When you check the calendar and spot a weird holiday, is your first thought “how do I use this in my classroom?” Every year new fun “national holidays” seem to crop up, and incorporating them into the school day can be a great way to engage your students.
Don’t worry: We’re not expecting you to lose valuable learning time to mark “Give Someone a Dollar Day” (yes, it’s real!). But this calendar list of fun and weird holidays can give you some unique ideas for your morning meeting questions to foster communication in the classroom or open up a conversation about your actual lessons. Others — like Let’s Laugh Day in March or Find a Rainbow Day in April — may offer up inspiration for your social and emotional learning or inspire classroom rewards (National Hat Day, we’re looking right at you!).
There are hundreds of fun and funny holidays out there, but the certified teachers on the Teach Starter teacher team (they’re the ones creating all our resources!) has combed through the long, long list and brought it down to just a few for each month that are school-appropriate and have the potential to foster learning.
You’ll also find a few not-so-funny holidays on the list that offer valuable learning opportunities such as Civil Rights Day in January, Dictionary Day in October, or Bill of Rights Day in December.
Although the school year starts at a different time throughout the US, the year always starts in January, so we’re going to start there too. You’ve already got New Year’s Day and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on your calendar, but here are some of fun January “holidays” your students may enjoy.
- January 3 — National Write to Congress Day
- January 4 — National CanDo Day and National Trivia Day
- January 8 — Earth’s Rotation Day
- January 9 — National Fourth Graders Day & National Clean Your Desk Day
- January 13 — Poetry Break Day
- January 16 — Elementary School Teachers Day & Civil Rights Day
- January 18 — National Thesaurus Day
- January 20 — Penguin Awareness Day
Take a peek at a few of the resources our teacher team has created (and vetted) to celebrate in January.
- Using a Thesaurus – Worksheets and Ancho Charts
- Penguins Leveled Reader
It may be the shortest month of the year but it’s a busy one with Black History Month and Valentine’s Day on the agenda. And there are plenty more funny and weird February holidays to keep things interesting!
- February 5 — National Weatherperson‘s Day
- February 7 — Send a Card to a Friend Day
- February 11 – Make a Friend Day and National Inventors Day
- February 13 — Get a Different Name Day
- February 15 – Susan B. Anthony Day
- February 17 — Random Acts of Kindness Day
- February 22 — International World Thinking Day
Go beyond Valentine’s Day with some curriculum-aligned activities!
- Susan B. Anthony – Differentiated Comprehension Worksheets
- Weather Tools —Instructional Slide Deck
- Friendship Flower Template
Will it come in like a lion or a lamb? Either way, there’s fun to be had in your classroom when you add these weird holidays to the March lesson plan!
- March 1 — World Compliment Day
- March 2 — Old Stuff Day
- March 3 — National Anthem Day
- March 8 — National Proofreading Day
- March 10 — Middle Name Pride Day
- March 14 — Learn About Butterflies Day
- March 16 — Giant Panda Bear Day and Freedom of Information Day
- March 21 — World Poetry Day
Our teacher team created a few ideas to get you going:
- Our Class Got a Compliment! — Class Reward Chart
- Figurative Language Anchor Chart – Onomatopoeia
- Poetry Task Cards
The fourth month is best known for ushering spring into our midst, but these fun April “national holidays” can also help learning bloom in your classroom.
- April 2 — National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day and Children’s Book Day
- April 3 — Find a Rainbow Day
- April 4 — School Librarian Day
- April 15 — Take a Wild Guess Day and World Art Day
- April 17 — National Stress Awareness Day
- April 21 — Kindergarten Day
- April 28 — International Astronomy Day
When you think May, you probably think about Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, but are you ready for these “holidays”?
- May 3 — Bike to School Day
- May 4 — Star Wars Day
- May 5 — Space Day
- May 6 — Free Comic Book Day
- May 9 — National Teachers’ Day
- May 10 — School Nurses’ Day
- May 23 — World Turtle Day
- May 29 — Learn About Composting Day
Make May marvelous with some “holiday” fun:
- Comic – Recess Rules: The More the Merrier – Worksheet
- Our Solar System – Interactive and Printable Cloze Reading Activity
School may be out in your neighborhood in June, but maybe you have a few days or weeks left in the classroom. These holidays may help you keep the summer doldrums from setting in before the end of school officially arrives.
- June 1 — Flip a Coin Day
- June 5 — World Environment Day
- June 8 — World Ocean Day
- June 14 — Flag Day
- June 16 — Fresh Veggies Day
A few ideas from our teacher team!
- FreeLabeling the Continents and Oceans Worksheets
- Memory Matcher PowerPoint for American Coins and Bills
- Flag Day Writing Craftivity
Most students spend July out of the classroom, but if you’re teaching summer school, we have got your back. These are our favorite school-friendly holidays to get your students a little more excited about spending summer break at school.
- July 2 — I Forgot Day
- July 6 — Sidewalk Egg Frying Day
- July 7 — Global Forgiveness Day
- July 14 — Shark Awareness Day
- July 20 — Moon Day
If you’re heading back into the classroom in August, you’ve got plenty to do between meet the teacher night and all those first day of school activities, but just in case they come in hand, we have a few weird holidays that might be just right:
- August 6 — Friendship Day
- August 9 — Book Lovers’ Day
- August 13 — Left Handers’ Day
- August 16 — National Tell a Joke Day
Ah, September. Schools are back in session. Football is on the television. Leaves are falling. And here are a few holidays we’re almost sure your students have never heard of:
- September 6 — Read a Book Day
- September 8 — International Literacy Day
- September 13 – Positive Thinking Day
- September 16 — National Play Doh Day
- September 26 — Johnny Appleseed Day
- September 28 — National Good Neighbor Day
Looking for a few ways to bring them into the classroom? We can get you started:
- Parts of a Book Cut and Paste Activity
- Apple Barrel Blends Sorting Activity
October isn’t just the month that brings us all things creepy and crawly, spooky and scary! Of course, we love Halloween, but you might want to try these October holidays on for size:
- October 2 — National Custodial Worker Day
- October 5 — Do Something Nice Day
- October 7 — International Walk to School Day
- October 16 — Dictionary Day
- October 27 — Black Cat Day
Explore some ways to thank the custodial staff, celebrate black cats, and of course, brush up on those dictionary skills!
- Thank You For Working Hard For Us – Greeting Card and Letter Template
- Dictionary Mystery Scoot Game
- Mini Mystery – Who Scared the Black Cat?
We always remember Veterans Day and Thanksgiving when November rolls around, but these national holidays may offer a little something different to your lesson planning this school year.
- November 1 — National Author’s Day
- November 2 — National Stress Awareness Day (yes, there is more than one!)
- November 4 – National Candy Day & National Day of Community Service
- November 11 — National Origami Day
- November 13 — International Tongue Twisters Day
- November 15 — National Recycling Day
Here are a few ways to add these fun holidays in November without losing important learning time:
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Rounding out the year, December is typically overtaken by those big holidays (you know the ones), but don’t let these offbeat holidays pass you by!
- December 7 — Letter Writing Day
- December 10 — Nobel Prize Day
- December 13 — Ice Cream Day
- December 15 — Bill of Rights Day
- December 21 – Crossword Puzzle Day
Add a few of these holidays to your lesson planning with some activities that will help your students learn while celebrating!
- Opinion Writing Anchor Chart – Letter Writing
- My Nobel Peace Prize – Lower Levels
- Ice Cream Birthday Bulletin Board Set
