BellBookQuick answer: To make an A/B day calendar, enter the first and last day of school, choose the rotation (A/B, A/B/C or Day 1–N), and add your holidays and breaks. BellBook labels every school day for you and skips weekends and days off. When a snow day closes school, click that date and choose whether the rotation continues or the day's letter is skipped. The rest of the year updates instantly. Then download a PDF, add the days to Google or Outlook Calendar, or share a “What day is it?” link.
How to make an A/B day calendar in 5 steps
- Enter the school year. Type the first and last day of school and, if you like, a title and your school's name.
- Pick the rotation. Choose A/B, A/B/C, a Day 1–N cycle or custom labels, and which label the first school day gets.
- Add days off. Add US federal holidays with one click, then your district's breaks and teacher workdays.
- Mark snow days. Click any date to mark a closure and choose whether the rotation continues or that day's letter is skipped.
- Print or share. Download a PDF calendar, an .ics file for Google or Outlook Calendar, or copy a “What day is it?” link for students.
The example above is a Aug 17, 2026 to May 28, 2027 school year with US federal holidays and typical Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks. It has 184 school days: 92 A Days and 92 B Days. Replace the dates with your district's calendar before you print.
How rotation days are counted
BellBook walks through the school year one date at a time and applies the same rules a scheduler would:
- Weekends never get a rotation day. Saturday school is possible: set Saturday to “Rotates” in the weekday pattern, or mark a single Saturday as a make-up day.
- Holidays, breaks and teacher workdays pause the rotation. If Friday is an A day and Monday is a holiday, Tuesday is the B day.
- Fixed weekdays such as “Monday = all classes” get their own label and don't move the rotation, which is how many modified block schedules work.
- No-rotation days (final exams, testing, assemblies) are school days without a letter. The rotation picks up afterwards.
- Rotation resets let you force a date to a label (“Monday will be an A day”) when your school re-syncs the cycle.
Snow days: “rotation continues” or “skip the day”?
Schools handle unexpected closures in one of two ways, and BellBook supports both for every closure. Here is the same week with a snow day on Wednesday:
| School day | Original | Rotation continues | Skip the day's letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | A | A | A |
| Tuesday | B | B | B |
| Wednesday | A | Snow day | Snow day (A skipped) |
| Thursday | B | A | B |
| Friday | A | B | A |
| Next Monday | B | A | B |
Rotation continues keeps the A and B day counts balanced, so every class meets about the same number of times. Skip the day's letter keeps every date on the printed calendar correct, so nothing needs to be reprinted. Check which rule your district uses. If it changes its mind mid-year, add a rotation reset on the day it re-syncs.
Rotation types you can make
| Rotation | Labels | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| A/B days | A, B | Alternating block schedules: half the classes meet each day for a longer period |
| A/B/C or A/B/C/D | A, B, C (D) | Three- or four-day rotations, often for specials or lab sections |
| Day 1–N cycle | Day 1 … Day N (2–10) | 6-day cycles for elementary specials, drop rotations in middle and high school |
| Odd/Even | Odd, Even | Block schedules named after the periods that meet (1, 3, 5, 7 or 2, 4, 6, 8) |
| Custom labels | Anything, e.g. Red, White, Blue | Schools that name rotation days after colours or houses |
| Fixed weekday + rotation | e.g. Monday “All classes”, then A/B | Modified block schedules with a skinny or all-period day |
Three ways to share the calendar
Printable PDF
Download a one-page year at a glance (every month with each day's label, plus a list of days off), monthly pages with large day labels and room for notes, or both. Choose US Letter or A4, Sunday or Monday week starts, and an ink-saving black-and-white version.
Google, Outlook and Apple Calendar (.ics)
The .ics file adds one all-day event per school day, titled “A Day” or “Day 3”, plus your holidays and closures. Import it into a separate calendar, such as “Rotation days”. After a snow day you can then delete that one calendar and import the updated file without touching anything else.
“What day is it today?” link
The share link opens a page that tells students and parents today's rotation day and the next two weeks. The whole calendar is packed into the link, so there's no account and nothing to host. After a snow day, update the calendar and share the new link. See what the link looks like.
A dated lesson planner that follows the rotation
Below the calendar you can also print a dated lesson planner: weekly pages with each date, its rotation day and the classes that meet that day already filled in, plus monthly calendars. Choose up to 10 periods or blocks, set different classes for A and B days, and print 4 weeks, a semester or the whole year. Read more about the A/B day lesson planner or the dated lesson plan book for schools without a rotation.
Class pages from your roster
Paste a class list to print an attendance sheet with one column for each day that class actually meets. A class that meets only on A days gets only A-day dates. You also get a gradebook, a seating chart and a family contact sheet. Click any school day in the calendar for a one-page substitute plan with that day's blocks and classes. Student names stay in the open tab and are never saved or uploaded.
Why not just use a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet works until the first snow day. Then every later cell needs retyping, and a single missed holiday puts the rest of the year out of sync. BellBook stores the rules (the start date, the rotation, the days off and the closures) instead of the letters, so changing one date re-letters the year correctly. You can still download a spreadsheet (.csv) of every school day if your office needs one.
Frequently asked questions
Is BellBook really free?
Yes. Every feature is free: unlimited calendars, PDF downloads, .ics export, the share link, the dated lesson planner and the class roster pages. There's no account and no paid tier.
What happens to the rotation after a snow day?
You choose. Rotation continues means the next school day takes the letter the snow day would have had, so every later day shifts by one. Skip the day's letter means the snow day's letter is lost and every other date keeps its original letter. BellBook re-letters the rest of the year instantly either way.
Does it skip weekends and holidays automatically?
Yes. Weekends never get a rotation day. Add US federal holidays with one click, then add your district's breaks (Thanksgiving, winter and spring break) and teacher workdays. The rotation pauses on every day off and picks up on the next school day.
Can I make a Day 1–6 or A/B/C calendar?
Yes. Choose A/B, A/B/C, A/B/C/D, Odd/Even, a Day 1–N cycle of 2 to 10 days, or your own labels such as Red/White/Blue. You can also fix a weekday to one label, for example Monday as an all-classes day.
How do I put the A/B days into Google Calendar?
Download the .ics file, create a new calendar in Google Calendar (Settings → Add calendar → Create new calendar), then use Settings → Import & export → Import and choose that calendar. Outlook and Apple Calendar can import the same file.
How do students find out if today is an A day or a B day?
Copy the “What day is it?” link and post it on your website, in Google Classroom or in an email. It opens a page that shows today's rotation day, tomorrow's and the next two weeks, using the viewer's own date.
Is my school's calendar uploaded anywhere?
No. BellBook runs entirely in your browser. Calendars you save stay in your browser's local storage, and the share link carries the calendar inside the link itself, after the # sign, which browsers don't send to servers.
More rotation calendars and planners
Last updated · Written by the MiniTools team. Holiday dates are US federal holidays; always check your own district's calendar.