Didn't find it here? Try a Google search:
Multiple Holiday Lessons and Resource Sites:
Holidays Around the
World: A Festival of Lessons
Lesson plans and activities from Education
World. See also
Holidays Around the World for more ideas and resources.
Official and Religious
Mexican Holidays
Celebrate Mexican holidays with your Spanish class.
Holidays
Lots of holiday lesson plans and resources from Mr. Donn.
Holiday Topics and
Authors
Lesson plans for many holidays.
Holidays and Festivals
- Encyclopedia of Days
A comprehensive
alphabetical list.
Holidays on the Net
A collection
of multimedia holiday celebrations.
Multicultural
Calender
A
student-produced calendar
of holiday traditions from around the world.
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators
- Holidays
An alphabetical
list of links to activities and resources.
Yahoo Directory:
Christian Holidays and Observances
Many links listed
alphabetically.
Guide to Jewish Holidays for Children
From the Jewish
Children's Learning Network.
Yahoo Directory:
Islamic Holidays and Observances
Links to sites
for 9 major holidays.
Holiday Lesson Plans
From Teachnology.
Holidays
Around the World
A lesson plan from Bright Hub.
Wilstar's Holiday World
Excellent site
for holiday history and customs.
Valuing Our Differences:
Celebrating Diversity
A month-by-month
list of national, religious, and ethnic
holidays.
Fall Holidays
September
Grandparent's Day
Resources and information about Grandparent's Day (Sept.
12). See also
Ten Grand Activities for Grandparents Day.
Rosh Hashanah
A grade 4-5 lesson plan about this Jewish holy day. See also
Rosh Hashanah - The Jewish New Year.
Labor Day Scavenger
Hunt
An Internet Scavenger
hunt from Education World. See
also
Federal
Holidays,
a unit for grade 3,
Labor Day Tools,
a 2nd-grade
lesson plan, and
American Holidays: Labor Day,
an intermediate grade lesson plan on the origins of labor day.
Labor
Day Lesson Plans
Many lesson
plans with labor and occupational themes.
See also
Labor Day Workers Cube
(from Crayola) and
Celebrating Labor Day
(high school lesson plan History Now).
Mexican Independence
Day (September 16)
A lesson plan for grades 3-5.
October
German-American Day (October
6)
Teacher's guide and unit for celebrating German American
Day
Columbus Day
Lesson ideas and information from askacop.org.
Sink
or Float?
A K-1 science lesson
plan with a read aloud of the book,
Christopher Columbus,
by
Stephen Krensky.
Could be a good choice for a Columbus Day theme.
Columbus Encounters
America
A first-grade
lesson plan from a unit titled,
Contact: Europe
and America Meet.
Columbus Day: Native
American Perspective
A lesson plan for 4th/5th grade. See also
Colombus Day: Two Perspectives
for a similar intermediate-grade
lesson plan.
Columbus Day Theme
Many activities
and lesson ideas from A to Z Teacher
Stuff.
Columbus
Day
A readers
theater activity.
What Was
Columbus Thinking?
A lesson plan for grades 3-5 from Edsitement.
Should We Celebrate Columbus
Day?
In this inquiry-based lesson
plan for grades 6-12, students gather information and
try to answer this question.
In 1492, Columbus Sailed
the Ocean Blue
An ESL lesson plan.
The Columbus Navigation Homepage
An elaborate page examining the history, navigation, and
landfall of Christopher Columbus.
Halloween Lesson Plans and Resources
Halloween Mini-Unit
A primary-grade mini-unit on Halloween history.
Pumpkin and Ghost Garland
An activity from Crayola.
Reading Thematic Unit on Halloween
For second grade.
Halloween Songs
For pre-K to 2nd grade. See also
Create a Halloween Song.
The Pumpkin Patch
A collection of pumpkin poetry compiled by 2nd-graders. Click
on
About This Project
for the lesson plan
that inspired the poetry.
Our
Favorite Halloween Treat
A lesson plan for grades 1-2
in which students conduct a survey to determine
the class' favorite Halloween candy.
Story Board of The Biggest Pumpkin Ever
A 2nd or 3rd-grade lesson plan.
Draw a Monster
A brief lesson plan that includes
printable flashcards of body parts!
Halloween
Creative Writing Project
For grades 3-5.
