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Calendar of Special Events, Holidays and Commemorations
Calendar of Special Events, Holidays and Commemorations
Check these 2 sites first for the basics on a holiday/time of year, then other resources are listed below by month.
All About the Holidays from PBS...lesson plans and short videos about the holidays we celebrate. You can also download the free iBook version which includes all the holidays w/lesson plans and resources included. A great place to start! Most resources are labeled either grades K-4 or 2-6
Laura Candler's Seasonal Resources Free printables & ideas
TeachersFirst Planning Calendar Resources for all holidays and special months, searchable by grade level. Under "Keyword" write the holiday you're looking for.
September
September
9/11
9/11
Scholastic "I Honor Brave Heroes" lesson plan, videos
Curated 9/11 Lesson Plans from 9/11.org
9/11 Memorial Museum, lesson plans gr. 3-5
Mexican Independence
Mexican Independence
National Hispanic Heritage Month, 9/15 to 10/15
National Hispanic Heritage Month, 9/15 to 10/15
The US site on Hispanic Heritage Month There is a teacher section, resources are from the Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art, etc.
CommonLit has a collection of reading passages Create a free account, scroll to "Staff Favorites for National Hispanic Heritage Month" (5th & up) You'll get the text, and can use their assessment and discussion questions as well. *Works in September!
Apolinaria Lorenzana and the California Missions PBS video about the history of the Spanish in California and the US. Gr. 4 and up, good one to go w/CA history or early US settlements.
Spanish Me, English Me Sesame St video, K-1
October
October
Autumn Resources
Autumn Resources
PBS Lesson Plans and video for Fall Math, literacy, and science fall-themed resources.
Autumn videos and info from Free Technology for Teachers
The Science of Autumn More links & videos from Free Tech for Teachers
Larry Ferlazzo's links to the best sites for images of fall foliage
Halloween
Halloween
Larry Ferlazzo's latest list of places and videos to learn about Halloween and Día de los muertos (Day of the Dead) Includes videos, Halloween vocabulary, and activities
PBS has this collection of videos, mostly K-3, but some go up to 6th. For gr. 2-6 they have a History of Halloween video.
Larry Ferlazzo's original list-more here!
Happy Hallow-STEAM! Mixing Halloween into STEAM lessons
31 Days of Halloween STEM Activities
100 Years of Halloween Candy An infographic that students can delve into!
Common Lit Text Sets of Spooky Stories (You can join for free, and in "Search" write "October")
Collaborative Monster Project Fun idea, you can pair with another class, age group, school. You can do within your own class, or join the global project.
November
November
Día de los muertos
Día de los muertos
Día de los muertos Videos and Activities from TeacherVision
Beyond Sugar Skulls: The History and Culture of Día de los muertos from PBS, good background article for the teacher!
Native American Heritage Month
Native American Heritage Month
The Library of Congress Teacher Resources
Common Lit Text Sets (You can join for free, and in the "Featured Content" for November you'll find "Featured Texts for Native American Content")
Veteran's Day
Veteran's Day
Scholastic Lesson Plans (gr. 1-2, 3-5)
Lesson Plans from NEA (gr. 3-5)
EL Civics Basic Facts If you need the basics this is good background info.
Dogs Serving Veterans Slideshow NY Times, shows injured veterans and dogs assisting them.
Background Info: Why Veteran's Day is November 11 from the Washington Post
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Larry Ferlazzo - Best Sites to Learn about Thanksgiving He has traditional resources as well as resources with different points of view (important with older students).
Resources from the Smithsonian Institution & Museum of the American Indian--
-Thanksgiving Activity for the Classroom
A culturally appropriate K-5 Native activity for Thanksgiving (vs. the feather headdress)-also in Spanish
-Rethinking Thanksgiving Celebrations: Native Perspectives on Thanksgiving Activities and resources for various grade levels - also in Spanish
-Native American Perspectives on Thanksgiving Gr. 4-8 lesson plan, from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Rethinking the Way we Teach Thanksgiving Different points of view on how to teach Thanksgiving from the NY Times. Good stuff.
