To enable the child to understand the idea of number of days in each month, the child
may be asked to show his/her fist and say the months from January. Note that the
thumb is not taken into consideration in calculating the number of days of a month.
In the fist, January being the first month of the year stands for the bone that protrudes
and the next month February in the slope. Now tell the child that all the months that
protruded are with 31 days and all the months in the slope are with 30 days excepting
February, which will be having either 28 days in the case of a ordinary year and 29
days in the case of a leap year. Let the child understand that both the months of July
and August have 31 days.
- Leap year
To be more accurate, the earth takes 365 41 days to make one complete revolution
about the sun. This extra
4
1
day, making one day once in four years is added to
February. Such a year is known as a leap year. Thus a leap year comprises 366 days.
To know whether a particular year is a leap year or not, it is enough to divide the
particular year by 4. If the year is exactly divisible by 4, then it is a leap year,
otherwise it is not a leap year.
If the year taken into consideration is a century year divide it by 400, and in the
process if the remainder happens to be zero then it is a leap year.
For example, 1600, 2000 are leap years while 1700, 1800, 1900 etc., are not leap
years.
Note : 1. A decade is a period of 10 years.
- A century is a period of 100 years.
- A millennium is a period of 1000 years.
The idea of leap year may also be taught to the child orally, explaining the total
number of days in the month of February in both the cases of an ordinary year and a
leap year.