What
would Halloween Be Like without the Ecuadorian Rainforest?
An interesting 4th-grade lesson plan from the
Rainforest Alliance.
SPOOKtacular Lessons for
Halloween
Five new lesson plans from
Education World. See also
Happy
Halloween!
Monster Art
A 5th-grade lesson plan.
The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow
A middle school esson plan from Edsitement using
Washington Irving's tale of the Headless Horseman.
The History of Halloween
A lesson plan for grades 6-9
from the Educator's Reference Desk.
Pumpkin Carving for K-2 Students
An ESL leson plan. For other
ESL lesson plans, see
Pumpkin Science
and
Will the Pumpkin Sink or Float?
Halloween Activities and Lesson Plans
A long list of activities
and links from the Teacher's Corner.
Hummingbird Educational
Resources
Halloween and pumpkin poems, recipes, stories, etc.
Free Stuff
for Halloween for Kids and Teachers
Halloween history, recipes, clip art,
games, ecards, and many lessons and activities.
Ghosts, Ghouls,
and Goblins
Lots of
ideas for classroom activities about
ghosts and Halloween.
Teaching
the Epic through Ghost Stories
A high school
lesson plan from
Read-Write-Think examining the oral traditions
of ghost stories and epics. See also
Scary Halloween Stories.
Ghosts
and Fear in Language Arts: Exploring Ways Writers Scare Readers
Another high school lesson plan from Read-Write-Think. See also
It's
Halloween! for another classroom activity.
A Ghost
Story
A lesson
plan for grades 11-12 that is part of a
unit on short stories.
Day of the Dead
Lesson ideas for this Mexican holiday celebrated October
31 through November 2. See also
Mexican Holidays
and
Day of the Dead Mini-Unit.
November
Diwali-Hindu New Year
A lesson plan for grades 4-6 on this festival observed by
many Hindus in late October or early
November.
Veterans' Day Teacher
Resource Guide
Extensive resource from the V. A.
Honoring Our
Veterans through Poetry
An excellent lesson plan for grades 6-8.
See also
VA Kids and
Veterans
Day Resources.
Veterans' Day
A k-3 lesson plan incorporating family history and problem solving skills.
Veterans' Day
A lesson plan for grades 3-4 designed to help students understand the
significance of Veterans' Day.
Veterans' Day Lesson Plan
A brief lesson plan for grades 3-5. See also
Veterans' Day
for background information regarding
this holiday.
Veterans in My Family
A KWL lesson plan that can be adapted
to a variety of grade levels. See also
Veteran's Day, a Chance to Honor Those
Who Served Our Country
for a lesson plan from Scholastic.com.
Education World
@ Holidays Center: Veterans' Day.
Links to many lesson
plans and teaching resources.
Veterans' Day Puzzle and Story Words
From Vocabulary University.
Veterans Day Speech and Writing Topics
Ideas for essays and speeches honoring veterans.
Teaching
about Thanksgiving
From the
Center for World indigenous Studies,
this site provides information and lesson
ideas to help teachers prepare more factual,
balanced lesson plans about Thanksgiving.
The Thanksgiving Story: The Pilgrims Revisited
Information and links for teachers from Education
World. See also
Pilgrims
Projects
for more ideas from this same source.
Imagine Me at the First
Thanksgiving
A kindergarten lesson plan.
Clifford Learns About the First Thanksgiving and So
Do We!
A kindergarten unit from Scholastic.
Thanksgiving Lesson Plan
A K-2 literacy lesson plan.
Thanksgiving History
A primary-grade unit.
Thanksgiving - A Focus
on Clothing
A primary-grade mini-unit.
The First Thanksgiving
A 2nd-grade unit.
Thanksgiving: A Celebration
of Gratitude
Ideas for a 1st or 2nd-grade unit.
Franklin's Thanksgiving
A K-3 lesson plan from Scholastic using this book.
Thanksgiving
A grade 3 lesson plan from the Educator's Reference Desk.
Thanksgiving Acrostic Lesson Plan
A brief lesson plan combining language arts and character building.
Squanto Helps New
Arrivals
A lesson plan for grades 3-5 using the book,
Squanto,
Friend of the Pilgrams.
Strawberry Thanksgiving
A lesson plan for grades 4-5.
Thanksgiving
A lesson plan for grades 4-6.
