January 16 reading ideas
Finding reading ideas for this date…
Finding reading ideas for this date…
Celebrate Appreciate a Dragon Day with fantasy reading passages about dragons, friendship, and adventure. Read a story together or perform a dragon tale with your class. Mark Religious Freedom Day by exploring the right to follow one’s conscience. Explore a spicy Texas chili tradition and the ingredients that give it flavor. January 16 is also the birthday of gorilla researcher Dian Fossey.
Special date
Appreciate a Dragon Day celebrates the dragons we meet in books and the stories we imagine. Compare dragon characters, act out an adventure, or create a dragon tale of your own.
8 reading resources
Discover more fantasy stories and reader’s theater.
Open collectionExplore this topic through Barnaby's Special Bubbles.
Read passageExplore this topic through Sir Reginald Meets a Dragon.
Read passageShare a story about a dragon who loves tales.
Read passageRead about a little dragon whose sneezes become a surprising strength.
Read passageExplore a story about dragon lore and caring for nature.
Read passageSpecial date
Virginia adopted its Statute for Religious Freedom on January 16, 1786. Read about the law and compare it with a later case about freedom of conscience.
3 reading resources
Explore this topic through Rights & Reformers Reading Passages.
Open collectionExamine a later Supreme Court case about freedom of conscience.
Read passageRead about Virginia’s religious-freedom law and connect its history to Religious Freedom Day.
Read passageSpecial date
Explore a spicy Texas chili tradition and the ingredients that give it flavor.
Identify the ingredients and traditions described in the Texas chili reading.
Read passageOn this date in history
Dian Fossey was born on January 16, 1932. Read about her long-term observations of mountain gorillas and discuss how careful observation can support understanding and conservation.
Dian Fossey was born on January 16, 1932. Read about her long-term observations of mountain gorillas and discuss how careful observation can support understanding and conservation.
Read passageYour topic. Your level.
Have another idea for today’s lesson? Let Pico create an AI-assisted passage with questions and an illustration. Choose the topic and reading level in the creator.
Dragons can be fierce, funny, or friendly in the stories we imagine. For Appreciate a Dragon Day, explore fantasy reading passages and talk about how each author brings a dragon to life.
In The Dragon Who Traded Stories, perform a conversation between a traveler and a dragon who collects tales. Read Dibble’s Mighty Sneeze and discuss how Dibble helps the other dragons. Older readers can follow a dragon’s journey in The Spark of Whispering Crags or explore dragon lore in The Keeper of the Dragon Scale.
Choose two dragons and compare their personalities, then draw a dragon of your own and write a short story about it. Find more magical characters in Fantasy Stories & Reader’s Theater.
Religious Freedom Day marks the adoption of Virginia’s Statute for Religious Freedom on January 16, 1786. Explore a later question about freedom of conscience in A Flag, a Pledge, and the Right to Silence.
Explore a spicy Texas chili tradition and the ingredients that give it flavor. Read Texas Chili: A Bowl of Red! and identify the ingredients and traditions described in the Texas chili reading.
A Law for Freedom of Belief: Read about Virginia’s religious-freedom law and connect its history to Religious Freedom Day.
January 16 is also the birthday of gorilla researcher Dian Fossey.
Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas introduces her field observations and conservation work. Ask readers which details show how patient observation helped researchers understand gorillas.
