This is a collection of worksheets that students will find helpful and theme relevant for the month of January. Students will learn how we arrived at our current calendar, as well as explore some of the historical events and awareness campaigns that take place in the first month of the year. Activities include reading brief passages and answering multiple choice and short-answer questions about the material. When you look below you will find worksheets, that you can print, that themed all around events or celebrations that take place in the month of January. Fun Fact: The famous New Year's Eve "ball drop" in New York City's Times Square was first held in 1907.
Print January Worksheets
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Why People Wear Glasses
Glasses are an essential part of some people's lives. They would not be able to see street signs, read a book, or drive a car without them. Not everyone wears glasses for the same reasons. Some people have a condition called Myopia. It means they are nearsighted, and they cannot see far away.

Glasses Multiple Choice Questions
January is National Eye Health Care Month. Which eye condition causes the cornea to change from round to cone shaped?

Glasses Short Answer Questions
Imagine everything in the world around you was not in focus. How would it affect your daily life? Do you feeling different about people who wear glasses? Are glasses an advantage, disadvantage, or neither?

New Year's Day Around the World - Reading Passage
The beginning of a new year is a time for celebration. Many people attend parties, feast on delicious foods, and participate in festive activities. People in the United States may stay up until midnight to count down the last few minutes of the old year, and sing or blow noisemakers when the clock strikes twelve o'clock, signaling the beginning of the New Year.

New Year's Day Multiple Choice Questions
Which country uses broken dishes as part of their New Year tradition?

New Years Short Answer Questions
Imagine you lived in Denmark. Make a list of people whom you would wish a Happy New Year by throwing dishes at their door.

Why is January the Beginning of the Year? Reading Passage
Did you ever wonder why January is the first month of the year? It did not always have such a special place in the calendar. Depending on the country, the beginning of the year varied from one time of the year to another.

The Beginning - Multiple Choice Questions
What was the first month of the year in Rome before the Julian calendar was adopted?

Beginning Short Answer Questions
Design your own calendar for one cycle. You do not need to use twelve months in a year or even a year. Think about the best way to structure your calendar.

Glaucoma and Treatments for the Disease
Glaucoma is an incurable eye disease that can be treated successfully if it is detected early. It interferes with the proper operation of the optic nerve, resulting in pain and loss of vision.

Glaucoma Multiple Choice Questions
If the optic nerve is squeezed by the pressure from fluid, what does it prevent the brain from doing?

Short Answer Questions
What could you do to help a family member or friend who was suffering from Glaucoma? If you had vision loss from Glaucoma, how would it affect your life?

The Importance of Ellis Island Reading Passage
The United States of America was created from many people with different backgrounds and cultures. People who came to the United States brought their traditions, foods, and values to make new lives for themselves and their families.

Ellis Island Multiple Choice Questions
Ellis Island Opened on January 1st 1892. Answer a series of questions on this worksheet about it.

Ellis Island Short Answer Questions
Who owned the island before New York? What type of business did he own? What are the two nicknames for the island? Why was it given these names?

About the Grand Canyon Reading Worksheet
The Grand Canyon is considered to be one of the most beautiful natural attractions in the world. Around five million visitors every year come to Arizona to explore, camp, and hike the beautiful canyon.

Grand Canyon Multiple Choice Questions
In what year did Garcia Lopez de Cardnenas visit the Grand Canyon? What President of the United States established the Grand Canyon as a preserve in 1906?

Grand Canyon Short Answer Questions
Who opposed the Grand Canyon becoming a National Park? Why do you think they tried to stop the government?

The Revolutionary War: The Beginning and the End
The Revolutionary War, also known as the American War for Independence, was fought from 1775 through 1783. The war was between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies it controlled known today as the United States of America.

The Revolutionary War - Multiple Choice Questions
Who was the famous revolutionary that rode through the countryside to warn the colonists about the British?


The Winter Olympics Reading Worksheet
The first Winter Olympics was held on January 25th 1924 in France.

Winter Olympics - Multiple Choice Questions
What event is for demonstration only and not an official Olympic sport? What part of the Opening Ceremony do the athletes march into the stadium?

Winter Olympics - Short Answer Questions
What is similar between the Ancient Greek Olympics and the modern Olympics?