Myth
and Truth: The First Thanksgiving
A lesson plan for grades 6-8 from the NCTE's
Read-Write-Think.
Thanksgiving Lesson
Plan
For ESL students.
Thanksgiving Themes
Thematic units on Thanksgiving, Native Americans, and Pilgrims.
Bountiful Thanksgiving
A directory of Thanksgiving links.
The Origins of Thanksgiving
An interesting site with information on Thanksgiving myths
as well as the perspectives of African Americans
and American Indians.
Winter Holidays
December
Bill of Rights Day (December 15)
A lesson plan for grades 4-6.
Bill of Rights Unit
A social studies unit for grades 4-6.
Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa Lesson Plans and and Resources
Hanukkah
A mini-unit for grades 4-5.
Hanukkah: The Festival
of Lights
A multi-grade lesson plan.
Comparing Hanukkah
and Christmas
A 2nd-grade lesson plan.
What is Hanukkah?
Information from the Society for Humanistic Judaism.
Light in Festivals
A social studies unit for grades 4-5 that examines the use
of light as a symbol in celebrating
Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Le Re'veillon, Los
Posados, and St. Lucia Day.
Kwanzaa
Mini-unit for grades 2-3.
Kwanzaa: An African American
Heritage Celebration
A lesson plan for the early elementary grades.
Kwanzaa
Another elementary lesson plan.
The Polar Express
A unit plan with a train theme using this
Christmas book by
Chris Van Allsburg.
See also
Take the Polar Express to Learning
and
Ride the
Polar Express.
Holiday Rhyming Lesson
Using the Christmas Tree
Tangle
A lesson plan for grades 1-3.
Fiesta
A lesson plan for grades 2-4 examining similarities between
our (US) celebration of Christmas
and Latin American Fiestas held in honor
of religious holidays, national events,
or community leaders.
Christmas
Around the World
A
lesson plan for grades 2-5 in which students
create a presentation about Christmas
is celebrated in a country of their
choice.
Christmas in Mexico
An excellent lesson plan for use with ESL students. See also
Happy
Christmas
for other ESL/EFL activities.
Feliz Navidad: A Mexican Christmas Unit
An interdisciplinary unit for grades K-2.
The Christmas Tree
A 4th or 5th-grade lesson
plan on the origin of the Christmas
tree. See also Teaching lesson Plans: The History
of Christmas Trees Parts
One,
Two,
and
Three as well as
Natural Resources and Your
Christmas Tree.
Christmas
Lesson plans and resources
from Mr. Donn's pages.
Christmas at the
White House
A Teacher Resource Guide.
Consumerism and Holidays
An interesting lesson
plan for grades 4-5 examining the economic
impact of holidays, including Christmas.
The Twelve
Days of Christmas
Find out how much it all costs with this lesson plan!
Spreading Christmas Cheer Using Spreadsheets
A Christmas-related math activity for grades 4-6.
A Colonial Christmas in Williamsburg
An
intermediate to middle-grade lesson plan in which
students learn about Christmas during colonial times.
The Twelve Days of Christmas
A
math activity for the intermediate grades.
Writing About a Christmas Day Celebration
A middle school lesson plan. See
What Does Christmas Mean to Me?
for another middle school lesson.
Deck the
Halls with Science
A junior high activity complete with worksheet.
Christmas, Kwanza, and
Hanukkah
Word
puzzles from Vocabulary.com.
Philanthropy in A Christmas Carol
One
more middle grade lesson. See also
Beyond
the Story: A Dickens of a Party.
Help Others on Boxing
Day
A lesson plan this holiday
celebrated December
26 in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
For more information on this holiday,
see
Boxing Day.
January
New Years Around the
World
A unit plan for the lower elementary grades. See also
New Year Traditions,
New Year Around
the World, and Saying
Happy New Year Around the World.
New
Year Celebrations Around the World
An Internet-based lesson plan for grades 3-5.
New
Year's Lesson Plans and Activities
From the Teacher's Corner.
New Year's Day Lesson Plans
Several lesson plans from the Shaw Elementary School Media Center
Happy New
Year! Or is it?
Lesson ideas from Education World exploring the world's different calendars.
New Year's
Resolutions
A lesson plan for the intermediate grades and which emphasizes reading and
speaking.
Happy New Year and a New Decade
An ESL lesson plan.
