April
April is Alcohol Awareness Month
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month
From AAA: http://www.ny.aaa.com/Safety/Distracted-Driving/April-Is-Distracted-Driving-Awareness-Month
April is Financial Literacy Awareness Month
Eight Activities for Financial Literacy in the Classroom: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/Eight_Activities_Financial_Literacy.shtml?
April is Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month
One Survivor Remembers: http://www.tolerance.org/kit/one-survivor-remembers
free online Oscar-winning documentary
April is Jazz Appreciation Month
Smithsonian Jazz: http://americanhistory.si.edu/smithsonian-jazz
from The National Museum of American History
April is Math Awareness Month
Arbor Day is Coming. What do YOU know about Trees?: http://www.educationworld.com/blog/arbor-day-coming-what-do-you-know-about-trees
Math Goodies: http://www.mathgoodies.com/
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: http://www.nctm.org/
April is National Autism Awareness Month
April is National Math Education Month
April is National Poetry Month
5 Poems To Learn for National Poetry Month: http://www.educationworld.com/5-poems-learn-national-poetry-month
National Poetry Month: https://www.readingrockets.org/calendar/poetry#poets
National Poetry Month: poets.org/national-poetry-month
Study Plans Poetry Page
April is Phonics Awareness Month
April is World Inventors Month
April is Zoo and Aquarium Month
Lincoln Park (Chicago, IL) Zoo: http://www.lpzoo.org/
Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens: http://www.lazoo.org/
National Zoo: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/
Sand Diego Zoo: http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/
Arbor Day is observed on the last Friday in April.
Arbor Day Crafts: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/arborday/
Arbor Day Lessons and Teacher Resources http://lessonplanspage.com/ArborDay.htm/
Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox.
Easter Holiday Information: http://www.holidays.net/easter/index.htm
Easter Sunday: http://lessonplanspage.com/Easter.htm/
National Library occurs in April
Passover
Passover Holiday Information: http://www.holidays.net/passover/index.htm
April is Poetry Month
Spring Activities and Crafts
April Showers Bring May Flowers: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/april_showers.htm
Spring Teaching Activities: http://www.abcteach.com/directory/holidays-months-and-seasons-seasons-spring-3612-2-1
Preschool Spring Activity Theme: http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/preschool-spring.htm
April 1
April Fool's Day
Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale - read by Chris Pine: storylineonline.net/books/clark-the-shark/
-1950: Death of Charles R. Drew (45), surgeon and developer of the blood bank concept, after an automobile accident near Burlington, North Carolina.
April 2
International Children's Book Day
- 742: Charlemagne was born.
-1234: Edmund Rich becomes Archbishop of Canterbury. Raised to the Archbishopric by Pope Gregory IX, Edmund was an outspoken figure who clashed with King Henry III of England and preached for the Sixth Crusade.
-1285: Honorius IV elected pope. Honorius was old and crippled when elected but in his brief two years as pope he worked toward reuniting the Western and Eastern churches and supported the mendicant orders.
-1918: Charles White was a renowned African-American artist born in Chicago, IL He died October 3, 1979. Charles White began his professional career by painting murals for the WPA during the Depression. He was influenced by Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Among his most notable creations are: J'Accuse (1966), a series of charcoal drawings depicting a variety of African-Americans from all ages and walks of life; the Wanted posters(c. 1969), a series of paintings based on old runaway slave posters; and Homage to Langston Hughes(1971)
April 3
Find a Rainbow Day
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister - read by Ernest Borgnine: storylineonline.net/books/the-rainbow-fish/
April 4
International Carrot Day
The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake by Robin Newman - read by Wanda Sykes: storylineonline.net/books/missing-carrot-cake/
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter - read by Rose Byrne: storylineonline.net/books/peter-rabbit/
-1968: Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by white sniper in Memphis, Tennessee.
April 5
-1614: John Rolfe and Pocahontas married in Jamestown. He introduced tobacco crops to Virginia, and she was the daughter of a chief, captured by colonists and converted to Christianity.
April 6
-1823: Newspaper editor Joseph Medill was born
-1830: the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints was founded in a log cabin in Fayette, N.Y.
-1846: Dred Scott and his wife Harriet filed suit against Irene Emerson for their freedom. The Dred Scott case was first brought to trial in 1847 in the first floor, west wing courtroom of St. Louis' Courthouse. A black slave from Missouri who claimed his freedom on the basis of seven years of residence in a free state and a free territory.
