How many months have 31 days? (Calendar/Months of the Year)

This question came up on a recent episode of Jeopardy (yes, this is my second Jeopardy reference [see post from 3/18/15] - I watch it almost nightly) and no one even buzzed in to attempt an answer.  I understand most people might not know the answer by heart.  The reason I was able to answer immediately is because my daughter was born on the 31st of August.  So when I take Hannah's "monthly birthday" pictures (as mentioned in my post from 4/4/15), I can only actually do this on the 31st for seven months of the year, and just the last day of the month for the other five.

Knowing the months of the year (and how many days are in each one), as well as the number of days (don't forget about leap years!) or weeks in the year are prior knowledge needed to solve many math problems.  Here are two ways to help children learn how many days are in each month:

• Months of the year poem

• Months of the year knuckle trick
• As seen below, every knuckle represents a month that has 31 days and the gaps between the knuckles represent the months that have either 28/29 (February) or 30 days

Calendar Questions

Use the calendar below to answer the questions that follow.  Click HERE (or visit my "Worksheets/Solutions" page) for an editable/printable version of this exercise, with solutions.  Some of these questions are basic and some are more advanced.  Different groupings of these questions could be used for different grades/ages or to allow for differentiation for different abilities in the classroom.

• What day of the week does your birthday fall on this year?
• Do you know what day it will be next year?
• How many months are in a year?  How many weeks? Days?
• How many months have 31 days? How many months have 30 days?
• How many months have five Fridays this year?  Which one(s)?
• How many months begin on a Sunday this year?  Which one(s)?
• What do you notice about the dates in February and in March?
• Does this happen with any other months that fall in a row? How come it occurs in February and March?  Will this ALWAYS happen in February and March EVERY year?
• Take a look at the Saturdays in August.  What pattern do you notice in the dates?  Explain why this pattern occurs throughout the months in the calendar.

Other fun information/tips about the months of the year:

• Check out the video below to help your preschooler learn the months of the year

• If you've ever wondered about the endings that some months share (-ary, -ber), check out this website for some information about the meanings of the names of the months (and days of the week)

• Have children practice how to write the date (short, long, numerical format and with abbreviations) - here is a good outline as well as some practice worksheets

• How come February has 28 days some years and 29 days other years?  Read this information about leap years

Age/Grade Guidelines:

Learning the names of the months of the year is typically a preschool skill.  The calendar-related questions included in this post will be accessible to elementary and middle school students.