4th March Red and Yellow Day

On Wednesday 4 March 2026, Surf Life Saving Australia will launch the very first Red and Yellow Day, a new nationwide celebration of Surf Life Saving and the thousands of volunteer surf lifesavers who keep our beaches safe. Schools across Australia can play a powerful role in bringing the day to life, helping to educate students on essential water safety knowledge and the importance of the red and yellow flags. Our school is celebrating by wearing a touch of red and yellow and talking about the importance of Surf Lifesaving.

There are not many books that feature lifesaving, but the one our library has is worth a read! And if your library doesn't have it, watch it on Storybox Library.

Your library might also have these books about being a Nipper.

March Hearing Awareness Month

World Hearing Day is an annual campaign observed in March in over 100 countries worldwide, drawing attention to the importance of ear and hearing care as a fundamental aspect of overall health and well-being. Governments, healthcare providers, and advocacy groups come together to raise awareness, promote early detection, and encourage hearing health practices to prevent avoidable hearing loss. 

The campaign highlights the critical role that hearing plays in communication, education, employment, and social inclusion. Despite the progress made, over 80% of the world's ear and hearing care needs remain unmet, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO)*. 

Globally, school-age children with hearing loss often remain undiagnosed and without access to needed services (World report on hearing, 2021). Hearing loss affects around 90 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 years, across all parts of the world (Global burden of disease study, 2021). However, it commonly remains undetected, especially in low-resource settings.

I did not think we would have many books to support this topic, but I was wrong. Yesterday a friend who kindly volunteers in my school library and I collected together books for a display. Among them were:

And this series of short chapter books about Lizzie and her dog Lucky.

3rd - 4th March Holi

Just as Lunar New Year finishes, the Indian festival of Holi is celebrated. Holi  known as the festival of colours, is a Hindu festival celebrated on the last full moon in the lunar month of Phalguna which is usually in March. This ancient tradition marks the end of winter and honours the triumph of good over evil.

The night before Holi, people light bonfires to say goodbye to winter. They gather at temples to sing and dance to music. Then the real fun starts on the day of Holi. That’s when people throw gulal—bright powders and water—at anybody and everybody. These coloured powders have special meaning: red dye symbolises love; blue represents the Hindu god Krishna, and green stands for new beginnings.

There are families at school who celebrate Holi so we have a small number of books.

March Dolphin Awareness Month

Dolphin Awareness Month is  a good time to highlight dolphins and to draw attention to their vulnerability to hunting, fishing, capture, and exploitation.

Dolphins are mammals. They are considered one of the world's most intelligent animals, and they have several cognitive abilities that set them apart. You can see dolphin intelligence in action in the way they communicate and use tools.

One of the fascinating things about these marine mammals is their complex methods of communication. There are three main ways they communicate: whistles, echolocation, and social communication. Dolphins can make squeaks, buzzes, whistles, clicks, and a wide array of other crazy noises. These whistles can be heard by others of the species from miles away. Their whistle repertoire can change as they get older, and dolphins who bond with one another can learn each others signature whistles and often copy each other’s whistles.

There are nearly forty different species of dolphins found in oceans around the world. The largest dolphin is the Orca also known as the Killer Whale which can grow to ten metres long. Some dolphins have evolved to live in freshwater. 

This is a very easy display. Collect all the nonfiction books from the shelf and then add some fiction. Here's some good ones to start your search

• Dolphin Boy  by Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman 

Jim lives in a Cornish fishing village - but since the fish disappeared, no one goes fishing any more. One day, Jim spots a dolphin beached on the sand, and soon the whole village is working together to return the dolphin to the water. The dolphin stays in the harbour, playing with Jim and the swimmers, but then the dolphin disappears... 

• Dolphin Baby  by Nicola Davies and Britt Granstrom

The moment Dolphin Baby pops into the blue, he swims up, up, up ... and takes his very first breath. From then on, the baby calf swims close to his mother's side, discovering all there is to know about life under the sea

• Wild Orca  by Brenda Peterson and Wendell Minor

Pays tribute to Granny, the world's oldest-known orca whale who lived to be one hundred and five. Told from the perspective of young Mia and her family on a whale-watching excursion in the San Juan Islands, this intimate and informative story celebrates the importance of nature, tradition, communication, and family in both human and orca communities. 

• Little Hector and the Big Blue Whale  by Ruth Paul

A picture book  to find out all about the tiny and endangered Hector's dolphin. A small but daring dolphin, Little Hector swims out into the deep blue ocean. He meets many dangers - and an unlikely friend - and proves you are never too small to have BIG adventures. There are two more titles in this series about Hector.

• Pelorus Jack the Dolphin Guide  by Susan Brocker

This is the heart-warming New Zealand tale of Pelorus Jack, a rare white Risso’s dolphin who delighted passengers over 100 years ago as he guided steamships through the rough waters of French Pass into the calm waters of the Marlborough Sounds. It is believed he became the first sea creature to be protected by law in any country.

• Little Dolphin  by Mark Wilson

Follows Little Dolphin from her difficult birth to her escape through the shark net that traps her mother. She is adopted by a pod that teach her the clicks and whistles of the dolphin language, They also teach her how to use tools

• Arion the Dolphin Boy  by Saviour Pirotta or 

• Arion and the Dolphin  by Vikram Seth

Arion, a young musician at the court of Periander in ancient Greece is thrown overboard on his return from a musical contest, Arion is saved and befriended by a dolphin.

And a novel, Little Dolphin Rescue  by Rachel Delahaye

21st February World Pangolin Day

World Pangolin Day happens on the third Saturday of every February, falling on 21st February this year. Pangolins play a critical role in their ecosystems, providing the Earth with all-natural pest control and are fantastic soil tenders simply through their everyday behaviours.

This is a day to raise awareness for pangolins, the world’s only scaled mammal and the most illegally traded mammal in the world. The pangolin is also known as a scaly anteater and resides in Africa and Asia. All eight species of pangolins are in danger, and the two most-endangered pangolin species may become extinct within ten years. mammal. Their scales serve as armour to fend off predators, but unfortunately, these scales can do nothing to protect them from the biggest threat to their existence: humans. 

I have written about pangolins before and how I first learned of their existence so use the search bar to read these blogs. It is much easier to introduce them to students now as there are so many more good nonfiction books about them, such as this one, part of a series which is popular in our library.

 

Others to look for:

And a new story:

15th February Galileo Day

15th February each year is Galileo Day - a celebration of the anniversary of Italian Galileo Galilei's birth in 1564. He died on 8th January 1642. He was a physicist, a mathematician, an astronomer and a philosopher. Galileo was best known for his work supporting Copernicanism, showing the Earth was in fact not at the centre of the universe. He was the scientist who first saw the craters of the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, and the phases of Venus. His discoveries shook the world and proved that the planets orbit the Sun!

Galileo was a truly inspirational scientist. Like Darwin, the ideas he put forward, though correct, were met with large amounts of controversy and resistance from the Church. However, he stuck to the scientific method and followed the conclusions the evidence led to. He built on what Nicolaus Copernicus (born 19th February, 1473) believed and went on to prove him correct. It will be Copernicus Day on the 19th February. 

The library has many books about astronomy, but these are about Galileo in particular: