2010
Make your monthly planning easy!
Look at what's going on each day and do something to recognize or celebrate it.
Put "what the day" is on your entrance white board-- along with the rest of the plans for the day!
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Flower: Jonquil
Birthstone: Aquamarine
Astrological Sign:
Pisces: February 20 to March 20
Aries: March 20 to April 19
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March is:
National Craft Month (See all the Craft Categories!)
Women's History Month
American Red Cross Month
National Peanut Butter Month (See below)
Kite Month (See below)
Frozen Food Month
Help Someone See Month (For Comunity Service-collect old eye glasses and donate)
Irish-American Heritage Month
St. Patrick's Day (See Categories)
International Listening Awareness
Noodle Month (See Noodle Category)
Non-Fiction Reading & Writing Month
Nutrition Month
Optimism Month
Poetry Month (See below)
Play the Recorder Month
Spring Month
Umbrella Month (See page bottom)
Poison Prevention Awareness Month
Music in our School Month! Ideas Here!
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DOING THE DAYS...
1. Yellowstone National Park Anniversary
Pig Day (See Pig Theme)
Peanut Butter Day (See below)
Smile Day (See Two Smile Ideas in October)
St. David's Day in Wales
Nebraska Admission Day-1867
Ohio Admission Day- 1803
2. Dr. Seuss' Birthday-1904 (See Dr. Seuss Categories) and Read Across America Day! (See below)
National Banana Cream Pie Day
3. Bonza Bottler Day: Just a reason to celebrate. This happens each month when the month and date are the same number.
Doll Festival in Japan (Hinamatsuri) This nationwide event takes place and sees girls set up red platforms, on which they display dolls. costume.
Florida Admission Day
Alexander Graham Bell Birthday-1847
4. National Pound Cake Day
Us Constitution in effect-1869
National Anthem Day
Vermont Admission Day
5. Parachute invented (Visit Parachute Games)
Stop the Clocks Day
National Chocolate Cheesecake Day
Artist Diego Velazquez Born
6. Iditarod Race begins
First Electric Power plant opened
Oreo Cookies first go on sale (Serve Oreo cookies!)
Michelangelo Born 1475
7. Telephone patented
Coca-Cola Bottler's association formed
Artist Piet Mondrian Born - 1872
8. National Peanut Cluster Day
Farmer's Day (See Farm Category )
International Women's Day
9. National Crabmeat Day
V-8 Engine built
Barbie's Birthday
10. National Blueberry Popover Day
First Paper Money issued
Harriet Tubman Day
Johnny Appleseed Day (See Apple Theme and Apple Snacks)
12. Girl Scout Day
Anniversary of the death of Ann Frank
13. Uncle Sam's Birthday (See Patriotic Category)
Uranus discovered-1781
Earmuff Day
14. Albert Einstein's born-1879
National Potato Chips Day and Baseball Cap invented-1860
15. Beware of the Ides of March
Julius Caesar Assassinated 44BC
Maine Admissions Day-1820
16. Buzzard Day
National Artichoke Day
Everything you do is Right Day
17. St. Patrick's Day (See Categories)
Submarine Day
18. Pillsbury Doughboy's Birthday
National Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day
Canberra Day in Australia
Forgive Mom and Dad Day
Aruba Flag Day
Las Fallas de San Jos--
This is a huge Fiesta in Valencia and Benidorm, which culminates in the burning of huge cardboard models and amazing fireworks displays, a visual feast. This Fiesta is to celebrate the beginning of spring.
Grandparents and Grandchildren Day (Make a craft and card before this day!)
19. National Chocolate Caramel Day
Sparky the Firedog's Birthday
Wyatt Earp Born
National Agriculture Day (See Farm Category)
Swallows Return Day
20. First Day of Spring! On March 20, 2010, at precisely 1:32 P.M. EDT (about 09:00 Universal Time), the Sun will cross directly over the Earth's equator. This moment is known as the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. For the Southern Hemisphere, this is the moment of the autumnal equinox. AND...Big Bird from Sesame Street's Birthday
Agriculture Day (See Farm Category)
Mr. Rogers Born
Independence Day in Tunisia
21. California Strawberry Day (See below)
National French Bread Day
Children's Poetry Day (Below)
First US Zoo Opened
Pizza Day-Be sure to have pizza! Any kind! Bagel, English Muffin, Bobili, French Bread, etc.
