Did You Know?

Not only is October National Book Month, but there are also a plethora of other World or National Days happening during this month.  Check out the list below which covers just some of the things that you could be celebrating during October.

Oct 1^st                 World Coffee Day
Oct 3^rd                World Cardmaking Day
Oct 4^th                World Animal Day
Oct 5^th                World Habitat Day
Oct 8^th                World Octopus Day
Oct 20^th              World Sloth Day
Oct 24^th              United Nations Day
Oct 24^th              Make A Difference Day  (Fourth Saturday in October each year)
Oct 29^th              World Internet Day

If you Google these special days, you will come across lots of little snippets of information. 

For example, Make a Difference Day is a day for volunteering or helping your community in some way, big or small.  

World Coffee Day has only been a thing since 2015....  hard to believe, considering how much we like our coffee. 

For World Octopus Day, did you know that apparently octopus fossils date back more than 300 million years?  That's older than the dinosaurs!  They are also one of the most intelligent animals on earth - they can even use tools.  A creature worth celebrating indeed. 

World Sloth Day will be celebrated on 20th October .. did you know that sloths are actually great swimmers and can hold their breath underwater for up to 40 minutes?  Also because of shrinking habitats, the Pygmy Sloths are expected to become extinct in 2022, as there are currently less than 100 of them.    

There are lots of bits and pieces of information like these to be found, so take a few minutes and check out a few of them.  (Even if for no other reason than being able to say "did you know that.. ?")  

'Read a New Book' Month

The month of September is 'Read a New Book' month - so now is the time to pick up that novel you have been eyeing off, or grab that DIY manual that you bought, and finish off that project, or even a technical manual to help you get the most out of that new gadget you bought.  

When you crack open the pages of a book, you find yourself caught up in a new world of events and characters - or just a world of  information.   The best books - yes, even instructional manuals, lead you through a storyscape that builds and shares with you the vision of the author, no matter if it is a world in a galaxy far, far away, or how to build your own 'whatever'.  (And we all need new 'whatevers'!)

Read a Book month is there to encourage you to read as many books as you can in your life - which translates to living MANY lives, learning new things and opening your mind up to new ideas and philosopies.  

How to celebrate??  Read, read and READ!  Read new books, try new authors, investigate new genres, learn new things and new ideas.  

As George R.R. Martin said in 'A Dance with Dragons' - "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.  The man who doesn't read lives only one"

Board Game Hacks for Teaching

 Board games are often a fantastic way to help students with problem solving, critical thinking and lots of other skills.  But have you thought of using board games in other ways to teach curriculum subjects?  Check out the link below for a number of different ways of re-using board games for this idea.  

https://www.weareteachers.com/board-game-hacks/

And as a bonus, I have included a link for printable Game boards that you could use to make up games for most subjects.  

https://thisreadingmama.com/printable-game-boards-any-subject/

Chances are, you are already aware of  all of this,  but anyhow, enjoy, and I hope this is of some use.  

September - National Biodiversity Month

September is National Biodiversity Month, with lots of specific days in there to celebrate, and to support various threatened or endangered species throughout the world, along with their habitats and biomes. 

1st September             International Primate Day
5th September            International Vulture Awareness Day
7th September            National Threatened Species Day
12th September          National Bilby Day
19th September          International Red Panda Day
22nd September        World Rhino Day
25th September         Save the Koala Day   (Activities run for the month of September)
27th September         World Rivers Day 

Did you know that apparently, here in the Barkly district, there are two or three pockets of Bilbies that are, if not thriving, at least not doing too badly? 

So, which is your favoured animal?  And what are you going to do to help support it?

Australian National Flag Day

Today, 3rd September - is Australian National Flag Day.  This day commemorates the day in 1901 when the Australian Flag was officially flown for the first time.  It also celebrates the birth of our flag, and its power as a symbol of unity, independence and optimism. 

1901 was the year of Australian Federation, so it is also a symbol of the start of Australia as a united country.  The design for the flag was chosen from over 32,800 entries.  

For more information visit http://www.australianflag.com.au/

Happy Wattle Day 2020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wattle_Day

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-01/wattle-day-celebrating-110th-anniversary-and-growing-prominence/12574654

http://www.wattleday.asn.au/for-schools/songs/WattleDaySong

http://www.wattleday.asn.au/about-wattle-day/2020-week-of-the-wattle-around-australia-1

About 110 years ago, saw the first Wattle Day celebrations - and although we don't hear much about it, in pockets and corners of our country, they are still happening.  

The popularity of Wattle Day surged during World War 1, when sprigs of wattle were sold to raise funds for organisations such as the Red Cross - and wattles covered the first monument to World War 1 when it was unveiled by the Governor-General on September 7th, 1915.

Wattle and Wattle Day can symbolise pretty much anything we want, but they relate pretty generally to: Spring, being Australian, the Australian environment, and history. Spring has many positive values such as optimism, bounty and abundance, reliability, colour, new life and so on. We can celebrate our 'Australianness' on Wattle Day in quite a different way from Anzac Day, which in recalling past wars glorifies Australian qualities of courage and mateship. 

Wattle Day, by contrast, looks forward (to Spring) and can celebrate the nation's genuine qualities of good humour, fairness, generosity, informality and democracy.  

It could be argued that a celebration of 'Australianness' symbolised by wattle, the popular national floral emblem, combined with a celebration of the coming of Spring could be a very special occasion every year. An added attraction is that Wattle Day dates back more than eighty years and is a part of Australia's history.

It may be time to bring Wattle Day back again - and to celebrate Australia rather than a myriad of festivals from other countries around the globe? 

Wattle has been regarded as the flower of Australia partly due to the fact that at any given time of the year, somewhere in Australia, a wattle will be blooming.