The big holidays get all of the attention, but those little obscure holidays can provide great teachable moments too. We have gathered some of Spring’s most unusual celebrations and listed them for you below. Whether you mention them to your students in passing, or create a mini-unit based on them, we encourage you to have a really good time with them.
Wacky Spring Holidays
Everything You Do Is Right Day (March 16th)
This holiday of unknown origin can provide a great day of classroom fun if you think of “right” as a direction instead of as a correct action. For the littlest learners, distinguishing their left from their right can be challenging. On this unusual holiday, make “right” the direction of choice. You could pass things to the right, hop on your right foot, or keep turning to the right as you walk around the school. Older students could work with right triangles or discuss the different meanings of the word “rights”.
National Goof Off Day (March 22nd)
It might be tempting to skip mentioning this day altogether, but it can yield some fun and educational classroom activities. Have students create “goof balls” made from tennis balls. They can use markers, glue on hair, add google-eyes or decorate them however they want. After they are decorated, hold a Goof Ball Competition. See which goof ball can bounce the highest and roll the farthest. Have students make predictions and analyze the outcome of the event.
Big Wind Day (April 12th)
Big Wind Day was started to commemorate the highest wind speed ever recorded. It was on April 12, 1934 at the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire that the wind speed was measured at 231mph. Discuss wind and windspeed with your students on this day. Let them stand or sit outside and enjoy the breeze while writing in their poetry journals about the feel of the wind. Even without an educational activity, it is a great excuse to get outside during the school day!
Look-Alike Day (April 20th)
This unusual holiday is a great chance for students and teachers to dress alike. You could also have your students dress like their favorite book character. Have a game of 20 Questions and ask the class to try to guess who each person was dressed as. Another option is to show solidarity in your school by having everyone dress alike on that day.
Is there an unusual holiday that you enjoy celebrating with your students? Share your favorite wacky holiday below. We would love to hear how you use obscure celebrations to make learning fun!
Sarah C says
Wow! Never heard of these before. I’ll have to implement them into my lessons!! 🙂
Karen Greenberg says
I love these silly little holidays that can add fun to the classroom. They can be a theme for the whole day, or they can take 5 minutes to celebrate. On National Popcorn Day I brought popcorn for a snack and we danced to the popcorn song a couple of times. It was great fun and gave us a few minutes to take our minds off the daily grind.
I’m always looking for these neat holidays to bring something different into the classroom. Each of the days mentioned in this article are ones I’ve never heard of before. The Goof Ball day sounds like a hoot with the decorated tennis balls.
Melinda Benham says
Who knew? How fun! I love that we can use these holidays as a starting point for research or to have a silly celebration in the classroom.
Mary Jacobs says
Every day when we do calendar I tell the student a “wacky” or unique fact about the day. They love to hear what type of day it is. Their favorites so far are the “Have a Donut Day” and “Play Sick from Work/School Day”.
Jeff Johnston says
Big Wind Day sounds like a hoot! I’ll need to take the suggestion to sit outside and write in our Writer’s Notebooks. I won’t limit the kids to poetry, but they can if they want. I think it would be a good time to make seasonal change observations for Science as well!
Jamie says
I love these! I’m always looking for more creative ways to get learning across to my students! These are difinitely some different holidays 🙂
Angela says
What do you know! Some of my kiddoes have been celebrating Goof Off Day all year! Hee!
Crystal F. says
These are great ideas. I had never heard of these days before. This will make great writing activities for our writing journals after lunch. Thanks.
Lynbit says
How about a “Robin Sighting” celebration? They’ll be bob-bob-bing’ along!
Kristal says
In my school, we have celebrated Look-Alike Day. The students and their friends wear similar clothing. They enjoy it very much.
Sarah C says
When I first read “Goof Off Day” I was getting ready to move on to the next one! I don’t want goof offs in my class! However, when I read what the idea was for that, I think it’s genius! I think it’s great to sneak in a few arts and crafts ideas over time and this looks like a fun and creative idea!