Fragrance Day (See Crafts that Smell Good)
Absolutely Incredible Kid Day (Today-Let the kids know how fantastic they are!) Can you come up with a special phrase for each child?!
Single Parents' Day
Iranian New Year
Teen-Agers Day
22. National Bavarian Crepes Day
United Nations World Water Day
As Young as You Feel Day!
23. Toast Day (See below)
Cable Car Patented
National Energy Education Day
Elevator Day
Liberty Day-Patrick Henry's Famous Speech- "Give me liberty or give me Death" 1775
24. National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day (Make some trail-mix and add chocolate covered raisins!)
Independence Day in Philippines
International Day of the Seal
25. Lobster Newburg Day
Independence Day in Greece
26. Cape Cod named-1602
Dunkin Hines Birthday-1880 (Make a Dunkin HInes cake!)
Robert Frost Born-1874
Independence Day in Bangladesh
Make up your own Holiday! (Below)
27. First Fire Engine Tested
National Spanish Paella Day
Education and Sharing Day
Happy Birthday to You Day (Have a Happy Un-birthday Party for the entire group!)
28. National Black Forest Cake Day
Qing Ming Festival in China
Holi in China
Morione's Festival in Philippines
29. National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day
Oscar Mayer Born (Have an Oscar Mayer snack!)
Youth Day in Taiwan
30. Doctor's Day
National Hot Dog Day (Make hot dogs or one of these Crock Pot Recipes)
Eraser-topped pencil patented-1858
Artist Vincent van Gogh Born - 1853 (See Van Gogh Sunflow Art Ideas)
Artist Francisco Goya Born-1746
31. Tater Day (How about a potato bar with all the toppings!)
Oranges and Lemons Day (Have orange juice and lemonade for snack! Cut up some oranges)
National Clams on the Half-Shell Day
Eiffel Tower Anniversary
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IDEAS FOR SPECIAL DAYS OF MARCH!
MARCH IS NATIONAL PEANUTBUTTER MONTH!
These are a few of the "Peanut butter" food ideas collected from the site... You could also make Peanutbutter Play Dough!
PEANUT BUTTER BALLS (24 balls)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup nonfat dry milk
1 cup quick cooking oats
Wax paper
Mix all ingredients and then roll the mixture into 1" balls.
Lay the balls on waxed paper. Refrigerate until set.
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BUMPS ON A LOG...
1 celery stalk, washed and ends trimmed
2 tablespoons creamy or chunky peanut butter
10 Raisenettes Milk Chocolate-Covered Raisins
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ANTS ON A LOG
Celery sticks
Peanut butter or cream cheese
Raisins
Wash the celery and cut it into pieces about 5 inches long.
Spread peanut butter over the entire length of the celery.
Press raisins into peanut butter.
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MAKE AN ANT FARM
Ingredients: Peanut Butter, Graham Crackers and Raisins.
On a plate spread peanut butter
In the middle you erect a tunnel from the broken graham crackers. Then you place the raisins on the peanut butter to look like Ants. Eat the raisins and peanut butter with either the graham crackers or pieces of celery.
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"DOMINOES" (Put dominoes out for children to see what they look like! Afterward play dominoe game!)
Spread peanut butter on graham crackers (broken into the small rectangles) and top with either chocolate chips or raisins so that they look like 'dominoes'.
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SANDWICH FACE
Just put out the ingredients and let kids take and make!
Peanut Butter
Bananas -sliced
Raisins
Bread (1 slice each child)
M&M's candy
Spread the peanut butter on the slice of bread. Next, put 2 banana circles on the bread to look like eyes. Use a raisin as a nose.
Last, make mouth out of M&M's candy.
