This craft project calls for the use of glue and a paper punch. Before beginning, get either help or the "go-ahead" from a responsible adult.

Just as clocks mark the minutes and hours of the day, calendars mark the days and months of the year. Every new year the old calendar -- filled with important days from the previous year -- comes down from the wall. A fresh new one, waiting for its own special days to be marked, replaces it. Making a calendar can be the first new thing you do for the new year. You can make it special by designing something fancy for your own important days, such as your birthday and favorite holidays.

Your calendar should be two calendars in one – a Jewish and a general calendar. This is less complicated than it sounds. First, find a Jewish calendar for the coming year. Some banks and kosher butchers give them away for free. The Jewish calendar looks like an ordinary calendar except for two things. It begins in September instead of January, and it gives two dates for each day: the general date and the date according to Jewish tradition. Use this calendar as a guide for your own calendar.

Materials:

• 1 piece of blank 8-1/2 x 11 inch paper
• Ruler
• Pencil or pen
• 12 sheets of construction paper at least 12 x 18 inches
• White glue
• Paper punch
• 1 piece of yarn, 12 inches long

1. Take a piece of blank paper -- typing paper is good for this -- and, holding it horizontally, draw a line across the page two inches from the top.
   
   
2. Draw 4 more lines, 1-1/2 inches apart, underneath. Then draw 6 vertical lines, 1-1/2 inches apart as shown in the drawing, to make 35 squares - 7 across and 5 down.
   
   
3. Take this page to a copy machine -- most libraries and post offices have one -- and make 11 copies.
   
   
4. Beginning with September, copy the dates from each month of the Jewish calendar onto your copies. Write the name of each month at the top of the page and be sure that you mark the first day of the month in the right square.
   
   
5. Then paste each page of the calendar onto a separate sheet of construction paper.
   
   
6. Decorate the top half of each page with pictures of things that remind you of the month. You may want to leave extra space for adding things later during the month itself. Here are some picture ideas for each month:
   
   
   • September: a shofar for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
   • October: sukkah, pumpkins, and gourds for Sukkot.
   • November: turkeys and Indian corn for Thanksgiving; books for Jewish Book Month.
   • December: a hanukkiyyah and a dreidel for Hanukkah.
   • January: a snowman or a ski scene.
   • February: a bare tree for the New Year of the Trees, Tu B'Shevat.
   • March: grager (noisemaker) and pictures of Queen Esther or Haman for Purim.
   • April: Elijah's cup, matzah for Pesach (Passover); flowers for spring.
   • May: a flag of Israel for Yom ha-Azma'ut, Israeli Independence Day.
   • June: a tablet of the Ten Commandments for Shavuot, the festival which celebrates Moses' receiving the Law, and fruit, since it's also a harvest festival.
   • July: an American flag for the Fourth of July.
   • August: a tent for camping; a sailboat on a lake.
   
   You might also like to include photographs of friends or relatives in their birthday months, or pictures of your favorite rock group or sports team in the months they'll be on television or in your city.
   
   
7. Punch two holes 5 inches apart on the top of all the pages and put a piece of yarn, 12 inches long, through the holes. Tie the yarn, and hang the calendar on a nail or hook.