19th June World Sauntering Day

World Sauntering Day encourages us to break free from the rush of modern life. Take a moment to pause, breathe deeply, and truly observe the world around us. Step outside, explore the neighbourhood, and rediscover the joy of unhurried movement.

I was interested to read about this day because a group of Year 2 students that I have been exploring poetry with this term discovered in the Janeen Brian's poem, Ride the Wind that there are a large number of words for walking and once we started finding synonyms they seemed to be in everything they read. In the poem are the words swaggers; strolls; gambols and tramps Once the students had ascertained the slight differences in meaning they became almost obsessed with ranking the words using criteria such as speed and attitude. A few days later in another poem there was the word amble and they were quick to draw it to my attention. Later someone found traipse and wander. 

We then looked up synonyms for 'walk' on iPads and discovered there are well over 100 words listed. They did sort them depending on the specific speed, purpose, or energy of the movement.  Their categories were  'casual and relaxed'; 'purposeful and energetic'; 'slow and heavy' and 'stealthy and quirky'.

So what does sauntering mean? To saunter means to walk in a slow, casual, and relaxed manner, often without a specific destination or rush.

A stroll is a slow, relaxed, and leisurely walk, typically taken for pleasure, exercise, or to unwind.

Amble means to walk or move at a slow, relaxed and unhurried pace. It is most commonly used to describe a leisurely stroll without a specific destination or rush.

So saunter, stroll and amble fit in the casual and relaxed category. The students will certainly remember some of these words as even now weeks later someone will say that is a synonym for 'walk' - 'promenade'.

Interestingly when I looked up some of these words in the library catalogue, I found over 100 books with 'walk' in the title, no 'saunter' and no 'amble'.

I'm tempted to put out some picture books with 'walk' in the title or as a theme and ask the students to categorise the walks!

 

23rd May Walk Safely to School Day

Walk Safely to School Day (WSTSD) is an annual, national event when all Primary School children are encouraged to walk and commute safely to school. It is a Community Event seeking to promote Road Safety, Health, Public Transport and the Environment.

As I teach at an independent school, not a local school many of the children I teach come quite long distances to school and would never walk to school. However, yesterday we encouraged parents to park a walkable distance from school so they could join in this national initiative that many of their neighbours experience each day as they walk to their local school.

Well it certainly had novelty value for many of the children who did it. They liked the sticker they received if they did walk. They talked about doing it with friends and how that had been good. The comments reminded me so much of Gillian Bradshaw and David Cox's picture book Shock Monday where the children are initially angry with their mother about having to walk to school, but find themselves enjoying themselves as they undertake what turns out to be quite an adventure. This book is just perfect to share and discuss on such a day. We had fun deciding what Tom and his friend could be saying to each other in the illustration on the cover.

I feel somewhat sorry for children who live in cities and busy towns today. The news today was full of statistics about how sedentary children are and how few were undertaking even an hour of activity per day.
I look back on my idyllic childhood in Bowral, a town in the Southern Highlands, where I walked to school or rode my bike alone or with friends right from Kindergarten to Year 6. On the way home I stopped at the Children's Library and bothered the librarians or at Bradman Oval and played with the neighbourhood children...just as long as I was home before dark. How things have changed!