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Site that has tons of ideas and resources

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Site that has tons of ideas and resources

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We know that Black history is American history and needs to be embedded into your classroom experiences year-round. At the same time, Black History Month provides the necessary opportunity to dig deeper with students. Every February, we can support students as they learn more, discover cultural impacts, and follow social movements from the past to the present day. These Black History Month lessons and activities cannot be isolated or one-off classroom experiences. Think of how you can connect these topics to what you're already doing and make it authentic. And most important, do not just focus on oppression: Focus on the joy too!

Since 1928, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History has provided a theme for Black History Month. In 2023, the theme is Black Resistance. As you review some of our favorite Black History Month activities for the classroom, keep that very important theme in mind.

(Just a heads up ! WeAreTeachers may collect a share of sales from the links on this page. We only recommend items our team loves!)

1. Re-create civil rights freedom movement posters

The Civil Rights Movement Veterans site offers powerful examples of freedom movement posters, as does the Civil Rights Digital Library. Review them with your students, and then have them get into groups and create their own to share.

2. Explore Black history through primary sources from the National Archives

Choose from thousands of resources, including this 1970s photo series of Chicago.

3. Learn about famous Black artists

Future Jacob Lawrences and Elizabeth Catletts will appreciate learning more about artists and expanding their talents! Plus, check out these other Black artists.

4. Watch a Black History Month video

Watching videos can be some of the most meaningful Black History Month classroom activities. Check out this list of Black history videos for students in every grade level.

5. Learn about the Black Lives Matter movement

The Black Lives Matter site explains the group's history while books like Dear Martin and The Hate U Give explore the movement from a fictional perspective.

6. Create a newsletter or magazine with content from Black authors

Have your students generate their own newsletter or literacy magazine to distribute to parents. Include poems and short stories by Black authors, as well as student-generated writings and images that center on Black History Month.

7. Read a Black History Month poem

To enhance our conversations this month, we've put together this list of powerful Black History Month poems for kids of all ages.

8. Turn your classroom (or school!) into a living museum

Have your students choose a notable Black pioneer they'd like to know more about, such as voting rights and women's rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, dancer Alvin Ailey, or Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest full-time national parks ranger. Then, host a living museum right in your classroom.

9. Learn about Madam C.J. Walker and other Black entrepreneurs

Do you know about Madam C.J. Walker, the first self-made female millionaire in America? Click here to learn more about her!

10. Decorate your classroom door for Black History Month

These teachers decorated their classroom doors in amazing ways to showcase Black History Month.

11. Honor some of the military's most courageous veterans

From the 54th Massachusetts to the Buffalo Soldiers to the Tuskegee Airmen, Black men and women have long served in the United States military, even when their own rights weren't secure.

12. Read books with Black characters in honor of the young hero Marley Dias

Dias is a young activist who started the #1000blackgirlbooks campaign as a sixth grader. She has compiled an excellent guide to books with Black girl characters. Check out WeAreTeacher's list of books with Black protagonists as well.

13. Read Black History Month books

If you're looking for more reading activities, these picture books help celebrate Black History Month and educate your students on how these people helped shape history.

14. Learn about the art of stepping

Stepping is a form of dancing in which the body itself is used to create unique rhythms and sounds. The website Step Afrika! has videos and information about the history of stepping.

15. Take a virtual trip to the illustrious Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

The digital collections of the Schomburg Center, located in Harlem in New York City, feature some amazing online exhibits, interviews, and podcasts.

16. Virtually visit the incredible Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture

You can browse the collection online by topic, date, or place.

17. Host a poetry reading featuring works by Black poets

Have students choose a poem by a Black poet to learn and recite for the class. Choose a student to serve as the emcee, write up a program, and set the tone with dimmed lights and jazz music played between performances. The Poetry Foundation has excellent resources that can help get you started.

18. Discuss the Supreme Court trial that gave rights to Black Americans

Your future legal eagles will enjoy learning about the key Supreme Court cases that helped Blacks secure rights, the events and efforts that sparked the cases, and the aftermath of those court decisions. Be sure to recognize Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice and the lead lawyer in the Brown case, along the way. Also, follow up with students on how they feel these decisions impact our world today.

19. Listen to a podcast that celebrates Black history

RadioPublic has an excellent roundup of podcasts about Black history to listen to and discuss with your students.

20. Check out online exhibits on Black history

Educating yourself and your students with these shows is one more way to understand Black history and the current moment.