-1851: Portland, Ore., was founded.
-1866: Journalist Lincoln Steffens
-1884: Actor Walter Huston was born
-1892: Radio commentator Lowell Thomas was born
-1896: the first modern Olympics formally opened at Athens, Greece, after a 1,500-year hiatus.
-1903: Baseball Hall-of-Famer Gordon "Mickey" Cochrane was born
-1909: Robert E. Peary and co-explorer Matthew Henson reached the North Pole.
-1917: the United States declared war on Germany, propelling the United States into World War I.
-1928: Geneticist James Watson was born
-1929: Musician Andre Previn was born
-1937: Country singer Merle Haggard and actor Billy Dee Williams were born
-1942: Producer/director Barry Levinson was born
-1944: Singer/actress Michelle Phillips
-1947: the first Tony Awards, honoring distinguished work in the theater, were presented in New York City. Actor John Ratzenberger ("Cheers") was born.
-1952: Actress Marilu Henner ("Taxi")
-1968: federal troops and National Guardsmen were ordered out in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, as rioting continued over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
-1976: Actress Candace Cameron ("Full House")
-1991: Iraq's parliament accepted a permanent cease-fire in the Gulf War.
-1992: science fiction patriarch Isaac Asimov died after lengthy illness. He was 72.
-1993: testimony concluded in the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers charged with violating Rodney King's civil rights during his 1991 arrest. (Two of the officers would eventually be convicted.)
-1994: The presidents of the African nations of Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a plane crash in the capital city of Rwanda. The incident triggered bloody fighting between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups that ultimately left hundreds of thousands of people dead.
-1994: Justice Harry A. Blackmun, who had served on the U.S. Supreme Court since being chosen by President Nixon in 1970, announced his retirement.
-1996: rioting broke out in Liberia following the arrest of factional leader Roosevelt Johnson on murder charges.
-1999: in the first state referendum of its kind, voters in Missouri voted 52 to 48 percent against a proposal to allow the carrying of concealed weapons.
-2000: the father of Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez arrived in the United States to take custody of his six-year-old son.
April 7
World Health Day
The Tooth by Avi Slodovnick - read by Annette Bening
April 8:
Ponce de Leon Day
April 10.
Encourage a Young Writer Day
National Siblings Day
My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco - read by Melissa Gilbert: storylineonline.net/books/my-rotten-redheaded-older-brother/
-1866: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was founded. It was patterned after a similar -- and similarly named -- organization in Britain.
-1938: Nana Annor Adjaye, Pan-Africanist, dies in W. Nzima, Ghana
April 11
National Pet Day
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion - read by Betty White: storylineonline.net/books/harry-the-dirty-dog/
April 12:
National D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) Day
-1861: United States Civil War begain
April 13
-1743: Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, was born.
-1853: Frank Woolworth, founder of the five-and-dime stores, was born.
-1899: Alfred Butts, inventor of the game "Scrabble," was born.
-1906: Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was born.
-1907: Harold Stassen, former Minnesota governor who sought the Republican presidential nomination seven times, was born.
-1909: Author Eudora Welty was born.
-1917: Actor/singer Howard Keel was born.
-1935: Actors Lyle Waggoner was born.
-1939: Paul Sorvino was born.
-1945: Tony Dow (Wally on "Leave It To Beaver") was born.
-1946: Singers Al Green in 1946 was born.
-1951: Peabo Bryson was born. "Late Night with David Letterman" bandleader Max Weinberg was born.
-1950: Actor Ron Perlman ("Beauty and the Beast") was born.
-1964: Sidney Poitier became the first black man to win an Oscar for best actor. He was so honored for his work in "Lilies of the Field."
-1965: Lawrence Bradford Jr., a 16-year-old from New York City, started work as the first black page ever to serve in either chamber of Congress.
-1966: Andrew F. Brimmer, economist and former Professor of Economics at University of Pennsylvania, is nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson to serve as a Governor of the
Federal Reserve System. This appointment represented the first black to serve in this capacity.
-1970: Rick Schroeder ("NYPD Blue") was born.
-1972: the first major league baseball strike ended, eight days after it began.
-1984: Christopher Wilder, the FBI's "most wanted man," accidentally killed himself as police moved in to arrest him in New Hampshire. Wilder was a suspect in the deaths, rapes and disappearances of 11 young women in eight states.
-1987: the Population Reference Bureau reported that the world's population had exceeded 5 billion.
