25th September World Lung Day

World Lung Day is observed globally each year to raise awareness about lung health, promote clean air, and reduce the burden of respiratory illnesses like asthma, bronchitis, emphysema pneumonia and lung cancer.

The day was created because respiratory illnesses receive far less attention than other major health concerns. Globally, lung diseases account for a significant share of preventable deaths. World Lung Day reminds everyone that most respiratory conditions can be prevented, detected early, or managed well with timely care.

Recently I was looking for picture books about the body for a kindergarten class. There are a lot more to choose from than there used to be because it has crept back into the new science curriculum. Here's some books about our lungs:

7th May World Asthma Day

World Asthma Day is coming up on Tuesday 7th May; this year's theme is "It's time to take control of your asthma". When I went looking I realised we have very little in our library on asthma, two non-fiction books and a story. They are:

When I started teaching I had quite a few children in my class with asthma that I had to keep my eye on especially at sport and when the weather got cool and damp, but now I rarely have to deal with an asthmatic child. Does this mean that asthma is managed that much better now? I hope so. I am now more aware of children who have epipens than puffers!

9th October Johanna Hurwitz (1937)

Johanna Hurwitz is an American author of novels suitable for fluent readers who do not want a very long book, that is most of my good Year 1 and 2 readers. I bought Mostly Monty and it was a success so I sent for the two sequels. One of them arrived today! I went onto the web to find out more about Johanna Hurwitz and found that today was her birthday. What a coincidence. Monty (aka Montgomery Gerald Morris) is a six year old asthmatic who has trouble with friends and other school concerns like many Year 1 students, but he has a talent for reading so he is perfect for my good readers in Year 1! He is also good for children who struggle with being different because of illness. So look for all three books about Monty and now I need to explore some of her other series.