Many thanks to Ciara Brennan (@PrimEdTeacher on Twitter) for compiling this great list of dates to keep in mind when doing lesson planning for the forthcoming school year. All of these dates give teachers great opportunities to celebrate special occasions in school and to see how they can be integrated into the curriculum for educational purposes.

September

1. Grandparent’s Day, Sunday 8^th September – http://grandparentsday.org/
2. Roald Dahl Day, Friday 13^th September – http://www.roalddahlday.info/
3. International Day of Peace, Saturday 21^st September – http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/
4. European Day of Languages, Thursday 26^th September  – http://edl.ecml.at

October

1. Children’s Book Festival (Ireland), month of October  – http://www.childrensbooksireland.ie/childrens-book-festival/
2. World Animal Day, Friday 4^th October – http://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/
3. Referendum (32^nd and 33^rd Amendment), Friday  4^th October – http://www.refcom.ie/en/
4. World Teachers’ Day, Saturday 5^th October –  http://www.worldteachersday.org/map/
5. World Space Week, 4^th – 10^th October – http://www.worldspaceweek.org/wsw/index.php
6. Maths Week, 12^th – 20^th October – http://www.mathsweek.ie/
7. World Food Day, Thursday 16^th October – http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/
8. Signs of Autumn Twitter Project – Check https://www.seomraranga.com/ to confirm dates.
9. World Homeless Day October 10th – http://www.worldhomelessday.org/

November

1.  International Tongue Twister Day, Thursday 7^th November.
2. Science Week, 10^th – 17^th November – http://www.scienceweek.ie/

December

1. Birthday of Walt Disney, 5^th December.

January

1. RDS Primary Science Fair, 9^th– 11^th January – http://www.rds.ie/primarysciencefair
2. Martin Luther King Day, Monday 20^th January.
3. Australia Day, Sunday 26^th January.
4. Chinese New Year, Friday 31^st January.

February

1. Lá ‘Le Bríde – February 1st
2. Storytelling Week (UK), 1^st  – 8^th February  – http://www.sfs.org.uk/national-storytelling-week
3. 22.  Engineer’s Week, February 9^th – 15^th – http://www.engineersweek.ie/
4. Safer Internet Day, 11^th February – http://www.saferinternetday.org
5. Winter Olympics, 7^th– 23^rd February – http://www.olympic.org/sochi-2014-winter-olympics

March

1. Seachtain na Gaeilge– 1 – 17 Márta – http://snag.ie/
2. Pancake Tuesday, Tuesday 4^th March.
3. World Book Day, Thursday 6^th March – http://www.worldbookday.com/
4. National Tree Week, March but exact dates TBC – http://www.treecouncil.ie/activities.html
5. International Women’s Day, Saturday 8^th March – http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
6. World Poetry Day, Friday 21^st March – http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/
7. Mothering Sunday, Sunday 30^th March.
8. Signs of Spring Twitter Project – Check https://www.seomraranga.com/ to confirm dates.

April

1. Digital Art Week, April, dates TBC – http://www.digitalartweek.com/2013/
2. Earth Day, Tuesday 22^nd April – http://www.earthday.org/

May

1. Europe Day, Friday 9^th May – http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/symbols/europe-day/index_en.htm
2. Local Elections, late May but exact dates TBC.
3. European Parliament Elections to be held between 22nd and 25th May – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2014

June

1. Father’s Day, Sunday 15^th June.
2. Start of FIFA World Cup, Thursday 12^th June – http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html
3. Bike Week, June but exact dates TBC – http://www.bikeweek.ie/

Please let me know if any other special occasions have been omitted and I’ll up date the list.