Thanks again to Ciara Brennan (@PrimEdTeacher on Twitter) for compiling this great 4th annual list of dates to keep in mind when doing lesson planning for the forthcoming school year. Save the dates in your school diary 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. If any occasions/dates have been omitted, please email me to let me know and I’ll update the list.
September
1. All-Ireland Hurling Finals, Sunday 4th September – http://www.gaa.ie/
2. All-Ireland Camogie Finals, Sunday 11th September – http://www.camogie.ie/
3. Roald Dahl Day, Tuesday 13th September – http://www.roalddahlday.info/
4. Culture Night, Friday 16th September – http://www.culturenight.ie/
5. Children’s Book Ireland Conference 2016 – Saturday 17th – Sunday 18th September – http://childrensbooksireland.ie/the-new-laureate/
6. All-Ireland Football Finals, Sunday 18th September – http://www.gaa.ie/
7. International ‘Talk Like A Pirate’ Day, Monday 19th September – http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
8. International Day of Peace, Wednesday 21st September – http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/
9. All-Ireland Ladies’ Football Finals, Sunday 25th September – http://www.ladiesfootball.ie/
10. European Day of Languages, Monday 26th September – http://edl.ecml.at
11. Paralympics, Wednesday 7th- Sunday 18th September – http://www.paralympics.ie/
12. Autumn Equinox – Thursday 22nd September – http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html
13. National Ploughing Championships, September 20th to 22nd – http://www.npa.ie/
October
1. Féilte – Teaching Council event in the RDS, Saturday 1st October – http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/
2. World Animal Day, Tuesday 4th October – http://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/
3. World Space Week, Tuesday 4th – Monday 10th October – http://www.worldspaceweek.org/ ; http://spaceweek.ie/
4. World Teachers’ Day, Wednesday 5th October – http://www.worldteachersday.org/
5. National Tree Day, dates TBC – http://www.treeday.ie/
6. World Homeless Day, Monday 10th October – http://www.worldhomelessday.org/ (also Focus Ireland Resources)
7. Maths Week, Saturday 15th- Sunday 23rd October – http://www.mathsweek.ie/
8. EU Code Week, Saturday 15th- Sunday 23rd October – http://codeweek.eu/
9. World Food Day, Sunday 16th October – http://www.worldfoodday.ie/
10. Signs of Autumn Twitter Project – Check Seomra Ranga to confirm dates
11. Clocks go back an hour (2am to 1am), Sunday 30th October
12. Halloween, Monday 31st October
13. Global Handwashing Day, October 15th – http://globalhandwashing.org/global-handwashing-day/
November
1. International Tongue Twister Day, Wednesday 9th November – Try These Tongue Twisters
2. Origami Day, 11th November 2016 – http://www.origami-instructions.com/
3. Science Week, Sunday 13th – Sunday 20th November – http://www.scienceweek.ie/
4. Library Week Ireland, dates tbc – http://www.libraryirelandweek.ie/
5. Thanksgiving, Thursday 24th November
6. Advent, Sunday 27th November – Kandle Advent Resources
7. Presidential Election Day USA, November 8th
8. World Fisheries Day, November 21st – http://www.gdrc.org/doyourbit/21_11-fisheries-day.html
December
1. Birthday of Walt Disney, Monday 5th December
2. Christmas Day, Sunday 25th December – http://nollaigshona.ie/
3. New Year’s Eve, Saturday 31st December
4. Winter Solstice, Wednesday December 21st – http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html
January
1. LearnStorm Challenge 2017 (formerly Mathletes) – registration begins in January – http://www.learnstorm2016.org/
2. RDS Primary Science Fair Dublin, Thursday 12th- Saturday 14th January – http://www.rds.ie/primarysciencefair
3. RDS Primary Science Fair Limerick (at Mary Immaculate College), Thursday 19th- Saturday 21st January – http://www.rds.ie/primarysciencefair
4. Martin Luther King Jr Day, Monday 16th January
5. International Share a Compliment Day – 24th January
6. Australia Day, Thursday 26th January
7. Chinese New Year (Year of the Rooster) Saturday, January 28th – http://cny.ie
8. Catholic Schools Week, Sunday 29th January– Saturday 4th February – http://www.catholicbishops.ie/catholicschoolsweek/