-1990: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gave Lithuania a two-day ultimatum, threatening to cut off some supplies to the Baltic republic if it does not rescind laws passed since a March 11 declaration of independence.
-1991: an advance team of U.N. observers arrived in Kuwait City to set up a peacekeeping force along the Kuwait-Iraqi border.
-1992: construction workers breeched a retaining wall in the Chicago River, sending water flooding through a tunnel system connecting buildings in the downtown area.
-1992: Princess Anne, daughter of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, began divorce proceedings after a two-year separation from Capt. Mark Phillips.
-1994: five Israelis were killed and another 30 wounded in a suicide bombing in a bus station in Hadera.
-1995: Rep. Robert Dornan, R-Calif., announced his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination.
-1997: Tiger Woods, 21, won the Masters Tournament. He was the youngest Masters champion and the first African-American to win any of the four major professional golf tournaments for men.
-1997: Indian Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda resigned.
April 14
Leaders for Literacy Day
-1865: President Lincoln was shot and critically wounded at Ford's Theater in Washington.
April 15
World Art Day
When Pigasso Met Mootisse by Nina Laden - read by Eric Close: storylineonline.net/books/when-pigasso-met-mootisse/
-1959: African Freedom Day is declared at the All-African People's Conference in Accra, Ghana.
April 16
National Librarian Day
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen - read by Mindy Sterling
April 17
Follow Directions Day
National Bat Appreciation Day
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon - read by Pamela Reed: storylineonline.net/books/stellaluna/
-1521: German religious reformer Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. The Church's action was based on Luther's attacks against the papacy and the sale of indulgences. (A practice common at the time, a person's sins were pardoned through the purchase of an indulgence letter.)
-1872: William Monroe Trotter, crusader for full equality, publisher of "The Boston Guardian," co-founder of the Niagara Movement and close friend of W.E.B. Dubois, was born in Boston,
Massachusetts.
-1961: Bay of Pigs invasion took place.
-1967: spacecraft Surveyor 3 was successfully launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. The second U.S. spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon, it studied the lunar surface and sent more than 6,300 pictures back to Earth.
A total of seven Surveyors were sent to the moon.
-1982: Canada Received Its Own Constitution.
-1986: Peace Treaty Signed Between Isles of Scilly and the Netherlands.
-1989: Solidarinosc Granted Legal Status. After almost a decade of struggle and suppression, the Polish labor union Solidarinosc (Solidarity) was granted legal status, clearing the path for the downfall of the Polish Communist Party.
April 18
Pet Owner's Day
-1480: Italian duchess Lucrezia Borgia was born
-1775: American patriot Paul Revere began his famed ride through the Massachusetts countryside, crying out "The British are coming!" to rally the Minutemen.
-1857: Lawyer Clarence Darrow was born.
-1882: Symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski was born.
-1922: Actress Barbara Hale was born.
-1923: Yankees Stadium opened in New York.
-1942: U.S. planes bombed the Japanese mainland for the first time during World War II.
-1946: Actress Hayley Mills was born.
-1947: Actor James Woods was born.
-1949: the Republic of Ireland formally declared itself independent from Britain.
-1954: Actor Rick Moranis was born.
-1956: Actor Eric Roberts was born.
-1961: Actress Jane Leeves ("Frasier") was born.
-1963: Late night talk show host Conan O'Brien and actor Eric McCormack were born.
-1976: Actress Melissa Joan Hart was born.
-1977: Alex Haley, author of "Roots" was awarded Pultizer Prize.
-1980: Rhodesia became the independent African nation of Zimbabwe.
-1987: Democrat Annette Strauss was elected the first woman mayor of Dallas.
-1992: An 11-year-old Florida boy sued to "divorce" his natural parents and remain with his foster parents. The boy eventually won his suit.
-1993: The U.N. Security Council voted to toughen sanctions against Serbia because of its support for Bosnian Serbs trying to carve an ethnically pure state out of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
-1996: Gunmen killed 18 people and wounded 15 more in an attack on tourists at the Egyptian pyramids.
-2000: The U.N. Commission on Human Rights embarrassed the Clinton administration by refusing to criticize China's record on human rights.
April 19
-1897: The very first running of the Boston Marathon, a familiar and popular annual event ever
since that date. It was called the American Marathon.
April 20
-1990: Oakland, California hosted the first Bay Area "Black Filmworks Festival." Sponsored by the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, the three-day event featured 25 films including a documentary entitled, "Making 'Do the Right Thing."
