Lesson Planet
Search educational resources
  • Sign In Try It Free
  • AI Teacher Tools
    • Discover Resources Search reviewed educational resources by keyword, subject, grade, type, and more
    • Curriculum Manager (My Content) Manage saved and uploaded resources and folders To Access the Curriculum Manager Sign In or Join Now
    • Browse Resource Directory Browse educational resources by subject and topic
    • Curriculum Calendar Explore curriculum resources by date
    • Lesson Planning Articles Timely and inspiring teaching ideas that you can apply in your classroom
    • Our Story
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Testimonials
    • Contact Us
  • Pricing
  • School Access
    • Your school or district can sign up for Lesson Planet — with no cost to teachers
      Learn More
  • Sign In
  • Try It Free

January 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

<< January 2026 >>
Curriculum calendar for January 2026 showing educational events and resources
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
December 28, 2025 28
December 29, 2025 29
December 30, 2025 30
December 31, 2025 31
January 1, 2026 1
New Year's Day
Also try: New Year's resolutions
National Thank You Month begins
Also try: gratitude, appreciation
President Abraham Lincoln signs Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
Also try: Abraham Lincoln, slavery
Ellis Island opens for immigration (1892)
Also try: immigration
January 2, 2026 2
Mahatma Gandhi begins march for peace in East Bengali (1947)
Also try: colonial India, civil disobedience
USSR launches Mechta for first solar orbit (1959)
Also try: space exploration, spacecraft
January 3, 2026 3
J.R.R. Tolkien born (1892)
Also try: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
Alaska named 49th state (1959)
Also try: US expansion, statehood
Israeli ground forces invade Gaza (2009)
Also try: Arab-Israeli Conflict, Israel, Palestine
January 4, 2026 4
National Trivia Day
Also try: Jeopardy
Isaac Newton born (1643)
Also try: Scientific Revolution, Newton's laws of motion
Louis Braille born (1809)
Also try: blindness, visual impairment
Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, successfully lands on Mars (2004)
Also try: NASA missions, terrestrial planets
January 5, 2026 5
George Washington Carver Day
Also try: peanuts, crop rotation
National Bird Day
Also try: ornithology, bird-watching
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde published (1886)
Also try: Robert Louis Stevenson
January 6, 2026 6
Joan of Arc born (1412)
Also try: Hundred Years' War
Alfred Wegener first presents the theory of continental drift (1912)
Also try: Alfred Wegener, Pangaea
January 7, 2026 7
President Millard Fillmore born (1800)
Also try: Whig Party, US presidents
Zora Neale Hurston born (1891)
Also try: Harlem Renaissance
Jupiter's moons discovered (1610)
Also try: Galileo Galilei, telescopes
January 8, 2026 8
Elvis Presley born (1935)
Also try: rock 'n roll, popular music
George Washington delivers first State of the Union Address (1790)
Also try: George Washington
January 9, 2026 9
National Static Electricity Day
Also try: electricity, electric charge
President Richard Nixon born (1913)
Also try: Watergate Scandal, US presidents
Jean-Pierre Blanchard takes first hot air balloon flight in the US (1793)
Also try: Jean-Pierre Blanchard, history of flight
January 10, 2026 10
Common Sense by Thomas Paine published (1776)
Also try: Thomas Paine, American Revolution
League of Nations formed (1920)
Also try: Paris Peace Conference
January 11, 2026 11
Alexander Hamilton born (1755)
Also try: Founding Fathers, The Federalist Papers
Amelia Earhart flies solo from Honolulu to California (1935)
Also try: aviation, history of flight
January 12, 2026 12
Charles Perrault born (1628)
Also try: fairy tales
Earthquake in Haiti kills 230,000 (2010)
Also try: natural disasters, plate tectonics
January 13, 2026 13
First public radio broadcast (1910)
Also try: mass media
Publication of first "Mickey Mouse" comic strip (1930)
Also try: comic strips, Walt Disney
January 14, 2026 14
Clarinet invented in Nuremberg, Germany (1690)
Also try: woodwinds, musical instruments
First Model T automobile is built on an assembly line (1914)
Also try: Henry Ford, manufacturing, automobiles
January 15, 2026 15
Elizabeth I crowned Queen of England (1559)
Also try: Queen of England, monarchy
Wikipedia goes online (2001)
Also try: media literacy, internet research
January 16, 2026 16
National Appreciate a Dragon Day
Also try: mythical creatures, fantasy literature