21. Dive into Georgia Stories: Black History Collection on PBS

As a state, Georgia played a huge role in the 2020 presidential election, and its Black history dates back to the earliest days of slavery in the colony.

22. Discuss implicit bias, systemic racism, and social injustice

Start a much-needed discussion around implicit bias and systemic racism with these resources that can empower students to fight for justice in our society.

23. Read the Freedom in Congo Square picture book to celebrate the dominance of spirit over suffering

The award-winning picture boo, Freedom in Congo Square, is a nonfiction children's book that describes the tyranny of slavery to help young readers understand how jubilant Sundays would be for slaves.

24. Watch Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History

Kevin Hart highlights the fascinating contributions of Black history's unsung heroes in this entertaining-and educational-comedy special.

25. Recognize Black visionaries

This great poster featuring activists, artists, authors, and revolutionaries will highlight Black change-makers in your classroom. Use companion activities to deepen understanding by researching several of the visionaries and asking students to write a story or create their own poster about what they've learned.

26. Create a Black History Month playlist

Many genres of music we listen to today were shaped by Black artists and their groundbreaking influences. Celebrate Black History Month with a playlist of pivotal artists, from Louis Armstrong and Jimi Hendrix to Beyoncé and Lauryn Hill. Spotify has ready-made lists to inspire you!

27. Review the time line of Black History Month

Why is Black History Month in February? How long ago was it founded, and who started it? Find the answers to these questions and learn more with this time line.

28. Explore the music of Black history

This lesson traces the long histor y of how Black artists have used music as a vehicle for communicating beliefs, aspirations, observations, joy, despair, resistance, and more across U.S. history.

29. Sample Black-founded snack brands

Honor Black History Month with delicious snacks from Black-founded brands delivered to your classroom-5% of proceeds are donated to the Equal Justice Initiative and one meal is donated to Feeding America for every box delivered.

30. Understand the role of Black women in NASA's history

How much do your students know about Black contributions to space exploration? Rent the film Hidden Figures and watch with your students to remember, honor, and share the incredible accomplishments of three Black women working on NASA's space flight program. Before watching the movie, research the liberties the film took in telling the story and discuss with your students the function of the choices. Did the filmmakers make the right choice?

31. Support local Black-owned businesses

Research your city's Black-owned businesses and see if you can purchase a sample of their products, invite some of the entrepreneurs to speak to your class, or book a field trip!

32. Stream Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices on Netflix

" Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices is a live-action collection of twelve five-minute episodes featuring prominent Black celebrities and artists reading children's books from Black authors that highlight the Black experience."

33. Check out this planner from Rethinking Schools

If you are looking to find more ways to include Black history year-round, check out this planner.

34. Celebrate the "Black Lives Matter at School" movement

"Black Lives Matter at School" is a national coalition organized for racial justice in education. It encourages all educators, students, parents, unions, and community organizations to join an annual week of action during the first week of February each year.​ For a variety of Black History Month activities, visit their website to learn more about their campaign.

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34 Black History Month Activities for February and Beyond

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Celebrate art, poetry, music, inventions, and contributions of African Americans with these Black History Month activities.

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February is Black History Month, and a great way to help your growing reader learn more about African American history is with picture books. The picture books on this list break history into bite-sized, age-appropriate pieces for young children, with vivid illustrations and easy-to-digest text.

Try Henry's Freedom Box - a gripping tale about how Henry goes on an arduous journey to the North to gain freedom and a birthday. Or pick up I Am Ruby Bridges, a landmark story with stunning visuals about a pivotal event that shaped the civil rights movement. By exposing your child to a variety of diverse and inclusive books, both fiction and nonfiction, you'll help widen your child's perspective.

From picture books on well-known figures like Rosa Parks to the story of the black female mathematicians behind one of NASA's greatest operations, our Black History Month picture book list covers a multitude of subjects. For longer works on Black History geared towards elementary schoolers, preteens and teens, check out our comprehensive Black History Month book list for all ages.

Shop picture books for Black History Month below! You can find more books and activities at The Scholastic Store.

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17+ Must-Read Picture Books to Celebrate Black History Month

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February is Black History Month, and a great way to help your growing reader learn more about African American history is with picture books. The picture books on this list break history into bite-sized, age-appropriate pieces for young children, with vivid illustrations and easy-to-digest text.

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Create the most memorable Valentine's Day classroom party with paper hearts, handwritten cards, and wholesome stories! This lovely holiday is a great way to teach your students about kindness, compassion, and thoughtfulness. Use these books to explain the joys of a community that is full of love and create activities that help students understand the importance of giving support to their peers.