What Do Satellites Do? Reading Passage
Satellites keep the world connected. People need them for cellular phones, weather reports, navigation systems, television, military purposes, scientific studies and many other reasons. There are different types of satellites that perform a variety of functions.

What Do Satellites Do? - Multiple Choice Questions
What organization is responsible for the weather images shown on the news reports? About how many miles above the Earth does a Low Earth Orbit satellite revolve?

What Do Satellites Do? Short Answer Questions
Create a plan to clean up the "dead" satellites or space junk. What would you do? What types of things are considered telecommunications?

Ten Reasons to Eat Oatmeal in the Morning Passage
Oatmeal is one of the healthiest foods on Earth. Many people enjoy oatmeal for breakfast with delicious fruit, syrup, or yogurt to add flavor.

Eat Oatmeal in the Morning - Multiple Choice Questions
January is National Oatmeal Month. What chemicals are found in oatmeal to help fight cancer?

Eat Oatmeal in the Morning - Short Answer Questions
What is a wide-spread problem in the United States according to the passage? What can help the problem?
A Quick Look At This Month
January is the first month of the modern-day Gregorian calendar. There are 31 days in the month of January, and every year, we celebrate the New Year on January 1st!
The month of January got its name from the Roman God, Janus. Janus had two faces, and he could see the past and the future. He was also the God of doors.
Previously, the month of January was not the first month of the calendar. The year used to begin in March, and later January and February were added. However, in 450 BCE, the beginning of the year was moved to January 1st.
Initially, there were 30 days in January when the 10-month Roman calendar was introduced, but in 46 BCE, Julius Caesar's astronomers added a day while introducing the concept of Leap Years.
January is considered the coldest month of the year in most of the Northern Hemisphere and the warmest month of the year in most of the Southern Hemisphere.
The full moon of January is known as the Wolf Moon. The birthstone for January is the garnet symbolizing constancy, while January's birth flowers are carnations and snowdrops.
January first is New Year's Day, which is always exciting, but why is it the start of the calendar? Has it always been that way?
What Important Events Happened in January?
New Year's Day - 1st
One of the most important and highly anticipated moments is welcoming the new year! Though we all celebrate the end of the year in December, January 1st is all about the togetherness and hope that humans feel for the latest year. The day is filled with warm wishes, elaborate plans for the year, and the happiest wishes for a lifetime!
World Braille Day - 4th
Braille is an essential modern invention of modern times. It allows visually impaired people to read using a tool called "braille." Braille has been phenomenal in terms of knowledge acquisition for the visually impaired as many people do not accept such people, assuming them to be worthless members of society.
The day is a source of awareness and a way for the visually fine to acknowledge the efforts that visually impaired people have to go through for something as simple as "reading." Many of us take a task for granted, but we do not realize how grand of a task it can be for somebody with a disability.
World Day of War Orphans - 6th
This event focuses on the most significant war crimes of our modern world: War orphans. While wars have entangled world history in mysterious ways, war orphans have not gotten enough attention from survivors. The day commemorates the sacrifice that so many children had to give alongside their parents. Some sacrificed their lives willingly, and some were forced to depart this world.
All of these people, what happened to their offspring once they're gone? The day brings awareness to the heinous war crimes. It allows people to empathize with such children and all those who survived and made it to adulthood and old age without the most crucial relationship in their lives: Parents.
World Logic Day - 14th
The day is celebrated to bring awareness to the intellectual history of humankind and how far along we have come in time. It is quite an exciting addition to the first month of the year as it brings light towards the goal setting and all such plans in an organized and more informed manner for all of humanity.
International Education Day - 24th
January events extend to the entire month; on the 24th, the day is to celebrate and allow people from all fields of life to acknowledge education as a fundamental right and not a privilege.
Be it anybody from any walk of life, education is a fundamental right that they must be allowed to acquire against all odds.
Holocaust Remembrance Day - 27th
War crimes of the modern world have given birth to countless atrocities that men of the past might never have been able to conceive. World holocaust remembrance allows people of all ethnicities and pasts to commemorate one of the most significant traumas of history: the Holocaust.
To all the people who lost their families to the terrible psychological and physical trauma of this war crime, this allocated holiday brings everybody together to empathize and recall only for the sake of humanity.
In addition to marking the beginning of a new year, January also serves as a reminder of the previous year. Although some of the events of January are to commemorate the fallen ones or their children, with every New Year comes a new possibility.