MAKE MARCH MARVELOUS!

March is that month when winter isn't quite gone and spring isn't quite near enough. It's wildly windy, possibly stormy and definitely a great month for exploring, imagining, investigating, and wondering. 

It's also NATIONAL READING MONTH! 

Put all of that together and day-by-day  

MAKE MARCH MARVELOUS!

March 1: YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK was established by Congress in 1872. Covering over 2,220,000 acres of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, it became the first National Park in the US. Find Yellowstone National Park on a map. Do a little research to find out and share at least 5 facts about it. Here's one of my favorite books about the founding of US National Parks. And one of my favorite stories to tell about one very special wolf, Female #7, who was part of reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone.

HAPPY NEW YEAR--once upon a time! Ancient Romans followed a calendar just 10 months long. So the year started in March and ended in December. That's how December got its name--stands for the Latin Decem for 10. In case you're worried, there were 2 other months but these were just called "winter" instead of being January and February. 

March 2: SAM HOUSTON was born in 1793. He became the only person to serve as a congressman, senator and governor of two states: TX and TN. Read about him in two books. Compare how he's described as a man and a legend.















MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK in WA became National Park #2 in 1899.

March 3: ANNE SULLIVAN began teach blind-deaf Hellen Keller when she was six years old. 

Find out why this was such an amazing challenge.

What are 3 things Helen Keller is remembered for doing?

March 4: GARRETT MORGAN was born in 1877. He later invented the gas mask, a belt fastener and an automatic traffic light. So he helped people survive wars, hold up their pants and avoid traffic accidents. :-)

INTERNATIONAL PANCAKE DAY started in 1445 in Only, England. The town's women would make pancakes to use up the fat in the house beofre Lent. then race to the church carrying a pancake in a skillet. In 1950, the residents of Liberal, KS picked up this race. Now the two town hold rival races and compare winning times. Click on this link to find out more.

You could hold your own race!

March 5: 301 DAYS remain till the end of the year.

How many days until your birthday?

March 6: MICHELANGELO was born in Italy in 1475. He began one of the world's most famous painters and sculptors. I like this focus on just one of his fabulous works. But he's an artist worthy of researching to create a timeline of his life. 

March 7: THE TELEPHONE was patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. Everyone needs to experience the fun of a string phone at least once. So click this link for directions to build one. 

The CHALLENGE: How long can the string be and still transmit the sound?






NATIONAL CEREAL DAY  What's your favorite? Make a bar graph by asking that question of at least 20 people. And record the results.  Here are some fun cereal facts:

• The cereal industry uses over 800 million pounds of sugar a year
• The average American consumes over 160 bowls of cereal a year
• CheeriOats was the original name for Cheerios
• Corn Flakes was the first boxed cereal to offer a prize

We don't usually think of food as being an invention--but cereals were invented. 

March 8: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY was first celebrated in New York City in 1857 to honor women in the garment industry. Today it is celebrated in many countries to honor all working women.

March 9: AMERIGO VESPUCCI was born in Italy in 1454. He became a famous explorer and The Americas were named after him. 

Find out more about him through books and on-line. Then make a timeline of his life.

March 10: "MR. WATSON, COME HERE. I WANT YOU." became the first clearly heard telephone message. It was transmitted in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell while he was just experimenting with the telephone. Check out this link to phones through the ages. 

*Time for kids to take a survey and make a graph. How many parents/grandparents used a rotary phone? And I'm old enough to remember having only one phone in the house (rotary) on a party line. Do I need to define that for any of you? :-)

March 11: JOHN CHAPMAN died in 1845 in MA. No one is sure when he was born but he is known for roaming the Ohio Valley planting apple trees. They called him Johnny Appleseed and this date is officially Johnny Appleseed Day!

Check out my blog archives for IT'S APPLE TIME! and lots of activities.

These two biographies are a great chance to compare a first person story vs one in third person. HOW ARE THEY ALIKE? HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT? WHICH DID READERS LIKE BETTER? WHY?

First Person

Third Person

March 12: COCA-COLA began selling its first bottles in 1894. 