Your class will enjoy The Littlest Valentine, an adorable story about Emma, the youngest member of the Valentine family, helping the family business to make sure this Valentine's Day is a successful one. Although Emma has the best intentions in mind, everything she seems to do goes wrong. Finally, Emma figures out how to help her family. This book is a great resource to discuss acts of service as a way to show love: Encourage your students to write down a list of kind things they do for their loved ones.

There is also The Biggest Valentine Ever, in which Clayton and Desmond decide to team up together to make a surprise Valentine card for their teacher, Mrs. Mousely. However, things do not go as planned because of the card's excess glitter and hearts. Soon after, the two friends get into a quarrel and rip the card. They later realize that they can make the biggest card ever if they team up. Continue the conversation by asking your students about their experiences with teamwork and the lessons they have learned from it.

Featuring Junie B. Jones, Geronimo Stilton, Llama Llama, and more, these books will help your students celebrate Valentine's Day with their favorite characters. These titles are just right for February reading and for teaching about the importance of love and kindness throughout the year.

Shop Valentine's Day books below! You can find all books and activities at The Teacher Store.

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30+ Books to Celebrate Valentine's Day in Class | Scholastic

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Celebrate Valentine's Day with a Scholastic book list featuring titles from Clifford, Junie B. Jones, Geronimo Stilton, Katie Woo, Peppa Pig, and Llama Llama.

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More Winter or Spring on the Way? 16 Groundhog Day Activities We Love

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Presidents' Day, also known as Washington's Birthday, is a federal holiday observed on the third Monday in February to honor George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The day is occasionally seen as a celebration of all U.S. presidents' births and lifetimes. Most states recognize this day as a state holiday, Presidents' Day, and Washington and Lincoln's Birthday. Different states have varied names to describe the holiday. Some state holidays may honor Washington only, while others honor both Lincoln and Washington or a separate group of American presidents, depending on the relevant law (such as Washington and Thomas Jefferson, born in April).

Let us read some interesting facts about Presidents Day.

12 Fun Facts about Presidents Day

US citizens started celebrating Presidents Day right after George Washington died in 1799.

Informally known as Washington Day, George Washington's birthday was honored after his passing in 1799. Many celebrated this holiday during the 1800s to honor the legacy of a person who helped shape America. A resolution allowed the reburial and internment of George Washington's body in the Capitol Building in 1832 and the construction of the Washington Monument, which sparked even greater nationwide festivities for Presidents Day.

Presidents Day became a federal holiday in the late 1870s.

Steven Wallace Dorsey suggested making George Washington's birthday a government holiday, joining the four already-approved bank holidays from 1870 after President Rutherford B. Hayes signed it into law in 1879. An Act of Congress established the federal holiday in honor of Washington in 1879 for government offices in Washington, and it was expanded to all national offices in 1885. The holiday, observed on February 22, coincided with Washington's birthday according to the Gregorian calendar and was the first official holiday to honor an American president.

The first official Presidents Day celebration happened in Washington, DC.

After Rutherford B. Hayes passed the law to make George Washington's birthday a federal holiday, US citizens from all over the country celebrated the day by coming out in big crowds and celebrating on the streets of Washington, DC. This soon became an annual celebration in every state.

Presidents Day is not celebrated on George Washington's birthday since the 1960s.

Before the late 1960s, Presidents' Day was still celebrated on the anniversary of Washington's birth. To provide workers with more three-day weekends, Illinois Senator Robert McClory devised the "Uniform Monday Act," which moved important bank holidays to Mondays. It was intended that this would lead to greater productivity and fewer employee absence. Unsurprisingly, both the private sector and the labor union supported this notion. The Presidents Day federal holiday was moved to the third Monday in February on January 1, 1971, due to the passage of the Uniform Monday act. Since Presidents Day never falls on Washington's actual birthday, February 22, it is somewhat misleading to refer to it as "Washington's Birthday," which falls between February 15 and 21.

Presidents Day was called Washington's birthday till the late 1980s.

Given Lincoln's legacy and the closeness of his birthday to George Washington's (February 22), people suggested during the debate over the Uniform Monday bill that the holiday should be called Presidents' Day to honor both of their birthdays. Although many states observed Lincoln's birthday, it was never a recognized federal holiday. Sadly, the name change was rejected by Congress after a lengthy debate. Presidents' Day, however, came to be widely used after the Uniform Monday Act came into force in 1971, partly due to shops using that term to advertise bargains given the holiday's proximity to Lincoln's birthday. Public celebrations are typically held to commemorate Presidents' Day in Washington, D.C., and across the nation.

