October 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 | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 
William the Conqueror invades England (1066)
 
Also try:
Battle of Hastings
 
SpaceX launches first private spacecraft, the Falcon 1, into orbit (2008)
 
Also try:
space exploration, rockets
 | 29 
Miguel de Cervantes born (1547)
 
Also try:
Don Quixote
 
John D. Rockefeller becomes America's first billionaire (1916)
 
Also try:
oil industry
 | 30 
Truman Capote born (1924)
 
Also try:
Breakfast at Tiffany's
 
The Hoover Dam dedicated by FDR (1935)
 
Also try:
hydroelectricity
 | 1 
National Bullying Prevention Month
 
Also try:
cyberbullying
 
Yosemite National Park established by US Congress (1890)
 
Also try:
sequoia forest
 
Nazi leaders are sentenced at the Nuremberg Trials (1946)
 
Also try:
Holocaust, war crimes
 
International Walk to School Day
 
Also try:
physical fitness, healthy habits
 | 2 
International Day of Non-Violence
 
Also try:
Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr.
 
World Farm Animals Day
 | 3 
National Butterfly and Hummingbird Day
 
Also try:
hummingbirds, pollinators
 
East and West Germany reunify (1990)
 
Also try:
Berlin Wall
 | 4 
Construction begins on Mount Rushmore (1927)
 
Also try:
national monuments
 
USSR launches Sputnik I (1957)
 
Also try:
space race
 | 
| 5 
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) debuts (1970)
 
Also try:
television, nonprofit organization
 | 6 
Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture (1889)
 
Also try:
film history, Thomas Edison
 
Mary Leakey finds the first partial fossil of Proconsul africanus (1948)
 
World Habitat Day
 
Also try:
conservationism, ecosystems
 | 7 
Far side of the moon first observed by Luna 3 (1959)
 
Also try:
phases of the moon, space exploration
 
Hua Guofeng becomes Mao Zedong's successor as chairman of Communist Party of China (1976)
 
Also try:
Mao Zedong
 | 8 
The Great Chicago Fire starts (1871)
 
Also try:
fire safety
 
First pacemaker implanted (1958)
 
Also try:
heart, medical devices
 | 9 
Leif Erikson Day
 
Also try:
discovering North America
 | 10 
Powers of Ten Day
 
Also try:
scientific notation, exponents
 
Metric system conceived (1796)
 
Also try:
units of measurement
 | 11 
Eleanor Roosevelt born (1884)
 
Also try:
first ladies
 
Second Boer War begins (1899)
 
Also try:
South African history
 | 
| 12 
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy published (1979)
 
Also try:
science fiction
 | 13 
First spiral galaxy discovered by Charles Messier (1773)
 
Also try:
the universe, astronomy
 
George Washington lays White House cornerstone (1792)
 
Also try:
George Washington, Washington DC
 
Indigenous Peoples' Day
 
Also try:
Native Americans
 
Columbus Day
 
Also try:
discovering America, Italian explorers
 | 14 
Dwight D. Eisenhower born (1890)
 
Also try:
US presidents
 
First gay rights march on Washington, DC (1979)
 
Also try:
civil rights, protests
 | 15 
Hispanic Heritage Month ends
 
Also try:
Latin America, Spain
 
Nelson Mandela awarded Nobel Peace Prize (1993)
 
Also try:
Nelson Mandela
 
National Fossil Day
 
Also try:
archaeology, dinosaurs
 | 16 
coding
 
Noah Webster born (1758)
 
Also try:
dictionary skills, vocabulary development
 
John Brown leads raid on Harpers Ferry (1859)
 
Also try:
John Brown
 | 17 
Black Poetry Day
 
US Department of Education created (1979)
 
Also try:
public education
 | 18 
Moby Dick published (1851)
 
Also try:
Herman Melville, symbolism
 | 
| 19 
Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Revolutionary War ends (1781)
 
Also try:
Yorktown, American Revolution
 
Saddam Hussein goes on trial for crimes against humanity (2005)
 
Also try:
crimes against humanity, Iraq War
 | 20 
US Senate ratifies Louisiana Purchase (1803)
 
Also try:
westward expansion
 
Sydney Opera House opens (1973)
 | 21 
Ferdinand Magellan discovers Strait of Magellan (1520)
 
Also try:
Strait of Magellan, explorers
 
Thomas Edison unveils light bulb (1879)
 
Also try:
Thomas Edison, electricity
 | 22 
Jean-Paul Sartre awarded Nobel Prize for Literature, but turns it down (1964)
 
Also try:
existentialism, Nobel Prize
 
Soviet unmanned space mission Venera 9 lands on Venus (1975)
 
Also try:
space missions, space exploration
 | 23 
Mole Day
 
Also try:
Avogadro's number, chemistry
 
Women's Suffrage March in New York City (1915)
 
Also try:
19th Amendment, voting rights
 | 24 
United Nations Day
 
Also try:
diplomacy, foreign relations
 
Annie Edson Taylor becomes first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel (1901)
 
Also try:
waterfalls
 | 25 
Pablo Picasso born (1881)
 
Also try:
cubism
 
US invades Grenada (1983)
 
Also try:
Caribbean, Ronald Regan
 | 
| 26 
Hillary Clinton born (1947)
 
Also try:
Secretary of State
 
Erie Canal opens (1825)
 
Also try:
the Great Lakes
 | 27 
Media Literacy Week begins
 
Also try:
critical thinking, digital media
 
President Theodore Roosevelt born (1858)
 
Also try:
US presidents
 
First New York City subway opens (1904)
 
Also try:
mass transit, public transportation
 | 28 
Statue of Liberty dedicated (1886)
 
Also try:
Liberty Island, New York City
 
National Prohibition Act goes into effect (1919)
 
Also try:
Volstead Act, speakeasies
 
Cuban Missile Crisis ends (1962)
 | 29 
Stock Market crashes, "Black Tuesday" (1929)
 
Also try:
Great Depression, stock market crash
 
First ARPANET link established, precursor to the Internet (1969)
 
Also try:
computer networks, technology
 | 30 
John Adams born (1735)
 
Also try:
US presidents
 
War of the Worlds radio broadcast (1938)
 
Also try:
H.G. Wells
 | 31 
Halloween
 
Also try:
costumes, Halloween traditions
 
Seven Billion Day: global population reaches 7,000,000,000 (2011)
 
Also try:
population growth
 | 1 
European Union comes into existence (1993)
 
Also try:
Europe
 | 
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