13th November World Kindness Day

On the days before 13th November, I couldn't get into my blog and I wasn't feeling 'kind' towards my computer at all and then I went away. Now I'm back and I can once again get into my blog. Not sure what was going on. I had collected together the books I wanted to mention, so I'm doing it now ready for next year.

World Kindness Day is celebrated on the 13th November because this was when it came to be in 1998.

The purpose of World Kindness Day is to look beyond ourselves, beyond the boundaries of our country, beyond our culture, our race, our religion; and realise we are citizens of the world. As world citizens we have a commonality, and must realise that if progress is to be made in human relations and endeavours, if we are to achieve the goal of peaceful coexistence, we must focus on what we have in common. When we find likenesses we begin to experience empathy, and in such a state we can fully relate to that person or those people. While we may think of people from other cultures as being ‘different’ when we compare them with our own customs and beliefs, it doesn’t mean that we are any better than they are. When we become friends with someone from a different culture we discover that despite some obvious differences, there are many similarities.

There are so many picture books that could be used in classrooms to support this purpose. Any book that encourages us to think deeply about others, any book that encourages us to empathise with others, any book that makes us question our role and others' role in the world, any book that makes us feel uncomfortable about our position in the world, any book that causes us to pause...

I have written about this day before and focussed on books for young children about being kind, but today I just want to share some new titles that have been added to the library that will encourage you to pause and think.

24th November Fairy Bread Day

The 24th November is Fairy Bread Day everywhere, but it means more to Australians because fairy bread is native to Australia — something we can all be very proud of. 

Fairy bread is sliced white bread spread with margarine or butter and covered with hundreds and thousands, which adhere to the bread. It is typically cut into two triangles. It dates back to the 1920s in Australia, and is first recorded in The Hobart Mercury, which describes children consuming the food at a party. It continues to be popular at children's birthday parties and every Australian adult will have fond memories of fairy bread parties. A dear friend of mine actually has her birthday on the 24th November so I'm sure she'll be having fairy bread parties for quite some time yet. 

If you are reading a book set in Australia and a birthday is celebrated there may well be mention of fairy bread, but Ursula Dubosarsky took the iconic Australian party food and made it the focus of a whole book for beginning readers. Becky wants lots of fairy bread at her party, but there is too much. It is amazing all the things she thinks to do with it. For the readers in my library it is a favourite in the Nibbles series. 

Another beginning novel that is out of print but likely to be in many Australian school libraries is Bob the Builder and the Elves by Gillian Rubinstein. In this delightful story messy Bob has elves who clean for him and when they leave they leave him fairy bread to eat. He wants these elves gone from his house and enlists the help of his friendly neighbour, librarian Lily Sweet. Even some of the boys at school enjoy this story. Blake Education has teaching activities to go with this book.

There must be other Australian stories that feature fairy bread. Can you think of any? Interestingly the most iconic Australian book featuring food, Possum Magic doesn't feature it.

The name 'fairy bread' supposedly came about from a line in a poem, Scottish-born novelist  Robert Louis Stevenson published in 1885. It is poem 37 in 

A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods.  1913.

37. Fairy Bread

COME up here, O dusty feet!
Here is fairy bread to eat.
Here in my retiring room,
Children, you may dine
On the golden smell of broom
And the shade of pine;
And when you have eaten well,
Fairy stories hear and tell.

7th November Diwali

Today Diwali is being celebrated in Australia. This is the festival of lights, one of the most celebrated festivals in India. It has many beautiful traditions attached to it it and the children in Year 1 at school who are celebrating festivals this term enjoy this one immensely. They make lamps, design rangoon with coloured chalk on the playground and enjoy Indian sweets. For this reason the library now has a good collection of books to spread among the four classes. Among them are these:

3rd November Jellyfish Day

It is Jellyfish Day! This event is meant to honour our slightly slimy counterparts that can sometimes cause a bit of consternation at the beach.

It is celebrated in springtime, as this is the season when jellyfish will begin their migration to the shores of the northern hemisphere. Although an apparently very simple invertebrate they are beautiful creatures, that fascinate students and allow for some very creative artwork.

Did you know that a group of jellyfish can be called a bloom, a swarm, or a smack? Despite the word “fish” in their names, jellyfish are not actually fish. No bones about it, they are invertebrates! Besides their lack of bones, jellyfish also lack a brain. Instead, they have a network of nerves, but no central nervous system. When feeding, jellyfish use their tentacles to sting their prey – they eat plankton. But what eats a jellyfish? Many animals do, including tunas, sharks, turtles, and humans! 

I have written about this day before here, but today I was reading about them again and marvelling at them in these pictures that show very clearly that they are not all the same.

And, one of the most popular series in the library at the moment is about an unlikely friendship between a narwhal and a jellyfish, Ben Clanton's Narwhal and Jelly series. Books 1 to 3 are available and Book 4 will be here in February. Also I just bought a set of puppets so the students can make up their own Narwhal and Jelly conversations.

3rd November World Numbat Day

The numbat is one of those unique Australian animals. I know we have so many and this is not one that students generally know a lot about, so why not celebrate World Numbat Day? This website tells students what they need to know and shows them visually what makes them special. As well look for these in your school library  to use for a display and student reading.