Some US states have their own Presidents Day celebrations.

Several states have declared state holidays in the President's honor that don't coincide with the third Monday in February. On the same day as the federal holiday, Massachusetts officially observes "Washington's Birthday." Following state law, the governor is required to proclaim "Presidents Day" every year on May 29- John F. Kennedy's birthday-to recognize the contributions of the four presidents having Massachusetts ancestry. While Washington's Birthday is a federal holiday in California, Connecticut, Missouri, and Illinois, Abraham Lincoln's birthday is still observed as a state holiday on February 12, regardless of the day of the week.

Two US Presidents share February as their birth month.

Seeing that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays falling in February was a big deal back in the late 1980s, it is interesting to note that two more Presidents were born in the same month. The two Presidents are William Harrison, the 9th US President, and Ronald Regan, the 40th US President.

Although after the Uniform Monday Act was passed, all citizens started celebrating the previous, present, and future Presidents of the country on Presidents Day, not just George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Every year in the US Senate, George Washington's farewell speech is read on Presidents Day.

After 20 years of public service to the United States, American President George Washington wrote Washington's Farewell Address as a farewell to "friends and fellow citizens." He penned it before leaving for his residence at Mount Vernon in Virginia near the end of his second term as president. It was nearly instantly reproduced in newspapers all around the nation and eventually published as a pamphlet. It is a typical republican phrase that alerts Americans to the political pitfalls they must avoid if they are to uphold their principles.

Residents of Philadelphia signed a petition in January 1862, during the American Civil War, requesting that Congress read Washington's Farewell Address in honor of the 130th anniversary of his birth. Washington's address was initially read in the House of Representatives in February 1862, and by 1899, reading it in both houses had become customary. In 1984, the House of Representatives stopped reading the Washington address, but the Senate has kept up the custom ever since. Since 1896, the Senate has chosen a senator from each political party to read the speech aloud on the Senate floor as part of the celebration of Washington's birthday. Additionally, readers make an entry in a black, leather-bound journal kept by the Secretary of the Senate after finishing.

Four other countries celebrate Presidents Day.

Although Presidents Day is very much an American holiday, it is only celebrated in the United States and its territories like Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands; five other countries have their own Presidents Day celebrations. These countries are Equatorial Guinea, Botswana, Kazakhstan, Palau, and Tajikistan. Botswana and Palau have a one-day public holiday in honor of all the Presidents that served the country. Kazakhstan celebrates the first president of the country after gaining independence. And Tajikistan started celebrating Presidents Day since 2016.

There are many Presidents Day traditions in the US.

Parades and patriotic celebrations with family and friends have been traditional ways for people to mark the occasion. Washington and Lincoln are most commonly celebrated, while celebrations in honor of Jefferson follow closely. Cherry-based delicacies are consumed because the original purpose of this festival was to commemorate Washington's birthday. This is due to the well-known tale of Washington chopping a cherry tree. Apart from this, his farewell speech is read in history classes and on online discussion boards.

In Virginia, there are month-long parades celebrating Presidents Day.

George Washington was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, so there is no doubt that the state's residents celebrate Presidents Day better than the rest of the country. South of Fairfax County, on a hill overlooking the Potomac River, is Mount Vernon, the treasured residence of George Washington. One of the few occasions a year when people can visit this renowned estate without a fee is on Presidents Day. Other than this, The largest parade in America honoring George Washington's birth is the George Washington Birthday Parade. All the presidents of the United States are honored during a month-long parade that concludes with a spectacular party on George Washington's birthday.

Thirty-five parks in the US are named after various American Presidents.

Parks are a big part of Presidents Day celebrations in the US, so around 35 parks are named after American Presidents to pay homage to all the blood, sweat, and tears that have been shed for the country. Out of the 35 parks, more than half of them are named after President Theodore Roosevelt. Some of the parks commemorate the birthplace of past presidents like John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoover. Abraham Lincoln's home is now a national historical park in central Kentucky.

Conclusion

Presidents Day is an important day in the US. It holds political and cultural values that all the citizens hold near and dear to their hearts. We hope you enjoyed reading these facts and learned something new about Presidents Day.

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12 Amazing Presidents Day Facts For Kids ([year] Updated)

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12 Amazing Presidents Day Facts For Kids ( Updated) Presidents' Day, also known as Washington's Birthday, is a federal holiday observed on the third Monday in February to honor George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The