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THIS IS UMBRELLA MONTH
TISSUE PAPER COLORED UMBRELLAS
Materials:
Sheet of white or manila oak tag (heavy paper)
Art tissue paper of various colors cut up into small pieces
Black felt tip permanent marker
Scissors
Squirt bottle of water
Make umbrella shape templates. Trace the shape on oak tag as large as you would like -- but no smaller than half of the sheet. Cut it out. Using the marker, draw the umbrella ribs on the shape.
In a colorful arranegement, have children place pieces of art tissue all over the oak tag.
Gently squirt the "papered umbrella" with the water;it's a SPRING SHOWER.
Lay it flat to dry. As the tissue dries,the colors will adhere to the oak tag.
While drying-trace and cut out a handle.This can be stapled to the dry umbrella. The tissue will fall off when dry.
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UMBRELLA PICTURES #1
Need: Cupcake liners, Scissors, Glue, Crayons or Paint Pipe Cleaners
Cut several Cupcake liners in half (these will be umbrellas).
Glue the umbrellas onto a sheet of paper.
Use pipe cleaner to make the umbrella handles.
Glue on the handles. Add clouds and rain drops.
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UMBRELLA #2
Have children cut individual egg-carton cups in half.
Glue the halves onto a sheet of construction paper.
Add pipe cleaners for handles.
Draw pictures around the umbrellas with crayons or paint.
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ORANGE UMBRELLA SNACKS
Slice an orange into 1/4" thick round slices. Cut each round slice in half to form a half round umbrella shape. Place each orange umbrella on a small plate.
Have each child choose an "umbrella handle" from thin sliced cheese, pretzel sticks, thin celery sticks, or thin apple slices.
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UMBRELLA PAINTING
Rainy days on the way?
Have interested children bring a solid color umbrella.
Cover floor; open umbrella; decorate each section with fabric paint or pens.
Let dry for a day before closing or using.
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MARCH IS NATIONAL KITE MONTH!
Beside making your favorite kites... here are two ideas for younger children!
PAPER PLATE KITE
Materials: Paper Plate, Tissue Paper, Streamers, Crayons/markers,
String, Craft Sticks
1. Have children draw a design (or make one with tissue paper) on the paper plate.
2. Next have them glue foot long streamers on the paper plate.
3. Punch a hole at the nose of the plate and tie a piece of yarn through it.
4. Wrap additional yarn around a craft stick and then tape the yarn on the plate to the stick. The kite will really fly on a windy day.
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SPRING-TIME MATCH GAME: WALL PAPER KITES...
1. Cut kite shapes out of different patterned wallpapers; cut the kites in half.
2. Have children match the kite halves by the design.
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THIS IS POETRY MONTH! HOW ABOUT POETRY PEBBLES? Grade: 4-8
Materials:
Small rocks or pebbles
Small paint bushes
Water and water containers
Magic markers
Paint (make tempera paint thicker by adding glue or flour)
A covered work area
A shoebox, yogurt or empty "Jiffy Pop" popcorn container
Hairspray or a spray varnish
• Make sure your pebbles are clean.
• Paint words onto your pebbles. You could also use markers instead of paint.
• Choose a number of words-people, places, things, action words etc. Example:
1. he
2. she
3. to
4. love
5. dog
6. went
7. walk
8. you
9. happy
10. in
11. to
12. a
13. my
14. your
15. orange
16. red
17. blue
18. purple
19. green
20. swim
21. bike
- Use your imagination and make sure you draw some punctuation marks on some pebbles as well (comma, exclamation point, period, question mark etc.)
- Once the pebbles are painted, let them dry and seal them with hairspray or spray varnish.
- Put all the pebbles into a show box or Jiffy Pop container. You can decorate your container with paint or markers as well.
- Play a game of poetry pebbles. Each player chooses a number of pebbles from the box and tries to come up with a poem or story.
Makes for a great way to begin a short story for those times when you have writers block!