April 20
National Lima Bean Respect Day
A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon - read by Sean Astin: storylineonline.net/books/a-bad-case-of-stripes/
April 21
Kindergarten Day
-1856: The first train crossed the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River.
-1997: Kenya's Lamuck Aguta wins the 101st Boston Marathon.
-1917: Alexander Kerensky, the leader of the revolution that removed Czar Nicholas II from power, was born.
-1917: Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov, who is better known as Nikolai Lenin, was born.
-1904: J. Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York City. He was credited with inventing and testing the world's first Atom Bomb.
April 22:
Earth Day
Activities to Celebrate Earth Day: Pacing Yourself (as a Teacher): http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson174.shtml
Buster The Cloud: http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/earth/mcloud.html
Discuss what makes a cloud, how the water cycle works--or for an Earth Day activity, how pollution affects the planet--all while creating this art activity cloud.
Earth Day Groceries Project: http://www.earthdaybags.org/
Earth Day Lesson Plans & Resources: http://lessonplanspage.com/EarthDay.htm/
Earth Day Network: http://www.earthday.org/
Earth Day Theme Ideas: http://themes.atozteacherstuff.com/781/earth-day-activities-lesson-plans-printables-teaching-ideas/
Earth Watch Institute: http://earthwatch.org/
Endangered Ecosystems: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorer/ecosystems/
Engaging Activities to Prep for Earth Day: http://www.educationworld.com/a_news/engaging-activities-prep-earth-day-35259681?
Five Literacy-Based Ways to Celebrate Earth Day with Your Child: https://www.readingrockets.org/article/five-literacy-based-ways-celebrate-earth-day-your-child
The Great Backyard Bird Count: http://gbbc.birdcount.org/
Grist: http://grist.org/
Here Comes the Garbage Barge by Jonah Winter - read by Justin Theroux: storylineonline.net/books/garbage-barge/
Illinois Natural History Survey - Prairie research Institute: http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/
Planet Pals: http://www.planetpals.com/
Recycle City: http://www3.epa.gov/recyclecity/
The Water Cycle: http://www.kidzone.ws/water/index.html
WildFINDER" http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/wildfinder/
-1909: Rita Levi-Montalcini was born. she was awarded the Nobel Prize I Physiology and Medicine in 1986 for her work on nerve growth factor: A graphic novel about her life can be found at: http://www.dana.org/uploadedFiles/Pdfs/Motalcini-Graphic-Novel-English.pdf
-1914: Babe Ruth made his professional pitching debut for the then-minor league Baltimore Orioles.
April 23:
World Book Day
William Shakespeare was born
Romeow & Drooliet by Nina Laden - read by Haylie Duff: storylineonline.net/books/romeow-drooliet/
April 24:
Arbor Day
April 25
-1917: Ella Fitzgerald, "First Lady of Song," was born in 1934,
April 26
National Pretzel Day
-1785: Wildlife artist John James Audubon was born in Haiti.
April 28
-1947: A six-man expedition led by Thor Heyerdahl left South America on a balsa raft called the Kon-Tiki for a journey across the Pacific Ocean ending in Polynesia 101 days later. The Norwegian ethnologist wanted to prove that the South Sea islands may have been inhabited by South Americans.
-1967: Mrs. Robert W. Claytor elected president of the YWCA, the first Black president of the organization.
April 29
International Dance Day
The Hula-Hoopin' Queen by Thelma Godin - read by Oprah Winfrey: storylineonline.net/books/hula-hoopin-queen/
-1913: The anniversary of a revolutionary fashion patent given to Gideon Sundback from Hoboken, New Jersey. He invented a wonderful new fastener intended to "replace" the button which came to be known as the zipper. Unlike many other inventions, the zipper was aptly named for the sound that it made when opening and closing instead of being named after its inventor.
April 30
Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros (Day of the Children)
International Jazz Day
Rent Party Jazz by William Miller - read by Viola Davis: storylineonline.net/books/rent-party-jazz/
Trombone Shorty by Troy Andres - read by Angela Bassett: storylineonline.net/books/trombone-shorty/
National Honesty Day
The Empty Pot by Demi - read by Rami Malek: storylineonline.net/books/the-empty-pot/
"Honesty is the Best Policy" - George Washington: http://character.org/lessons/lesson-plans/middle/john-a-carusi-middle-school/ Lesson plan
-1863: Sarah Thompson became the first African American woman to become a principal in the New York Public School System.