March 13: EARMUFF DAY It really is. And time to thank Chester Greenwood for creating them in 1877. He called them "Champion Ear Protectors".

Make a list of other names for this invention. Be really creative! Then create a commercial for this newly named invention.

March 14: COTTON GIN was patented in 1794 by Eli Whitney. It made it as much as 50 times faster to separate the seeds from the cotton fibers than doing that job by hand.

March 15: IDES OF MARCH is in history the day that the leader of the ancient Romanan Empire Julius Caesar was assassinated.

March 16: ROCKET AWAY! Robert Goddard launched a liquid fuel rocket in 1926. It rose more than 47 feet and traveled 184 feet in just 2.5 seconds. 

Read about this inventor. Then blast off some rockets of your own following the directions below.

Blast into rocketry with these activities from NASA

And this fun site

Then thick outside the box and try this rocket boat activity.

March 17: ST. PATRICK'S DAY honors the death of the patron saint of Ireland who died in 493.

March 18: RUSSIAN COSMONAUT ALEXI LEONOV became the first man to wear a space suit and step out of his rocket and into space. He stayed 20 minutes.

March 19: THEY'RE BACK! The swallows migrate to the San Juan Capistrano Mission in California from Mexico. They don't all come on that day but it's the day their return is celebrated.

And they're not the only birds whose annual return is celebrated.

After reading, find where these birds start and where they land on a map.

March 20: SPRING officially begins on this day or the next, depending on when the sun crosses the equator. It's also called the vernal equinox.

WORLD STORYTELLING DAY Click here to learn more about its history and get some ideas for celebrating.

March 21: Johann Sebastian Bach, the famous composer, was born in 1685.

Don't just read about him--listen to his work. Fantasia impressed Walt Disney so much it's the music in his film Fantasia. (Toccata and Fugue in D Minor)

March 22: POWER UP! In 1941, electricity was first generated by the hydroelectric plant at the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River.

Try out these fun activities using electricity--from battery power.

March 23: WERNER von BRAUN was born in Germany in 1912. After coming to the states following WWII, he would lead a team in launching the first US satellite, Explorer I.

PATRICK HENRY in 1775, gave the American Revolution a famous saying to remember, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
Of course, read about the man who made history.

Then read a fun mystery that shares this bit of history.

March 24: EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL happened when the oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound off Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of oil and damaging over 45 miles of natural habitat. *When I visited this area 10 years after the spill while writing my book AFTER THE SPILL, there was still on-going clean up efforts. This spill hurt the environment and the plants and animals living there. It also seriously damaged some local native communities as young people left for the new clean up jobs and never came home.

March 25: FIRST COLOR TV SET was manufactured by RCA in 1954.

March 26: ROBERT FROST was born in 1874 in CA. He became a famous poet but he also worked as a farmer, teacher, shoemaker and editor.

Listen to one of my favorite poems--recited by the author Robert Frost.

When I was a little girl, my grandfather gave me a sleigh bell from his family's sleigh. I still have it. Still love it. It always makes me think of this poem by Robert Frost. Write a poem about something you treasure.

VACCINE TO PREVENT POLIO was announced by Jonas Salk in 1953.

March 27: US NAVY was created in 1794.

WILHELM ROENTGEN was born in 1845. He discovered X-rays.

March 28:  THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR POWER PLANT DISASTER happened in 1979, near Harrisburg, PA, when uranium in the reactor core overheated due to a cooling valve failure. Radioactive steam was released into the atmosphere. Afterwards, there was a storm of cocern over the future safety of nuclear power plants.  

March 29: EARTH HOUR was founded by the World Wide Fund for Nature in Sydney, Australia in 2007. The goal is to have people think about climate change by turning off all non-needed lights for one hour. JOIN IN THIS YEAR! 

March 30: ERASE THAT! The first pencil with an eraser on the end was patented by Hyman Lipman in 1858. Don't miss this book!

March 31: EIFFEL TOWER was completed in Paris in 1889. It was named for its architect Gustave Eiffel and built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.

Read these two books about the famous Eiffel Tower. What's different about the way they tell the story?
Which do you like better? Why?