank you for sharing a new challenge with me!
I’m so glad your students enjoyed the Falling Phrases puzzle, Lindsey! Both you and your students can make your own at PUZZLEMAKER.COM (Discovery Ed)! They are fun to include in all kinds of activities, mysteries, escape rooms, and lessons.
Thank you, Donna! My students love these puzzles. Do you have any other ideas for upper elementary for 2-22-22? I can’t seem to find anything to fit my gifted 5th graders. Thanks in advance– your page is always my go-to! 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to comment on these puzzles. I will definitely be on the lookout for the next TWOSday!