100th Day of School Celebration
More ideas for celebrating the 100th day of school.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day
A list of lesson plans and links from Mrs. Donn's pages.
Celebrating Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day
A mini-unit for grades 4-5.
Martin Luther King Day
A lesson plan for grades 3-4.
King & Civil Rights Lesson
Plan Using the Web
A 10th-grade activity.
Click here
for the accompanying web resources.
Lesson Plans and Resources
for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Many other lesson plans and links for Martin Luther King on my history
page..
Tet: The Vietnamese New
Year
A lesson plan for grades 3-4.
Australia Day (January
26)
Crafts, worksheets,
and activties suitable for kindergarten
and the primary grades. See also
Australia
Day.
February - Lesson and Resources for Groundhog day,
President's Day, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, etc.
Come to a Groundhog Day Party
Activities for a variety of grades from
Education World.
Groundhog Day
Links from Debbie's Unit
Factory.
Groundhog Day - February
2nd
Information and lesson
ideas from the Donn's.
Groundhog Day History
From 123Holiday.net. See also
Stormfax Weather Almanac Groundhog Day.
President's Day Lesson Plans and Resources
President's Day
The history of the holiday. See also
President's Day
and
President's Day or Washington's Birthday?
Federal
Resources for Educational Excellence
Free resources about U.S. presidents from the government!.
The Presidents of the
United States
White House source of
information,
pictures, etc. for all U. S. presidents. Use the left-side
menu to find the president about
whom you want information.
American Presidents: Life
Portraits
Teacher guides and resources for all US presidents from C-Span.
Web Hunt:
Presidents Past, Present, and Future
Cool activity from Scholastic.
Presidents' Day Activities
Ideas from Education World.
President's Day Activity:
Presidential Powers and President Obama's Inauguration
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to click on the
activity.
Presidents'
Day Lesson Plans, Activities, and Clip Art
From Mr. Donn.
Presidents' Day Quiz
An activity for ESL students
that could probably be adapted
to other student groups.
The Many Powers of the
President
A lesson plan designed to help students become familiar with
the many
roles of the president.
Valentine's Day Lesson Plans and Resources
The History of Valentine's Day
From History.com. See also
St. Valentine's Day - February 14th.
Mend
My Broken Heart
A math/language
arts lesson plan for grades 2-3. See also
Count the Hearts.
Valentine
Vase
A Valentine's Day art project for grade 1-4
Saint Valentine's Day
A 6th-grade language arts
lesson plan.
Valentine's Day 2002 Teaching
Tip Lesson Plan
This intermediate-grade
lesson plan should still work this year!
Valentine's
Day Theme Unit
Lots of worksheets, stories,
and other resources from edHelper.com.
Click here
for another long list of
lessons and other resources for
Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day Lesson Plans
and Links
More lesson ideas from Debbie's unit factory.
The
Language or Love
A lesson
plan for grades 6-8 in which students learn about
intercultural aspects of love and then create Valentines
based on their new knowledge. See also
Wilstar Valentine Word Search,
Valentine Cinquain Poems,
and
Valentine
Rap Game.
All
You Need is Love
A lesson plan from the N.Y.
Times Learning Network in which students research famous
historical couples and make posters illustrating their findings to be displayed
for St. Valentine’s Day. See also
You're Not My Type? Perfect for another lesson plan from this source.
Valentine Letter Writing
A lesson plan that could be adapted for a variety of grade levels.
Romeo and Juliet
Valentines
A high school lesson plan.
Susan B. Anthony Day
A grade 3-4 lesson plan about this day which is celebrated
on February 15.
Chinese New Year
Information about the Chinese New Year as well as a 3 to
5-day mini-unit for grades
2-3.
Mardi Gras Lesson
Plan
A lesson
plan for grades 9-12 from
mardgrasday.com.
Spring Holidays
March
St. Patrick's Day Lesson Plans and Resources
Teacher's Guide
St. Patrick's Day Page
Lesson plans, printables, clip art, etc.
St. Patrick's Day Lesson Plans
More ideas from Debbie's Unit Factory.
St Patrick/s
Day Worksheets
More than 20
worksheets from Teachnology.
Saint Patrick's
Day
A reading comprehension lesson plan for grades 3-6 that comes complete with a
worksheet.
Mary McLean and the St. Patrick's
Day Parade
A 4th-grade lesson plan for this
book by
Steven Kroll.