Ideas for teaching younger students about Thanksgiving
Spanish Thanksgiving Resources:
December
December
21 Activities and Lessons that have a Winter Theme Includes videos on snowflakes and what the Winter Solstice is.
Four Tips for Surviving December
PBS Celebrating Winter Resources for winter, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, New Year's
Exploring the Books of Jan Brett, a K Author Study
NEA December resources and lesson plans
Teaching with Simplicity resources Some free, some you pay for
January
January
21 Activities and Lessons that have a Winter Theme
Includes videos on snowflakes and what the Winter Solstice is.
Dr. Martin Luther King Day
Dr. Martin Luther King Day
MLK and Kindness Unit of Study Created for a beginning EL group, but it can be adapted! Wonderful resources, including links to the Kahoot quizzes she uses.
Martin's Big Words This is a wonderful book, and Teacher Tube has a video.
Lesson Plan (gr. 3-7) from PBS, other resources as well. Lesson available in Spanish as well.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lesson via Nearpod
NewseumEd artifacts (free registration)
February
February
Black History Month
Black History Month
For primary students, Sesame Street has a YouTube Playlist for Black History Month.
Black History Month resources from Common Sense Media. Pick your grade level... K-12
Teaching Black History in Culturally Responsive Ways
Chiff.com Resources Quotes, info on this year's theme, a video about the Buffalo Soldiers and their general Black History Month Resources are here.
PBS Black History Month Resources:
Winter Olympics
2022-Bejing, China, starts Feb. 4
Winter Olympics
2022-Bejing, China, starts Feb. 4
US Olympics official site
Info on each of the Winter Sports
Team USA's Official Site
YouTube playlist: The Science of the Winter Olympics National Science Foundation via Richard Byrne
NBC's Official Site
<---Click on "Explore Sports" for more info on each sport!
Featured Athletes NBC Sports
Team USA
Larry Ferlazzo's Links - an EL perspective
Scroll down a little for links he's collecting
March
March
Spring Videos
Spring Videos
PBS Learning Media Spring Holiday Videos Collection Everything you can think of for Spring!
St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick's Day
Cesar Chavez Day
Cesar Chavez Day
Ramadan Resources
Ramadan Resources
Dates vary each year from March to April
PBS Resources on Ramadan
Ramadan Information & Activities for Kids
April
April
April is Poetry Month! 🌈
April is Poetry Month! 🌈
Background Info for you: What Makes a Poem...a Poem? -Ted-Ed Talk
30 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month
Poems for Kids (Academy of American Poets)
Bring Poetry Alive with these Digital Lessons - Hyperdocs
Favorite Videos for Teaching Poetry to Elementary Students
The Poetry Foundation Resources
Favorite Poem Project (Americans Saying Poems they Love)
Read Write Think Resources Scroll down for lesson plans at various grade levels.
Poetry by Heart This is the children's section...very much UK poems, but also valuable are the resources at the Learning Zone, for teaching or learning how to recite poetry by heart, with feeling. Everything (poems & resources) are free to download, and can be used with any poem.
Earth Day 🌎 April 22nd
Earth Day 🌎 April 22nd
(Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) 7 min., good info.
PBS Learning Media Earth Day Resources
3 Earth Day Resources from Richard Byrne
Día de la tierra
A wonderful 9 min. video showing the beauty of earth set to instrumental music by Orquesta Sinfonica De Hamhung.
You don't have to speak Spanish to watch it, it's gorgeous!
National Geographic resources
18 Low Prep Earth Day activities (K-1)
Engaging Earth Day Activities (K)
Beautiful films from BBC. Netflix carries "Earth" which has Planet Earth I and II, or you can stream Earth: One Amazing Day. (2.99 Apple TV or YouTube) Even the preview video (left) is enough to spark discussion - gorgeous.
Follow @EarthDayNetwork, #EarthDay2022, #EndPlasticPollution, #ClimateEducationWeek
May - Summer
May - Summer
Asian American & Pacific Islander American Month
Asian American & Pacific Islander American Month
Asian American & Pacific Islander Month via the Library of Congress
A list of resources and lesson plans
AAPI Storytime
from The Conscious Kid
Read aloud videos featuring AAPI storybooks & voices.
Photo by Amanda Mills on Pixnio.com
2020 Summer Olympics
2020 Summer Olympics
IOC's Website Select a sport, scroll past the news for a video that explains the sport.
Page updated
Google Sites
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