April Fool's Day and Engineering - April 1
Fool Me Once Learning
Wednesday, April 1, 2026
April Fool's Day, First Day of Passover, Global Day of the Engineer, Fun at Work Day, Jump in Muddy Puddles Day, National One Cent Day, Sourdough Bread Day, Trombone Players Day, and Air Force Academy Day.
* Indicates a poet or poetry resource in celebration of National Poetry Month.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION HISTORY ON THIS DATE
1789 – House of Representatives achieves 1st quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as 1st Speaker of the House.
Today's Birthdays
Songs of the Day
Poem of the Day - April is National Poetry Month
Today's Theme: April Fools' Day and Engineering
ON THIS DATE
- 1789 - The U.S. House of Representatives holds its first full meeting in New York City.
- 1945 - American forces invade Okinawa.
- 1954 - President Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
- 1970 - President Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General's warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertising on television and radio.
- 1976 - Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne.
- 1979 - Nickelodeon is launched.
- 1999 - Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory.
- 1578 - English physician William Harvey
- 1647 - English poet John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester *
- 1776 - French mathematician and physicist Sophie Germain
- 1852 - Painter and illustrator Edwin Austin Abbey
- 1873 - Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff
- 1883 - Actor Lon Chaney
- 1884 - U.S. Army Colonel Florence Blanchfield
- 1932 - Actor Debbie Reynolds
- 1950 - Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
- 1953 - Director Barry Sonnenfeld
- 1973 - Journalist Rachel Maddow
Beatles - Fool On the Hill - LISTEN- Aretha Franklin - Chain of Fools - LISTEN
Doobie Brothers - What a Fool Believes - LISTEN- Steve Perry - Foolish Heart - LISTEN
- The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again - LISTEN
Sergei Rachmaninoff - Prelude in C Sharp Minor - LISTEN - Singing in the Rain - Good Morning (ft. Debbie Reynolds) - LISTEN
POEMS OF THE DAY
John Donne - The Triple Fool
John Wilmot Earl of Rochester - Constancy
Richard Blanco (Poet and Civil Engineer) - One Today - Poem for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration
- Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street - Elmo Spreads Kindness by Sharing a Joke (0:59) - VIEW and DO
- Grades 2-6 - PBS LearningMedia - All About the Holidays - April Fools' Day (1:00) - VIEW
- Grades 6-12 - PBS LearningMedia- NOVA scienceNOW - Hippocampus Humor: Comic Science (1:16) - VIEW
- Grades 6-12 - NHPBS Video- Braincraft - Why Are Some People So Easily Fooled (2:43) - VIEW
- Grades 8-12 - NHPBS Video - American Masters - George Plimpton's Famous April Fool's Day Joke (3:11) - VIEW
THEME: ENGINEERING
- Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street - James Marsden and Elmo - Engineering Automatic Spaghetti Server - VIEW
- Grades PreK-1 - PBS LearningMedia - Sesame Street - Word on the Street - Engineering Collection - VIEW and DO
- Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street - Elmo and Abby Investigate: Engineering a Bridge - VIEW
- Grades PreK-1 - PBS LearningMedia - Sesame Street - Murray Experiment: Build a Bridge (2:01) - VIEW
- Grade PreK-1 - PBS LearningMedia - The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That - Building Bridges (Available in Spanish (13:43) - VIEW and DO
- Grade PreK-1 - PBS LearningMedia - The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That - Design Time (Available in Spanish) (11:00) - VIEW and DO
- Grades PreK-3 - PBS LearningMedia - Curious George STEM Collection - VIEW and DO
- Grades K-5 - PBS Learning Media - Teaching NGSS Engineering Design Through Media Collection - VIEW and DO
- Grades 3-8 - PBS LearningMedia - Dragonfly TV Engineering Collection - VIEW and DO
- Grades 5-12 - PBS LearningMedia - NOVA: Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers Collection (Available in Spanish) - VIEW, READ, DO
- Grades 6-12 - PBS LearningMedia - NASA Physics and Engineering Collection - VIEW and DO
- Grades 6-12 - PBS LearningMedia - Biomedical Engineering - VIEW and DO
- Grades 6-12 - PBS LearningMedia - Aerospace Engineering Collection - VIEW and DO
- Grades 6-12 - PBS LearningMedia - Quest - Engineering Is... Collection - VIEW
- Grades 6-12 - PBS LearningMedia - Engineering Your Future Collection - VIEW
- Grades 6-12 - PBS LearningMedia - Engineering for the Future Collection - VIEW, READ, DO
- Grades 9-12 - PBS LearningMedia - Engineering Technology: Value Engineer - VIEW, READ, DO
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