4th September National Wildlife day

Animal advocate Colleen Paige created National Wildlife Day on 4th September 2005 to spread the word about animal extinction threats. When wildlife conservationist, Steve Irwin died on the 4th September 2006 it was decided to have two National Wildlife Days. The other is on 22nd February, the date of  Steve Irwin's birth in 1962.

So today is the day to read about Steve Irwin.

It is also a good day to read about an even more famous wildlife conservationist, Sir David Attenborough.

SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals

Goal 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.

The SDGs can only be realised with strong global partnerships and cooperation.

A successful development agenda requires inclusive partnerships — at the global, regional, national and local levels — built upon principles and values, and upon a shared vision and shared goals placing people and the planet at the centre.

This concept of a shared vision and placing people and the planet at the centre of decision making is the reason we need to start the thinking about, and concern for at a very young age. Children do have empathy, they are good problem solvers and are capable of critical thinking so we need to start reading picture books that encourage these. Don't alarm them but arm them.

Select books to read here.

Any book that encourages teamwork or working towards a common goal, while also allowing for informed dissent and questioning is a good place to start. I would probably also leave this goal to last so it can be examined in the light of the others and how all the goals need to be addressed in order to achieve the best results, especially when there is a 2030 timeframe.

If you follow up on children's rights then Alain Serres and Aurelia Fronty's I Have the Right to Save the Planet is a perfect place to start.

Here is the blurb:

All children have the right to learn about the world, to celebrate the water, air and sunshine, and to be curious about the animals and plants that live on our planet. All children also have the right to learn about endangered species, to be concerned about plastic in the ocean, and to understand what a changing climate means for our Earth.

Scientists tell us that every living thing is connected. When we cut down forests, we destroy animal habitats. When we throw plastic in the garbage, it never really goes away. When we spray pesticides on our fruit and vegetables, we poison the earth, animals and ourselves.

What can children do to help? All children can draw posters of endangered animals to raise awareness. All children can send a letter to the leader of their country, signed by every member of their family. All children can protest along with their parents. Children have the right to do all these things as proclaimed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. All children have the right to try to help our Earth, in whatever ways they can.

This is an expensive book to buy, but it is read on epic! You could link it to David Attenborough's film clip How to Save Our Planet  if you haven't already shown it earlier in your Book Club sessions.

This book suggests things students can do -  children can draw posters of endangered animals to raise awareness. All children can send a letter to the leader of their country, signed by every member of their family. All children can protest along with their parents. Children have the right to do all these things as proclaimed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

So perhaps the next book to read should look at things children can do. Books such as these will give them ideas

• I Am One  by Peter H. Reynolds

• Dear Earth by Isabel Otter and Clara Anganuzzi

• The More We Get Together by Celeste Cortwright and Betania Zacarias

• Dear Earth...From Your Friends in Class 5 by Erin Dealey and Luisa Uribe

• Speak Up! by Miranda Paul and Ebony Green

Alternately, if your  students are older, this could be the place to use one of those books that reduces the numbers of people to a manageable number so that students get a better idea of the proportions involved. You could use 

If the World Were 100 People by Jackie McCann or It Takes a Village by David Smith

David Smith's book is online in several places and there are also many versions of teaching notes. This idea is also an animated filmclip.

And then follow these with Hillary Rodham Clinton's It Takes a Village  to bring the whole idea down to their own village.

From the booklet:

• We read...

 

 

 

 

Congratulations you have read 17 books and you now are very aware of the United Nations 17 Goals for Sustainable Development. You are well informed to think about the future of the world!

 

Before I read all of these books, I thought...

 

but now I think...

 

 

23rd October Book Week

Another Book Week over! Every year I say do I have to do Book Week next year? It always seems like so much work and often so unrelated to books. This year's Book Week seems to have gone on forever because it was postponed from Term 3 to Term 4 in the hope that Covid would be over and we could once again have visitors in the school. We were lucky we did have an author visit 'in the flesh', not on Zoom and it was a huge success. Kate and Jol Temple came to talk to grades K to 2. They were hugely entertaining as well as informative and the children were certainly inspired. One Year 1 student told me it was the 'highlight of 2020'! We have ibis in our school playground, so the children were fascinated by  Bin Chicken  and I am in awe of Room on Our Rock and the way it gives two points of view, simply by reading the book backwards.

We did have a Book Week Parade and the students did a marvellous job of kitting themselves out, many without spending money, but instead using ingenuity and creativity. I suggested they come as a 'curious creature' or a 'wild mind' instead of a book character and many did do this. There was a myriad of Ada Lovelaces, Jane Goodalls, Albert Einsteins, David Attenboroughs, inspired by the Little People Big Dreams series of books, Bindi and Robert Irwins, from their series of books, Saucepan Men and Silky from The Faraway Tree.

The teachers got into the spirit too. I dressed as Ann Carroll Moore, the first librarian to advocate for children's libraries. I had shared the book  Miss Moore Thought Otherwise by Jan Pinborough with some of my classes and it seemed ideal. She certainly had a 'wild mind', as we now have many children's libraries including the most fantastic one that I work in which caters for 3 to 8 year olds, and as many of my students think 'has a book on everything'!

Every year I look at the Book Week theme and think how am I going to do that with such young children, but as the year rolls on and I think about it some more I manage something and this year was no exception. I have had great fun especially with curious creatures. When I was told next year's theme,  Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds I immediately thought...oh it is so long and so all encompassing, but no doubt as I mull it over and talk to friends, ideas will flow. On to next year. An author or illustrator needed...get thinking!