All About The Birthdays

Topic: Reading A Calendar

“Uncle Math, when will my birthday come?” questions Cirho. He likes celebrating his birthday. Who does not like celebrating birthdays? This time, does Cirho have special plans for his birthday?

“Soon! But why do you ask? Are you planning something special?” asks Uncle Math. “Yes! This time I want to save more fun coins so that I can buy my favourite racing car for my birthday”, says Cirho. Wow! Cirho has set a beautiful goal for himself. Uncle Math and the kids are impressed.

“Indeed a beautiful thought”, says Uncle Math. Inspired by him, Triho, Cirha and Squarho also decide to set a personal goal until their birthdays. Cirha decides to plant one tree every day until her birthday. Triho decides to read a story every day till his birthday, and finally, Squarho also decides to save money to buy his favourite dumbbells.

“But how many days till our birthdays?” they ask together. Uncle Math bursts into laughter and says, “Let us find that out.” He goes inside his lab. But why? Is he getting another gadget?

“Ladies and gentlemen! Please welcome Mr Calendar”, he says while showing his new gadget. The kids are amazed. “Wow! This looks powerful. What does it do?” asks Cirha. Uncle Math presses the power button to turn it on and a weird table gets displayed on it.

“To find out how far are your birthdays, we need to count the months, weeks and years”, says Uncle Math. “But how? I just know my date of birth?” says Squarho. “No fear when I am here. Mr Calendar will help us. He is brilliant!” says Uncle Math.

Mr Calendar is a tablet-like gadget. When switched on it displays a table-like structure on screen with some numbers and words. They definitely must have a meaning. Let us find out.

“Mr Calendar has four important parts: days, weeks, months and years. 7 days make a week. 30 days make a month. 12 months make a year”, explains Uncle Math. “Wow! So January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December are the months in a year”, says Triho.

“Amazing! My birthday is on 1st April. So how many days left?” questions excited Cirho. “Haha! It is September now. So September, October, November, December and January. So almost five months till your birthday. You will be able to save a lot of money”, says Uncle Math.

Triho’s birthday is on 1st January. Can you find out how many months are left for his birthday?

Cirha’s birthday is on 1st March. Can you find out how many months are left for her birthday?

Squarho’s birthday is on 29th February. Can you find out how many months are left for his birthday?

Mr Calendar is brilliant indeed. Yes! 4 months for Triho’s birthday, 7 months for Cirha’s birthday. But there is no 29 in February on the calendar. Did Mr Calendar miss 29? What is wrong? Squarho looks upset!

“Dear! 29th February comes only in 4 years. Such a year is called a Leap year. So Squarho’s birthday comes only in 4 years. But I have a plan! If we celebrate his birthday on 28th February, we will be able to celebrate it every year”, says Uncle Math. “Oh yes! Hurray!” says excited Squarho.

“Perfect! But we must track our goals every day. How do we do that?“ asks Cirha. “Mr Calendar will be helpful again. We could just select the month and mark the days when we completed our goal. This will help us track the progress easily”, says Triho. “Brilliant!” says Uncle Math.

The kids write their goals on Mr Calendar and work towards them. Soon their birthday months come.

Cirho buys his favourite gadget. Cirha’s garden looks great. Triho has read 122 stories and Squarho buys his favourite dumbbells. Goal accomplishment became so much fun because of Mr Calendar. He is brilliant indeed.

We Learnt That…

The calendar has four important parts: days, weeks, months and years.
7 days make a week. 30 days make a month, 12 months make a year.
A leap year comes once every 4 years.
We can easily track our goals using a calendar.
When we save money, we are actually using it more wisely.

Let’s Discuss

What was my plan for my birthday?
What goals did others set for their birthdays?
What is Mr Calendar? How did it help in calculating the days left for the birthdays?
We should always set goals for ourselves and track them. Do you agree? Why or why not?