15th August Science Week

 

Science Week 2026

The school theme for National Science Week in 2026 is Seeds of Science: nurturing science for all.

This theme invites students across Australia to explore the power of curiosity, inquiry and shared learning in growing scientific understanding. Just as seeds need the right conditions to grow, knowledge flourishes when it is nurtured, shared and applied to real-world and authentic challenges across all the scientific disciplines.

The theme encourages schools to explore how ideas take root, develop and spread – from the first spark of a question to the sharing of discoveries that benefit the wider community. It’s a celebration of how knowledge grows when tended with care, creativity and collaboration.

The Teacher's Resource Book has lots of wonderful ideas for areas to explore.

The school library has all of these books about seeds to get you started:

August Happiness Happens Month

Happiness Happens Month is observed every August. Created in 2000 this annual observance encourages people to recognise small moments of joy, appreciate what makes them happy, and share that positive energy with others. 

It reminds us that joy comes in small, everyday moments. It shows that being happy is contagious.  It also helps build a positive and supportive community.

This August has been very happy so far. I have been travelling in Canada enjoying some of the things that I like most: trees, books and passionate people who share books with children. I went to Ottawa to attend the 40th IBBY World Congress, an event that looks at bringing children and books together. The theme was 'Listening to Each Other's Voices'. 

The congress celebrated indigenous voices, something of importance in Canada because there are so many indigenous voices, but there are many similarities for indigenous children's book creators here in Australia. In 2024 Australia's Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) received the Astrid Lindgren Award and they were represented at the congress showcasing the books they have  listed to secure access to good literature for First Nations children of Australia. 

At the congress we heard about wonderful programs that continue Jella Lepman's vision to connect children to books in times of great need. We met and listened to Canadian picture book creators such as David Robertson, Jon Klassen, Sidney Smith, Kathy Stinson, Barbara Reid and Margriet Ruurs. And an added bonus, Michael Rosen, this year's Hans Christian Anderson Medal winner for writing, Michael Rosen gave the conference dinner address.

I saw many animals that I have never seen; bald eagles, kingfishers, Canadian geese, puffins, a lynx, a pink ibis, a river otter, capybaras, caiman, groundhogs and black squirrels. Wow!

Now that I'm home I have to bottle that happiness and take it back to school with me on Monday. I have so much to tell my students. I must remember to use my moments of joy to make someone else happy.

If unlike me, you feel the need to use some good picture books as provocations for the topic of happiness, try these:

Happy All Over  by Emma Quay

An irresistible celebration of the small joys to be found in the everyday.

This is My Happy Place  by Emma Bowd

Celebrate the places, people and things that bring us joy in this uplifting and spirited book.

This is Happy! by Anna Ross & Debi Gliori

This joyful picture book is full of delight in the world, outdoors and indoors, showing how happiness can be found in the smallest things. It encourages children to slow down and use all their senses to notice and enjoy the natural world. Happiness is truly all around us.

Where Happiness Begins by Eva Eland

Are you looking for happiness? Sometimes it can feel really far away, and sometimes you might have so much you can’t help but share. You can try to chase it, control it or capture it, but even if it seems like it’s gone for a while, you’ll know it’s never far away...

Layla's Happiness  by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie 

Seven-year-old Layla loves life! So she keeps a happiness book. What is happiness for her? For you?

 A Sprinkle of Happiness  by Lucy Rowland

"A sprinkle of happiness ... that's all you need!"
When a boy and his grandma find a tiny sunflower seed and plant
it together, their love and care transforms it into a towering
sunflower that spreads joy through their community. 

20th July World Jump Day

Tomorrow is World Jump Day! I have written about this before here. Last year the preschool classes and I had great fun jumping. We read Emily Likes to Bounce and then did lots of bouncing. We talked about animals that jump and what you needed to be able to jump, so maybe on this Jump Day we can look at animals who jump and leap. Of course there's rabbits, frogs, kangaroos and penguins, but even dolphins and whales jump out of the water so we can see them.

22nd July Lion's Share Day

 Lion's Share Day is celebrated on 22nd July.  In the 6th century BC, Aesop's Fables were written by a formerly enslaved Greek, and the phrase "the lion's share" was born. Its meaning refers to the biggest share or special treatment of something divided between different parties. Yet, the moral of the story is mostly seen as being cautious when dealing with someone much stronger! After all, the lion is the king of the jungle.

A "lion's share" is an idiom meaning "the largest part of something divided amongst other people." It comes from the fable The Lion's Share where a lion goes hunting with a fox, jackal, and wolf. After making a kill, the lion asserts his status, strength, and bravery to demand all four quarters of the stag for himself, leaving nothing for his partners. 

                      

To celebrate this day read the original Aesop's fable which you will find in many fable anthologies. The library has a large collection. Last term I shared several fables with Year 1 students and they became very good at ascertaining the intended message and identifying idioms.  

The library also has these books which also illustrate the idiom.

• The Lion's Share  by Martha Lightfoot

Lion always wants more than everyone else, and he thinks it's only fair that he gets the most! But will he still want the Lion's share when all the fun is over?

• Lionel and the Lion's Share  by Lou Peacock & Lisa Sheehan

Lionel the lion does NOT like to share. After all, lions always get the lion's share. He buys all the best instruments from the music ship, all the smartest hats from the hat shop and all the brightest balloons from the balloon stall. But at Chloe's birthday party Lionel goes too far and eats ALL the cake. That's when Lionel's friends decide that enough is enough.

• The Lion's Share  by Said Salah Ahmed & Kelly Dupre

A Somali-English Bilingual Children's Picture Book. The hungry animals of the Somali forest have worked together to kill a big fat camel. Now they must decide how to divide it. Will the portions be equal? Not with the lion in charge! Read this popular Somali fable and see why, as the other animals come to understand, "the lion's share is not fair!"

• The Lion's Share by Matthew McElligott 

When Ant receives a special invitation to dine with Lion, she is ready to be on her best behavior. During dessert, the other guests do not mind their manners, and by the time the dessert cake reaches Ant, barely a crumb is left for her to share with the King! Baking a cake seems like the perfect way to make it up to him . . . until the other guests turn her kind gesture into a contest. Exactly how many cakes are fit for a king?

28th July International Cockroach Appreciation Day

Recently, my friend from Momo Celebrating Time to Read wrote about Maybelle in the Soup which was out on display in the library because we had a display of books featuring soup. Maybelle is a cockroach and there are four books about her by Katie Speck. Yesterday she brought it back and was saying how much she enjoyed it so together we decided on a cockroach display to start off the term in the hope that these books get borrowed again. 

Read about Katie Speck and the origins of her Maybelle books here. You will laugh.

I have written about this day before here, but Maggie Hutchings has added to her cockroach series with Your Holiday was the Best! which is also told from the cockroach's point of view and since then we have added a new title called Craft Roach  by Rachel Burke. Of course we'll get out the other favourites like Crickwing by Janell Cannon, The Cockroach  by Elise Gravel and The Greatest Show on Earth  by Mini Grey.

 Generally feared as pests, scientists and enthusiasts champion cockroaches for acting as Earth’s sanitation workers—recycling decaying organic matter and returning vital nutrients to the soil and it is important children know this rather than just screaming when they see one. My students are very enamoured of dung beetles and probably that's because they have never seen one, whereas cockroaches are very much part of living in Sydney.