First publication of Don Quixote (1605)
Also try: Miguel de Cervantes
Operation Desert Storm announced (1991)
Also try: Gulf War, George H. W. Bush
January 17, 2026 17
Benjamin Franklin born (1706)
Also try: American Enlightenment, inventors
Captain James Cook is the first to cross the Antarctic Circle (1773)
Also try: Antarctica, English explorers
Prohibition begins (1920)
Also try: Volstead Act, 18th amendement
January 18, 2026 18
National Thesaurus Day
Also try: synonyms, antonyms
A.A. Milne born (1882)
Also try: Winnie-the-Pooh
January 19, 2026 19
James Watt born (1736)
Also try: inventors, steam engines
Edgar Allan Poe born (1809)
Also try: Tell-Tale Heart, Fall of the House of Usher
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Also try: civil rights movement, nonviolence
January 20, 2026 20
Inaguration Day (US 2025, 2029, 2033, etc. )
Also try: Presidential Inaguration
Penguin Awareness Day
Also try: birds, animal adaptations
John Marshall appointed Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court (1801)
Also try: supreme court, judicial branch
January 21, 2026 21
King Louis XVI executed for treason (1793)
Also try: French Revolution
Neptune becomes outermost planet (1979)
Also try: solar system, planets
January 22, 2026 22
Sir Francis Bacon born (1561)
Also try: scientific method, inductive reasoning
The uranium atom split at Columbia University (1939)
Also try: nuclear fission, Manhattan Project
January 23, 2026 23
National Handwriting Day
Also try: cursive, penmanship
John Hancock born (1737)
Also try: Declaration of Independence
Madeleine Albright sworn in as US Secretary of State (1997)
Also try: US Secretary of State
January 24, 2026 24
Edith Wharton born (1862)
Also try: Ethan Frome, Pulitzer Prize
Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill (1848)
Also try: Gold Rush
January 25, 2026 25
National Opposite Day
Also try: antonyms, positive and negative numbers
Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates US transcontinental telephone service (1915)
Also try: Alexander Graham Bell
January 26, 2026 26
Michigan becomes the 26th state in the United States (1837)
Also try: statehood, Great Lakes
Rocky Mountain National Park established in Colorado (1915)
Also try: national parks, conservationism
Condoleezza Rice becomes first African American woman US Secretary of State (2005)
Also try: Secretary of State
January 27, 2026 27
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Also try: World War II, Auschwitz, Judaism
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born (1756)
Also try: Classical period, composers
Lewis Carroll born (1832)
Also try: Alice in Wonderland
Paris Peace Accords signed, ending the Vietnam War (1973)
Also try: Vietnam War
January 28, 2026 28
National Kazoo Day
Also try: musical instruments, sound waves
Jackson Pollock born (1912)
Also try: abstract expressionism, artists
Pride and Prejudice published in United Kingdom (1813)
Also try: Jane Austen
Space shuttle Challenger explodes (1986)
Also try: NASA, space missions
January 29, 2026 29
Chinese New Year
Also try: Lunar New Year, Chinese culture
National Puzzle Day
Also try: brain teaser, riddle
Thomas Paine born (1737)
Also try: Common Sense, American Revolution
President William McKinley born (1843)
Also try: US presidents, Spanish-American War
Oprah Winfrey born (1954)
Also try: book club, entrepreneurs
January 30, 2026 30
President Franklin D. Roosevelt born (1882)
Also try: New Deal, FDR, US presidents
Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launched (1968)
Also try: Vietnam War
Erno Rubik patents the Rubik's cube (1975)
Also try: puzzles, problem solving
January 31, 2026 31
Franz Schubert born (1797)
Also try: Romantic era, composers
Jackie Robinson born (1919)
Also try: color barrier, baseball

Jump to another month

Jump to another Curriculum Calendar Month:

May 2026
June 2026
July 2026
August 2026
September 2026
October 2026
November 2026
December 2026
© 1999-2026 Learning Explorer, Inc.
Teacher Lesson Plans, Worksheets and Resources

Sign up for the Lesson Planet Monthly Newsletter

Open Educational Resources (OER)

  • Health
  • Language Arts
  • Languages
  • Math
  • Physical Education
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Special Education
  • Visual and Performing Arts
View All Lesson Plans

Discover Resources

  • Our Review Process
  • How it Works
  • How to Search
  • Create a Collection

Manage Curriculum

  • Edit a Collection
  • Assign to Students
  • Manage My Content
Contact Us Site Map Privacy Policy Terms of Use