December Curriculum Calendar - Lesson Plan Ideas by Date

Enhance your current curriculum with this fun reference calendar. Whether you want to highlight historic events, honor birthdays of significant people, or celebrate holidays, this is a valuable tool for every teacher. Click on any event to find a breadth of related teaching resources that will spark new ideas to spice up your daily lessons. There's something worth celebrating every day!

Curriculum Calendar

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat
1
World AIDS Day
Also try: HIV, immune system
Rosa Parks arrested for civil disobedience (1955)
2
The Monroe Doctrine created (1823)
3
International Day of Persons with Disabilities
Christiaan Barnard performs first human heart transplant (1967)
Also try: circulatory system
4
National Dice Day
Also try: probability
5
Martin Van Buren born (1782)
Also try: US presidents
Walt Disney born (1901)
Also try: Disneyland, cartoons
6
13th Amendment ratified, abolishing slavery (1865)
7
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor (1941)
Also try: World War II
Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter (1995)
Also try: Jupiter
8
Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day
Eli Whitney born (1785)
9
John Milton born (1608)
Also try: Paradise Lost
The Petrified Forest National Park established in Arizona (1962)
10
Emily Dickinson born (1830)
Also try: slant rhyme, poetry
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published (1884)
Also try: Mark Twain
Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize (1964)
Also try: Nobel Peace Prize
11
Muhammad leads an army of 10,000 to conquer Mecca (629)
Also try: Mecca, Islam
The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization (2001)
12
Guglielmo Marconi receives first transatlantic radio signal (1901)
The US Supreme Court releases decision in Bush v. Gore (2000)
13
Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England on round-the-world voyage (1577)
Saddam Hussein captured (2003)
Also try: Iraq War
14
National Monkey Day
Also try: primates, baboons, tamarins
Roald Amundsen reaches South Pole (1911)
15
Nero born (37)
16
17
Aztec calendar stone discovered in Mexico City (1790)
Also try: archaeology, calendars
Wright Brothers make their first successful flight (1903)
Also try: aviation, airplanes
18
The Nutcracker Suite premieres in Russia (1892)
Also try: ballet
Saturn's moon Epimetheus discovered (1966)
Also try: Saturn, solar system
19
A Christmas Carol published (1843)
Also try: Charles Dickens
Last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, returns to Earth (1972)
20
Grimm's Fairy Tales first published (1812)
Also try: folklore, folktales
Trial against Auschwitz guards begins (1963)
Also try: Holocaust, Nazi leaders
21
Pilgrims land at Plymouth (1620)
22
Edward Johnson illuminates Christmas tree with electric lights (1882)
Also try: Christmas trees
23
Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a moon of Saturn (1672)
Also try: Saturn, moons
The Federal Reserve created (1913)
24
Treaty of Ghent signed (1814)
Also try: War of 1812
25
Hanukkah begins
Also try: Judaism
William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy crowned King of England (1066)
Also try: Duke of Normandy
26
Kwanzaa begins
Also try: African heritage
First performance of King Lear (1606)
27
Louis Pasteur born (1822)
28
Woodrow Wilson born (1856)
Also try: US presidents
Endangered Species Act passed (1973)
29
Wounded Knee Massacre takes place (1890)
Mongolia declares independence from the Qing Dynasty (1911)
Also try: Qing Dynasty
30
Edwin Hubble announces discovery of other galaxies (1924)
31
Henri Matisse born (1869)
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