- date: documentation ( source)
<?php
$date = '2014-11-21 20:30:00';
$date = new DateTime($date);
$month = date('M', $date->getTimestamp());
$day = date('j', $date->getTimestamp());
$small_date = '<span class="month">' . $month . '</span><span class="day">' . $day . '</span>';
echo $small_date;