Source: Kinderart.co
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READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY
MARCH 2, 2010
The National Education Association annually sponsors Read Across America. Now in its thirteenth year, the program focuses on how important it is to motivate children to read, in addition to helping them master basic skills. The nationwide reading celebration takes place each year on or near March 2, the birthday of children's author Dr. Seuss. Thousands of schools, libraries and community centersparticipate by bringing together kids and books. You can too!
Your reading event can be as simple or elaborate as time and inclination allow. Whether you choose to scale up or down, keep in mind the basic premise and it's almost sure to be a success:
On March 2, the National Education Association is calling for every child to be reading in the company of a caring adult.
ACTIVITY...TRAVELING ACROSS AMERICA--BOOK BY BOOK
This is a great way to kick off and celebrate! (However, ANYTIME is a good time to start this activity!)
Encourage reading books about our 50 states and earn mileage to move across a map of the U.S. for each book read.
You "travel" across a map of the U.S. by reading a book that takes place in each of the states. (A variation is to read a book whose author lives in a particular state, or a book about a particular state.
You can develop your own mechanism for tracking readers...
FOR BOOKS THAT FEATURE titles about America VISIT Here... There is a long list of books for each state from Alabama to Wyoming!
Example:
ALABAMA
•Picture Book of Rosa Parks by David Adler
•Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Curtis
•Run Away Home by Patricia McKissack
•Helen Keller: From Tragedy to Triumph by Katharine E. Wilkie
ALASKA
•Kiana's Iditarod by Shelley Gill
•Williwaw by Tom Bodett
•Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
•Child of the Wolves by Elizabeth Hall
•Call of the Wild by Jack London
•The Eagle's Shadow by Nora Martin
•Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
•Kavik the Wolf Dog by Walt Morey
•The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto by Natalie Standiford
and so on...
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MARCH 21 IS FRAGRANCE DAY! Visit crafts that smell good! Lots of ideas...
Example: NON-SEW SACHETS
Materials: Fabric scraps, Fabric glue, Potpourri
- For each sachet, place 2 matching 5-inch fabric squares back-to-back and glue the edges together on 3 sides. Spread the glue close to the edges to prevent fraying.
- Once the glue is dry, fill the sachet with about 1/2 cup of potpourri.
- Glue together the open edges and again let the glue dry.
- Arrange the finished sachets in multicolored stacks and tie them together with a festive ribbon or yarn.
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March 21 is CALIFORNIA STRAWBERRY DAY!
MAKE STRAWBERRY MICE (Ingredients: Fresh strawberries, Mini chocolate chips, Black decorators' icing, Almond slivers, Toothpick, Red lace licorice
Cheese (Your choice)
1. For each mouse, slice a small section from the side of a strawberry so it sits flat.
2. Press a mini chocolate chip into the tip for a nose, using a small dab of icing to secure it in place, if needed.
3. Add icing eyes and stick 2 almond slivers into the top of the berry for ears.
4. For a tail, use a toothpick to carve a small hole in the back of the berry and push the end of a piece of licorice lace into the hole.
Serve these cute Berries with small triangles of cheese and maybe crackers...I made these with my 4 and 6 year old grandchildren and they loved them! Submitted by Cassie/Michigan
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MARCH 23 is TOAST DAY! TOAST, ART AND SNACK ALL IN ONE! If you haven't done this one with the kids yet--now is the time!
Ingredients: Bread, Milk, Food coloring, cinnamon sugar, butter, small paper cups,thin brushes or cotton-tipped swabs
Mix “paint by combining food coloring with milk. Paint designs on one side—try and be creative with stripes, stars, designs. When changing colors be sure to remind kids to use different brush or swab. When complete-toast in toaster on light or under broiler. Can eat as is----or while still hot butter and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.
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MARCH 26 IS MAKE YOUR OWN HOLIDAY! 
How cool is that?
Challenge kids to come up with ideas-- pick one idea in a method that works for you and celebrate it! Could it be "National Happy Unbirthday Day?"- "Everyone Wear Their Shirts Backwards Day? " -"We have to have Pizza Day or______!
Celebrate and have fun! The kids will love you for it! Make it a yearly event!
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OTHER MARCH CATEGORIES TO VISIT!
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