The Holiday Zone Celebrates Fall

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Celebrating Fall at TheHolidayZone.com

Labor Day	September 7, 2009	PegsRecipes.com Good, simple down-home cooking
First celebrated in New York in 1882, Labor Day began as a parade to honor the working class. Following the success of the day's festivities, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts passed laws making Labor Day a state holiday. In 1894, the U.S. Congress followed suit, declaring the first Monday of each September a national holiday in honor of the working class. Canada also celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday of September.
Grandparents Day	September 10, 2009
National Grandparents Day serves as a day for Americans to honor grandparents -- not just those to whom they are related, but each and every senior citizen who has helped to make home, community, and country what it is today. It is observed the Sunday after Labor Day.
Constitution Day	September 17, 2009
Constitution Day marks the anniversary of the 1787 of the U.S. Constitution. The law that created Constitution Day requires all schools in the United States which receive federal funding to observe the day by providing instruction directly related to the history of the U.S. Constitution.
Autumn Celebrations
Visit this page to find a variety of language activities, crafts, games, songs, writing prompts, printables, and other activities to celebrate the season of autumn. This year, autumn officially begins on September 22.
Chuseok	October 3, 2009
Sometimes referred to as the "Korean Thanksgiving," Chuseok (also transliterated as Chusok, Chu'sok, and Chu'seok) is actually a harvest celebration. Chuseok falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the day of the full moon referred to as the "harvest moon."
Columbus Day	October 12, 2009
Columbus Day honors the explorer Christopher Columbus, who first landed in the New World on October 12, 1492. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed October 12 Columbus Day. President Richard Nixon later declared Columbus Day a national holiday to be observed the second Monday of each October. Although it is a national holiday, Columbus Day is not without controversy. Some people choose to remember the victims of European exploration and settlement by observing the day as Indigenous Peoples Day.
Reformation Day	October 31, 2009
Reformation Day commemorates Martin Luther's posting of his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31st, 1517, commonly regarded as the pivotal act that launched Europe into the era known as the Protestant Reformation. Reformation Day also celebrates the religious, social, and political changes brought about by the Reformation. Reformation Day is both a religious and a civil holiday. It is widely observed as a religious holiday in Lutheran and Reformed Church circles. It is also celebrated as a civil holiday in Slovenia and in certain German states.
Halloween	October 31, 2009
An abbreviated form of All Hallows Even, Halloween has a history that dates back some 2,000 years. Halloween is believed to have orginated as a Celtic effort to banish evil spirits. Centuries later, the Roman Catholic Church re-cast it All Saints' Eve, the prequel to All Saints' Day. Today, it is primiarly observed as a fun time for children to dress up in costumes and "trick or treat," begging for candy.
Veterans Day	November 11, 2009
One year after World War I drew to a close, President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11, 1919 as Armistice Day--a national holiday to celebrate victory in "the war to end all wars." Yet the dream of world of peace was soon shattered as first World War II, then the Korean Conflict called America's troops back to the battlefield. In 1954, Armistice Day was re-named as Veterans Day, a fitting tribute to all the men and women who have defended the cause of freedom around the world.
Thanksgiving	November 26, 2009
The Pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock in December of 1620 found the New World much different than they had expected. Amid the hard New England winter, 46 of the 121 persons who made the voyage perished. But the fall of 1621 brought a bountiful harvest, giving those who remained a change to survive the coming winter. The surviving Pilgrims, along with 91 Native American guests, celebrated the first Thanksgiving with wild game and vegetables. Throughout Colonial history, similar celebrations occurred whenever settlers felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude toward God. In fact, George Washington even declared a national day of Thanksgiving in 1789. But Thanksgiving did not become a regular holiday until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln signed into law a bill proclaiming the last Thursday of each November to be Thanksgiving Day. In 1941, Congress amended the law to make the fourth Thursday of each November Thanksgiving.

The Holiday Zone offers free educational resources for use in early childhood and elementary educational settings. Holiday and seasonal materials include learning games, whole language activities, writing prompts, songs, action rhymes, printable worksheets, printable and interactive puzzles, coloring pages, and children's literature recommendations. This site is child-friendly and does contain some content geared specifically toward children, but is targeted primarily toward educators, child care providers, and parents. The intended audience includes preschool teachers, kindergarten teachers, elementary classroom teachers, homeschoolers, parents, grandparents, and others who work with children

The Holiday Zone also offers resources created especially for use in the ESL/EFL classroom. ESL teachers and EFL teachers alike will find information and reproducible materials to help their ELL students gain a better understanding of traditional western holidays. ESL/EFL resources include reading comprehension activities, holiday vocabulary guides, printable illustrated word wall cards, puzzles, worksheets, and discussion topics geared specifically toward English language learners (ELLs). Interactive reading comprehension tasks, interactive quizzes, and interactive puzzles are also being added for the benefit of English language learners who visit this site.

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