19th June International Cardboard Box Day

I know it's not the 19th June, but yesterday at school Year 2 were involved in a design and make day with other schools as well, using cardboard boxes. A few years ago Kindergarten did a unit of inquiry on Building and they too made things using cardboard boxes. Back then we used to 'flood' the classrooms with a bulk loan from the library to accompany their unit of inquiry, so I have built up quite a collection of books that feature cardboard boxes and building. Sadly, none of these made their way to Year 2 before they embarked on their activity. This made me look online to see if there was a day to celebrate cardboard boxes and there is, the 19th June! Next year the library will feature a box display in honour of this event!

I would use these books among others:

• The Cardboard Box Book  by Roger Priddy

• Out of the Box  by Jemma Westing

• What Can I Do With a Cardboard Box  by James Maclaine

• Boxitects by Kim Smith

• The Box Full of Wonders by Karl Newson

• What to do with a Box  by Jane Yolen

• Star Jumper by Frank Asch

• The Nowhere Box  by Sam Zuppardi

• Mabel and Sam at Home  by Linda Urban

• The Man Who Loved Boxes by Stephen Michael King

• Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

• Chistina Katerina and the Box  by Patricia Lee Gauch

• Big Box Little Box  by Caryl Hart

• A Box Can Be Many Things  by Dana Meachan Ray

• The Box Boy  by Mal Webster

• Mila and Ivy  by Katrina McKelvey

• Eggbox Dragon  by Richard Adams

13th August Builders Day

Builders' Day is the professional holiday of all people involved in the construction process, although engineers and architects have their separate professional days as well. It was first celebrated in the Soviet Union on August 8, 1956.

Building and construction is a great topic for Prep school aged children. They love building things themselves, they love playing in the sand with trucks and diggers and they are fascinated by flouro clothing and hard hats.

There's an abundance of picture books about building and they make a wonderful display in the library. Put out some plastic trucks, diggers and blocks and there will be the opportunity for building.

Start with a fabulous book like Christy Hale's Dreaming Up  as a focus and then add whatever else you think will be borrowed. I would add:

• Ready, Set, Build! by Meg Fleming and Jarvis

• Building a House by Byron Barton

• Blue, the Builder's Dog  by Jennifer Storer and Andrew Joyner

• A Girl Can Build Anything by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo Pat Zietlow Miller 

• Watcha Building? by Andrew Daddo and Stephen Michael King

• Let's Build a House by Mike Lucas and Daron Parton

• Let's Build a House by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

• Let's Build a Backyard by Mike Lucas and Daron Parton

• Let's Build a Boat by Jane Godwin and Meg Rennie

• Let's Build  by Sue Fliess and Miki Sakamoto

• Building a Home  by Polly Faber and Klas Falhen

• Building Our House by Jonathan Bean

• The Little Red Fort  by Brenda Maier and Sonia Sanchez

• Billions of Bricks by Kurt Cyrus

• Construction  by Sally Sutton and Brian Lovelock

• B is for Bulldozer  by June Sobel and Melissa Iwai

• If I Build a House  by Chris Van Dusen

• Skyscraper  by Jorey Hurley