Did you know January 2nd is National Buffet Day? Or that April 9th is National Name Yourself Day? Have you ever wondered who comes up with all the national days of the year?
Last year, I started exploring some of these national days with my students in our ELA class. They were so engaged and excited to learn what wacky holiday it would be each day.
Keep reading to check out exactly how we did this.
Also, be sure to check out my free “Roadmap to Curriculum Mapping Success.” I share the step-by-step process for creating a curriculum map for your school year. Click here to get your copy for free!
Note that this activity could be done at the beginning of the day as a warm-up, or as a finisher at the end of the day. These can be made part of your daily routine or slotted in your schedule when you have some spare time.
Guessing the National Holiday of the Day
I started this activity on the first day of school by asking students if they had heard of different national holidays. Students took turns sharing some common days that they had heard of.
I then asked the students if they had any guesses as to what the national day for that particular day was.
When first starting this activity, students’ guesses were quite tame: “National donut day” or “National bagel day”.
However, as the students became accustomed to the weirdness and randomness of the national holidays that we would share, their guesses became more outrageous.
Announcing All the National Days of the Year as a Class
Once students were given the opportunity to guess what they thought the national day was, I would project that days’ slide on the interactive whiteboard.
Then, I would have one student read the title of the national day and the prompt.
Click here to get your hand on this National Days of the Year slideshow.
Think, Pair Share
After the national day was announced, students would have a couple minutes to think about their response to the day’s prompt. Afterwards, they would share their response with a partner.
Then, students would take turns sharing their responses as a whole group discussion.
All the National Days of the Year as Writing Prompts
You may decide to also have students write about the national day of the year as a journal entry. I like to do this after students have had time to discuss. This allows for students to better form their ideas before the writing step. I find this is helpful for students who have anxiety when it comes to writing, as ideas often don’t come as easily to these students. Click here to check out my recent blog post about writing anxiety.
As this activity is compatible with Tpt’s Easel software, you can choose to make this a digital journal entry. Click here to check out the resource!
Click here to download the free “Roadmap to Curriculum Mapping Success”
Some of My Favourites out of All the National Days of the Year
September 18 is National Backpack Appreciation Day
September 23 is National Dogs in Politics Day
October 30 is National Haunted Refrigerator Day
November 19 is National Toilet Day
December 20 is National Dot Your I’s Day
Final Thoughts
I absolutely love incorporating all of the National Days of the Year as both discussion and writing prompt into my teaching. Click here to get the resource!
What’s the most outrageous national holiday you’ve heard of? Comment below!
PS-Don’t leave without getting your free “Roadmap to Curriculum Mapping Success” by clicking here!
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