A Fine Saint Patrick's Day Reading Lesson Plan
An elementary-grade lesson plan that uses Susan Wojciechowski's picture book
A Fine St. Patrick's Day.
Saint Patrick's Day Snack
A 1st-grade lesson plan.
Leprechauns
and Other Tricksters
An Online unit.
Who
Was Saint Patrick?
See also
Saint Patrick
FAQ
and
Teaching about Saint Patrick's Day.
St. Patrick's Day
Information and links from the Donns.
St. Patrick's Day Links
Though this site has links that may be particularly useful
for teaching ESL, they should
also be useful for other situations.
Ireland WebQuest
See also
Discovering
Ireland WebQuest.
Women's History Week
A mini-unit for grades 4-5.
Easter Lesson plans and Resources
Easter
Information and teaching ideas from the Donns.
Easter Egg
Math
A kindergarten
or 1st-grade lesson plan.
Origin of
the Easter Bunny
A lesson
plan for grades 4-6 on how to write a myth.
Why All the EGG-citement about EGGs?
Lesson ideas
from Education World.
Easter Egg Dribble
A primary-grade
P.E. lesson plan.
Lesson Plan on Easter
Island
How about this for a geography lesson plan with an
Easter connection! Learn about this island named by
Admiral Roggeveen, who came upon it on Easter Day in 1722
. See also
The Lessons of Easter Island
and
Easter Island Home
Page.
Easter Lesson Plans
Many lesson
plans and resources from the Lesson Plans Page.
Easter Theme
More lesson
plans and activities from A to Z Teacher stuff.
Religious Easter Activities
Activities to help children
understand the religious
significance of the Easter holiday. See
also
Celebrating a Christian Easter
and
Easter Resources.
Easter Lesson
Plans
Religion-based
Easter activities for homeschoolers.
The History of Easter
Need some information regarding the history of Easter?
Take a look at this page from History.com. See also
Easter: History, Meaning, and Observances.
A Tale of Two Easters
Explains why in most years
Western Christian churches
and Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate
Easter on different dates. See also
Easter Date
Lesson Plan
and
Easter Dating Method.
Easter
in Australia
Doing a unit on Australia? Learn about Easter down
under!
April
April Fool's Day
A unit for grades 3-4.
April Fool's Day
Information on April Fool's Day from the Donns.
April Fool's Day Greeting Cards from
123Greetings.com
Make
somone's day by sending them a free April
fool's Day greeting card.
Hana Matsuri (Buddha's
Birthday)
A mini-unit for grades 5-6.
Passover
A lesson plan for the 5th grade.
Arbor Day Lesson Plans
Many lesson plans
from the Lesson Plans Page. See also
The Teacher's Guide: Arbor
Day.
National
Arbor Day Foundation
Information from the Arbor Day Foundation.
Arbor Day Across the United States
A color-key map activity
for grades 3-8 from Education World.
Earth Day
A mini-unit for grades 4-6.
Click here
for a similar mini-unit
for grades 2-3.
Earth Day - Every Day
Information, links, and a list of lesson plans from the Donns.
Kid's Domain: Earth
Day
A long list of links to Earth Day sites.
May
May Day Activities and Crafts
See also May
Day/Beltaine.
Cinco de Mayo
A lesson plan for grades 3-4.
Cinco de Mayo History
An excellent resource.
Celebrate Mother's Day in a New
Way
Lesson ideas
from Education World.
Billy Bear's Happy Mother's
Day Site
Create gifts, promise cards, awards for mom, etc.
Happy Mother's Day
Clip art, coloring, make a card, etc.
A Special Memorial Day
A lesson plan for grades
6-12 designed to enhance students'
understanding of the significance
of memorial day.
Memorial Day
Information and links
June
Flag Day Quest
A brief webquest.
Flag Day Lesson Plan
An Internet-based lesson from Education World.
Father's day for Educators
Links to ideas
for lessons and activities.
Father's Day Brainstorming
and Writing
A lesson plan from Teachervision.com.
Father's Day
Coloring pages, create cards, make a present, etc.
Greeting
Cards for an Awesome Dad
E-mail dad a card.
Please let
me know if you find any links on
this site that no longer function. My
name is
Edmund
J. Sass, Ed.D.
You can reach me at
esass@csbsju.edu