9. Storytelling Week (UK), Monday 30th January- Monday 6th February – http://www.sfs.org.uk/national-storytelling-week
10. World Braille Day, January 4th – https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/world-braille-day/
11. World Day of the Snowman, January 18th – http://worlddayofsnowman.com/homepage/
12. Backwards Day, January 31st – https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/backward-day/
13. Goal ‘Write the Future’ writing competition, January 9th – February 10th – https://www.goalglobal.org/write-the-future
February
1. Lá ‘Le Bríde – Wednesday February 1st – St. Brigid’s Cloak PPT
2. Ireland’s first game in the 2017 Six Nations (in Scotland v Scotland), Saturday 4th February – http://www.rbs6nations.com/
3. Safer Internet Day, Tuesday 7th February – http://www.saferinternetday.ie
4. St. Valentine’s Day, Tuesday 14th February – Valentines Resources
5. Pancake (Shrove) Tuesday, Tuesday 28th February
6. Texaco Art Competition: 2017 dates TBC, but deadline for entries is usually end of February – http://www.texacochildrensart.com/
March
1. Ash Wednesday, Wednesday 1st March
2. Signs of Spring Twitter Project – Check Seomra Ranga to confirm dates, but usually first/second week in March
3. Seachtain na Gaeilge, 1ú- 17ú Márta – http://snag.ie/
4. Engineer’s Week, Saturday 4th March- Saturday 11th March – http://www.engineersweek.ie/; http://www.steps.ie/
5. National Tree Week, early March (exact dates TBC) – http://www.treecouncil.ie
6. World Book Day, Dates tbc, but usually in March – http://www.worldbookday.com/
7. International Women’s Day, Wednesday 8th March – http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
8. St Patrick’s Day, Friday 17th March – St. Patrick’s Day Resources
9. World Poetry Day, Tuesday 21st March – http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/
10. World Water Day, Wednesday 22nd March – http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday
11. World Meteorological Day, Thursday 23rd March – http://un.org/news
12. Mother’s Day, Sunday 26th March
13. Clocks go forward (1am to 2am), early hours of Sunday 26th March
14. Spring Equinox, Monday March 20th – http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html
April
1. Digital Art Week, early April (dates TBC) – http://www.digitalartweek.com/
2. April Fools Day, Saturday 1st April
3. Palm Sunday, Sunday 9th April
4. Holy Week, April 9, 2017 (Palm Sunday) to April 15, 2017 (Holy Saturday)
5. Earth Day, Saturday 22nd April – http://www.earthday.org/
6. Tech Week Ireland, dates TBC – http://www.techweek.ie/
7. World Autism Awareness Day, April 2nd
8. International Jazz Day, April 30th – http://jazzday.com/
9. Poetry Day Ireland, April 27th – http://www.poetryday.ie
May
1. Europe Day, Tuesday 9th May – http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/symbols/europe-day/index_en.htm
2. National ‘Walk to School’ week – TBC, usually second week of May – http://www.greenschoolsireland.org/
3. Water Safety Week: IWS usually hold various awareness weeks on a regional basis in summer months; exact dates TBC, but check on http://www.iws.ie/
4. Potential EXCITED Ireland conference, TBC – http://www.excited.ie/
5. Bord Gáis Energy Student Theatre Awards, May 8th (but you can enter at any time) – https://www.bordgaisenergystudenttheatreawards.ie/
6. Outdoor Classroom Day, May 18th https://outdoorclassroomday.com/
June
1. World Environment Day, Monday 5th June – http://www.unep.org/wed/
2. World Oceans Day, Thursday 8th June – http://worldoceansday.org/
3. Father’s Day, Sunday 18th June
4. Bike Week, June 10th-18th – http://www.bikeweek.ie/
5. Summer Solstice, Wednesday 21st June – http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html
6. Butterfly Education and Awareness Day, June 3rd – http://afbeducation.org/butterfly-conservation/butterfly-education-and-awareness-day/
7. International Music Day, June 21st – https://musicday.org.uk/
For additional fun days or events, I recommend:
1. http://fun.familyeducation.com/calendar/holidays-and-seasonal-events/59741.html
2. https://www.daysoftheyear.com/
Ciara Brennan is a 6th Class teacher in St. Peter’s Primary School, Bray Co. Wicklow. You can follow her on Twitter @PrimEdTeacher and the school Twitter account is @StPetersBray.
