Step 1: (30 minutes)
If you are new to Every Day Counts, read the front matter (p. 5-9) in the Every Day Counts teacher’s guide and August/September (p. 16-17). This will help you get to know the EDC elements and how to set up for the start of school.

Step 2: (5 – ? minutes)

Examine your room set-up to find the best place to display Every Day Counts so that all students can see all the elements. A bulletin board is handy for pinning up the materials, but if such a board is not present or not in a good location for viewing, many teachers have been able to place the calendar and other elements on a wall, whiteboard, or chalkboard using tape or magnets. Some have even placed a science display board or sheet of foam core in the chalk tray to tape, or pin elements to using T pins. It is nice if you can gather the children up close to view the Calendar and other elements.

Step 3: (15 min. prep) Begin 1st day of school or catch up to present Day of School

See T Guide, p. 23-24 and click on Samples – Photos and Questions 5 at edconline.net

Scout ahead a location in room to put up 25 feet of the blank Adding Machine Tape from the EDC Kit or substitute sentence strips with students participating on first day. Click on Samples to see Sept Photos and Questions for Intro lesson idea.

The Counting Tape needn’t be in the same part of the room as the other elements on the board. It is important that the entire 25 ft of tape (enough for 100 3-inch sticky notes) be displayed so that sticky-notes accumulating each day of school can be seen as the fraction or percent of the whole tape that has been covered.

For example, on Day 7, 0.07 or 7% of the tape is covered with sticky notes and 0.93 or 93% of the tape remains uncovered. Laminate Hundred Chart from the Kit (to prevent staining with use of red Transparency Pen) or use as is with a crayon that will wipe off. If you do not have a commercial Hundred Chart, enlarge and copy TR 11 to create 10″ x 10″ grid or use TR 3 and mount two 5″ x 10″ grids side-by-side on large paper to create the blank Hundred Chart.

NOTE: The spaces need to be 1-inch squares in order to use the Fraction Decimal cover-up pieces TR 4-9. Find the Today we have… Record (TR 10) within the Teacher Resource Cardstock in Every Day Counts Kit or make a copy of TR 10. Place it in a sheet protector (if you plan to use dry erase pen) or in large clear vinyl pocket from Kit or laminate (if you plan to use a transparency pen since Dry Erase will stain these). Attach it beside or below blank Hundred Chart. Before the 10th day of school, have students use red crayons to shade in two sheets of the Tenths cardstock from the Teacher Resource Cardstock packet in Kit or print TR 4 Tenths on red copy paper. Cut them into tenth strips and use them to show equivalence between 0.10 and 0.1 on Day 10. See Teacher’s Guide, Sept, p. 25-28.

Step 4: (10 minutes prep)

See T. Guide, p. 21-24 and click on Samples – Photos and Questions 5 at edconline.net

Begin any day in early September and catch it up to the present calendar date. If year round, begin on the first of any month early in the school year.

Students will begin with a million dollars on the first of the given month and spend it at the rate of $1000 x the Calendar Date each day. Locate the Daily Depositor background from the EDC Kit or use 3 sheets each of white, yellow, and green copy paper to create the pockets. Fold each paper the long way. Then fold up bottom 2 inches and staple on each side. Tape pockets together on back side to create place value pocket chart. Make 10 copies of TR 3: 1-inch squared paper, and place one nearby to record the results of each day’s withdrawal. Have Post-its handy to record the digit above each place value pocket to tell the number of bills remaining of that denomination.

Have students help cut apart the play money bills from EDC Kit or copy TR 2 Play Money Bills. Group them by denomination with rubber bands or place the supply in library pockets, displaying one pocket holding one denomination of bills below each pocket of the Depositor.

Step 5: (25 minutes prep) No lamination needed. Begin the 1st of September or catch it up to present day in September.

Note: If you begin school in August or are year round, you may choose to use the August pieces for your first month of school. August and September reveal the same basic pattern.

See T. Guide, p. 18-21 and click on Samples Photos and Questions 5 at edconline.net

Prepare Calendar by creating slits on slit marks using an Exacto knife or box cutter and placing a paper clip in each slit. Pull out the three sheets of Calendar pieces for the month and display them on the Calendar from the 1st up to the present day of the month. After the present date, place the remaining pieces face down under each paper clip (so they can be turned over one at a time on each new day of the month).

Step 6: (10 min. prep)

See T. Guide, p. 28-29, and click on Samples – Photos and Questions 5 at edconline.net

Copy, cut, and tape together grid paper (TR __) to create a graph 2 spaces wide by 50 spaces long for recording the results of this draw and replace experiment. Find the 2 green squares and 1 purple rectangle (with no numbers) from the September Calendar Pieces in the Every Day Counts Kit. A lunch sack or bag or box can be used to hold the pieces.

You are done! This is everything you will need to begin sharing the September elements with your students. September requires the greatest preparation time. Next month you will continue to use these materials and add in a couple of new items. By November all the elements will be introduced reducing preparation time for the remaining months.

To see Question Starter Cards click on SAMPLES:
The note cards you see accompanying each photo with starter questions can be printed as PDF files, cut apart, and mounted on 5×7 note cards for your easy reference during Every Day Counts discussions. During the month, please add to your cards questions of your own design or questions from your reading that you want to remember to try out. Some questions should aim at simply having students examine the data and describe what they see. Others questions should require students to engage in higher level thinking, requiring them to reason, analyze, make predictions, and form generalizations about concepts being explored each month.

You are done! This is everything you will need to begin sharing the September elements with your students. September requires the greatest preparation time. Next month you will continue to use these materials and add in a couple of new items. By November all the elements will be introduced reducing preparation time for the remaining months.

To see Question Starter Cards click on SAMPLES:
The note cards you see accompanying each photo with starter questions can be printed as PDF files, cut apart, and mounted on 5×7 note cards for your easy reference during Every Day Counts discussions. During the month, please add to your cards questions of your own design or questions from your reading that you want to remember to try out. Some questions should aim at simply having students examine the data and describe what they see. Others questions should require students to engage in higher level thinking, requiring them to reason, analyze, make predictions, and form generalizations about concepts being explored each month.