April is famous for tricks from the weather and absolutely awesome, inspired creations from artists, scientists and curious thinkers!
Meet Howard McWilliam the awesome illustrator ...
of our WHAT IF YOU HAD!? series.
April 1: April Fool's Day The day is known for pranks but it started in 1564 when New Year's Day officially changed on the calendar from being April 1st to January 1st. People who continued to celebrate the year's change on April 1 were called "April Fools".
April 2: US MINT founded in 1792 in Philadelphia, PA.
Do you know who is on each of the American coins? Guess. Then find coin samples to check. Or go to this site.
April 3: Pony Express started and the first mail delivery started from St. Joseph, MO in 1860.
Would you want to be a Pony Express rider? Read. Then decide.
April 4: Golden Gate Park was opened in San Francisco, CA in 1870.
April 5: Joseph Lister was born in Essex, England in 1827. He became a surgeon and was the first to use antiseptics to prevent infection after surgery.
April 6: North Pole! Robert E. Peary became the first recorded person to reach the North Pole in 1909. Read about the race to be the first. If this happened today, you could blog about it. So write a two paragraph blog report of this North Pole Race.
Communication Satellite the first commercial communication satellite, called Early Bird, went into orbit in 1965.
April 7: World Health Day
April 8: William Henry Welch was born in Norfolk, CT in 1850. He is credited with transforming American medicine.
April 9: John Presper Eckert, co-inventor of ENIAC, the first electronic computer, was born in Philadelphia PA in 1919.
I had the amazing opportunity to have lunch with Eckert and talk with him about the invention of ENIAC. :-)
April 10: Safety Pin was patented by Walter Hunt in 1849. List at least 5 things you could do with a safety pin--even better list 10.
April 11: Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play in major league baseball in 1947. Read two different biographies of this person. In your opinion, which is better? How do the books tell Jackie's story differently?
April 12: Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gaganin became the first man in space in 1961. The flight lasted 108 minutes.
April 13: Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, was born in Albermarle County, VA in 1743. In this book, the author does a clever job of comparing Thomas Jefferson and another key person in history. List at least 3 ways the books tells that these men were different. How did those difference help them?
April 14: Mathematician and physicist Christian Huygens was born in Hague, Netherlands, in 1629. He discovered Saturn had rings.
April 15: Artist, inventor Leonaro da Vinci was born in Anchiano, Italy in 1452. Make a parachute, invisible ink, walk-on-water and more to follow in DaVinci's inventive footsteps. Activities are found in this book.
April16: Aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright was born in Milville, IN, in 1867. Read about the man. Then start flying your own planes--that's straw airplanes.
Click to link to directions.
April 17: Celebrate Bats Day
Read my book The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats (Millbrook/Lerner) to discover why bats are in trouble and why we need to help them.
April 18: Paul Revere and William Dawes made their "Midnight Ride" in 1775.
Read a really fun telling of this moment in history as shared by Paul Revere's horse.
The San Francisco earthquake and fire happened from April 18-21, 1906.
What was it like to survive this quake and fire? Here is one fun fictional story about it.
April 19: Surveyor 3 landed on the moon in 1967. This let scientists learn the surface is solid and not covered in fine powder. That opened the door for lunar landings.
April 20: RCA introduced the electron microscope in 1940, making it possible to sre the structure of very small things.
April 21: Conservation leader and explorer John Muir born in Dunbar, Scotland, in 1838. His efforts led to the establishment of national parks. He led a successful effort to save California's giant redwoods. This is one of my favorite books. Read it to find out how this camping trip with John Muir changed the world.
April 22: Arbor Day often observed on this date. First observed in Nebraska in 1872, by planting trees.
You'll find loads of fun Arbor Day activities on the Arbor Day Foundation site.
And get to know trees from the Outside In.
Earth Day first observed on this day in 1970.
April 23: First public showing of a motion picture took place in 1896 in New York City.
What is your favorite movie? Why?
April 24: Library of Congress established in 1800. It is considered the world's largest library with millions of books.
April 25: Guglielmo Marconi born in Bologna, Iltaly, in 1874. He invented the wireless telegraphy which made the radio possible.
The first Seeing Eye Dog was presented as a guide dog in 1928. Read the story about Roselle, the seeing eye dog in my book. How was this dog a hero?
April 26: Ornithologist (studier of birds) John Audubon was born in Haiti in 1785.
April 27: Inventor Samuel Finley B. Morse was born in Charlestown, MA in 1791. He invented the telegraph. The first message ever sent was between Washington, D. and Baltimore, MD. It was "What hath God Wrought?"
Check out the Morse Code alphabet. Then try writing a "Happy Birthday" message to your best friend in Morse Code.
April 28: First free fall parachute jump made by L.L.R. Irvin, in 1919 in Dayton, OH.
April 29: "Separable Fastener" patented in 1913 by Gideon Sundback of Hoboken, NJ. With some tweaks, this became the zipper.
What in the world can you do with a zipper? Find out and try some of the activities on thi site just for fun!
