May 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 for May 2026 showing educational events and resources
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
April 26, 2026	April 27, 2026	April 28, 2026	April 29, 2026	April 30, 2026	May 1, 2026 Asian American and Pacific Island Heritage Month begins Also try: Asian culture, multiculturalism Mental Health Awareness Month begins Also try: emotional health, wellness Physical Fitness and Sports Month begins Also try: sports, physical education National Mother Goose Day Also try: nursery rhymes	May 2, 2026 King Charles II gives royal charter to Hudson's Bay Company (1670) Also try: fur trade, Canadian history William Herschel discovers first binary star (1780) Also try: William Herschel, astronomers
May 3, 2026 World Press Freedom Day Also try: First Amendment Niccolò Machiavelli born (1469) Also try: Italian Renaissance Washington DC incorporated as a city (1802) Also try: capital cities Spring Astronomy Day Also try: space exploration, solar system	May 4, 2026 International Firefighters Day Also try: careers, jobs, public service Margaret Thatcher becomes first female Prime Minister of the UK (1979) Also try: prime minister, parliamentary system Four student protesters killed at Kent State (1970) Also try: anti-war protests, Vietnam War	May 5, 2026 Cinco de Mayo Also try: Battle of Puebla National Cartoonist Day Also try: political cartoons, comic strips AP Testing begins Also try: test taking strategies National Teacher Appreciation Day Also try: teacher gifts	May 6, 2026 Sigmund Freud born (1856) Also try: psychology Hindenburg Disaster (1937) Also try: hydrogen, airship	May 7, 2026 The RMS Lusitania sinks (1915) Also try: U-boat, submarine warfare Tchaikovsky born (1840) Also try: Classical period, composers	May 8, 2026 Harry S. Truman born (1884) Also try: US presidents German surrender: Victory in Europe Day (1945) Also try: World War II	May 9, 2026 John Brown born (1800) Also try: Harpers Ferry, abolitionists MIT researchers bounce a laser off the Moon for the first time (1962) Also try: lasers, speed of light
May 10, 2026 Jefferson Davis captured by Union troops (1865) Also try: American Civil War US transcontinental railroad completed (1869) Also try: Central Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad Nelson Mandela becomes president of South Africa (1994) Also try: apartheid, South Africa Mother's Day Also try: mothers, families	May 11, 2026 Salvador Dali born (1904) Also try: surrealism, famous artists Richard Feynman born (1918) Also try: physicists, nobel prize	May 12, 2026 International Nurses Day Also try: medical careers Florence Nightingale born (1820) Also try: nursing, Crimean War	May 13, 2026 US declares war with Mexico: Mexican-American War begins (1846) Also try: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Student hunger strike in Tiananmen Square (1989) Also try: hunger strike	May 14, 2026 Lewis and Clark begin expedition (1804) Also try: Corp of Discovery First US Space Station launched (1973) Also try: Skylab, space exploration	May 15, 2026 Johannes Kepler discovers his Harmonic Law (1618) Also try: Johannes Keplar, planetary motion US Department of Agriculture created (1862) Also try: farming, forestry	May 16, 2026 Mississippi River steamboat service begins (1817) Also try: Mississippi River US Bureau of Mines founded (1910) Also try: mining industry, mineral resources
May 17, 2026 Gary Paulson born (1939) Also try: Hatchet Supreme Court rules on Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Also try: separate but equal, desegregation	May 18, 2026 John Winthrop elected first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1631) Also try: Massachusetts Bay Colony, colonial America Mount St. Helens erupts (1980) Also try: volcanoes	May 19, 2026 Anne Boleyn, wife of King Henry VIII, beheaded (1536) Also try: King Henry VIII The Empire State Building is designated a New York City landmark (1981) Also try: New York City, historic landmarks	May 20, 2026 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent the first blue jeans (1873) Also try: blue jeans, clothing, fashion Charles Lindbergh begins first solo transatlantic flight (1927) Also try: transatlantic flight	May 21, 2026 American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton (1881) Also try: Clara Barton, emergency preparedness	May 22, 2026 First major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail (1843) Also try: westward movement Lassen Peak erupts (1915) Also try: volcanoes	May 23, 2026 World Turtle Day Also try: reptiles Carolus Linnaeus born (1707) Also try: biological classification, taxonomy Scott O'Dell born (1898) Also try: Island of the Blue Dolphins
May 24, 2026 Mary Had a Little Lamb published (1830) Also try: nursery rhyme Brooklyn Bridge opens (1883) Also try: bridges, civil engineering	May 25, 2026 The Consitutional Convention begins in Philadelphia (1787) Also try: US Constitution, US government Jesse Owens breaks six world records in one hour (1935) Also try: track and field Memorial Day Also try: US military, war heroes	May 26, 2026 National Paper Airplane Day Also try: flight, engineering design Sally Ride born (1951) Also try: NASA, astronauts William and Frederick Langenheim take first photos of a solar eclipse in US (1854) Also try: photography, astronomy	May 27, 2026 The Queen Mary takes maiden voyage (1936) Also try: passenger ships Golden Gate Bridge opens (1937) Also try: suspension bridges, San Fransisco	May 28, 2026 Amnesty International Day Also try: human rights, justice Jim Thorpe born (1888) Also try: athletes	May 29, 2026 Learn About Composting Day Also try: soil, gardening John F. Kennedy born (1917) Also try: US presidents Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach Mount Everest summit (1953) Also try: Everest expedition, mountains	May 30, 2026 National Creativity Day Also try: imagination, inventions Lincoln Memorial dedicated (1922) Also try: Abraham Lincoln
May 31, 2026 World No Tobacco Day Also try: cigarettes, healthy habits Walt Whitman born (1819) Also try: poetry	June 1, 2026	June 2, 2026	June 3, 2026	June 4, 2026	June 5, 2026	June 6, 2026

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May Curriculum Calendar - Lesson Plan Ideas by Date

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