Special Days and Months Term 3

 Every month of the year - there are always special days to celebrate, or to support something.  Below are a few for August and the start of September.  There are plenty more - maybe something to generate a conversation?  

https://www.ourcommunity.com.au/

August is the month for the MS Readathon - and the period of August to October is the Great Northern Cleanup - like Clean Up Australia Day - but at a better time of year for those of us living up here. 

Great Northern Clean Up

Organisation: Clean Up Australia

The Great Northern Clean Up, an event of Clean Up Australia, takes place during the months of August, September and October - a time of year which is more suitable for communities living in the tropical North.
Since the campaign started in 2009 more than 30,000 volunteers have removed the equivalent of 1,800 ute loads of rubbish from 813 sites north of the Tropic of Capricorn. 

This year the event is taking place during the months of August-October when an estimated 3,851 volunteers have already removed around 277 ute loads of rubbish from 126 sites across northern Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

National/State: National

Phone: 02 8197 3412

Email: community@cleanup.com.au

Website: www.cleanup.org.au/the-great-northern-clean-up

MS Readathon - One month challenge

Organisation: Multiple Sclerosis Limited (MSL)

The MS Readathon is a reading-based fundraiser run by Multiple Sclerosis Australia (MSA). It encourages people of all ages to read and improve their literacy whilst at the same time raising their community awareness and empowering them to make a difference in the lives of people living with MS.

National/State: National

Phone: 1300 677 323

Email: msreadathon@ms.org.au

Website: www.ms.org.au

Footy Colours Day  1st Sept

Organisation: Fight Cancer Foundation

Fight Cancer Foundation's Footy Colours Day is a national community fundraising campaign that helps kids with cancer keep up with school. Join thousands of Australians by wearing your favourite team's colours and hosting an event at your school, organisation, group or club to raise much needed funds!

National/State: National

Website: www.fightcancer.org.au/footy-colours-day

Wattle Day     1st Sept

Organisation: Wattle Day Association

Wattle Day is oriented towards the future, encompassing positive virtues in the celebration of Australia and the Australian spirit.

National/State: National

Email: President@wattleday.asn.au

Website: www.wattleday.asn.au/

World Science Day for Peace and Development

Today is World Science Day for Peace and Development - which always happens on the 10th November each year. 

Check out the couple of links below. 

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

https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldscienceday

Special Days for November

Just a few special days coming up in November that may be of interest, or even useful to work with... take a quick look when you have a moment.

November 7th                    World Numbat Day

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/numbat-day/

November 13th                 World Kindness Day   (Friday week 5)

https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/world-kindness-day

November 23rd                Fibonacci Day   (One for the Maths crowd) 

https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/fibonacci-day

Days to celebrate StoryTelling and Poetry

Just out of interest, there are a couple of special days coming up in March which can be used to celebrate reading - along with the oral art form of storytelling. 

March 20th is World Storytelling Day, which started in Sweden in about 1991 and had spread to the rest of the world by about 2004.  It is significant because it is the first global celebration of oral storytelling and has been important in helping to forge links within communities and between generations. 
Each year usually has a theme - in 2016 the theme will be Strong Women and 2017 will be Transformation.

This then slides effortlessly into World Poetry Day on March 21st - which then glides on into April as National Poetry Month, including Poem in your Pocket Day on April 21st. Poetry is best when shared, so find a way to share your favourites.

Special Days

Just so you know, today is the International Day of Peace and also World Gratitude Day. What are you all grateful for today?
 
Thursday 24th September is Punctuation Day - probably a good one for English teachers and Friday 25th September is World Dream Day - a good day to start working on making your dreams a reality, whatever they are, even if it is just by figuring out where you need to start.  Doesn't this sound like PLP and Dream boards?

And just a couple more ready for next term - Wednesday 14th October is World Maths Day and Saturday 24th October is Make a Difference Day - which is a day designated for service - whether you start or join in with a big project, or just help out wherever you can in your community.

These days may be something that you can use in your planning - or just something to know about.

Either way - carry on with being amazing - and remember - it is week 10!!  A weeks break coming up - now there's something to be grateful for.
 

Deadlines and Mad Hatters.

Well, end of week 9 - just one more week to go to the term break - and although a week doesn't seem long enough, I think most people are going to enjoy a little downtime.  Term 3 always seems the busiest somehow. 

Senior classes are battling the last assignments with deadlines looming everywhere  and teachers are pouring in just as much effort, if not more, to help them get through, and everyone is getting just a little frazzled and frayed around the edges.   

Maybe we should start off term 4 with a Mad Hatters Day?  This is actually a recognised day to celebrate, believe it or not - which was started by a bunch of computer technicians who had nothing better to do.  The benefits of this day of silliness were immediately seen - not only because they caused less damage than if they had been doing their jobs, but also because of the side effects of less stress and tension if only for a day.  Sometimes being a little silly just helps to smooth out the ripples.  Mad Hatters Day is usually celebrated on October 6th, which is about when we return to school.  

Silly hats, riddles and cupcakes could be the order of the day, maybe with a prize for the weirdest hat or best unanswered riddle?  Or maybe some Minute to Win It games and competitions? It could be good for all our sanity, as I have been noticing a lot of ruffled feathers everywhere.  (Even mine have been fluffed up every now and then, and we all know what a sweet person I am!!)

Anyway, just my two cents thought for the  day and more 'Special' days to come next post.

Have a great weekend - and just think, last week of term starts on Monday - we can do this!

Serendipity and QR Codes

Serendipity.. 'the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way'.... and when you add my fascination with QR Codes to the mix... well, let's just say I had a good day.

While chasing something else, I came across a site with Reflection Questions built into QR Codes, and then turned into cubes that can be rolled and scanned, then answered.  I am guessing it would engage the students, as it certainly kept me entertained for a while, once I had printed and made up the cubes.  Check out the link....
 http://elenikyritsis.com/2014/03/28/qr-codes-in-the-classroom/

While I was browsing the fun stuff, I came across a couple of ideas for using an app called QR Voice. I haven't checked it out yet, but it appears that you can record messages, change them to a QR Code and have the students scan them and hear the message.  Hmm - must explore this further....
 http://librariansquest.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/mind-your-ps-and-qrs2.html

Anyway, aside from all of that, just a reminder that today is National Flag Day and Monday is World Literacy Day.

 Thank you for your patience with my soapbox ramblings - now carry on being AWESOME!! 

Student Data, Special Days and Unicorns

Believe it or not we are already looking down the barrel of the last quarter of the year!  Scary or what?

There are a couple of special days coming up in September that we should maybe find a way of celebrating... even if by just spending time reading.  
Whether silently, or out loud, or to other people or classes - can you think of a better way to celebrate Read A Book Day on the 6th September?  I know this is a Sunday, but hey, you know what?  We could be radical and do it on the Monday  - which would tie in very neatly with the fact that Monday 8th September is World Literacy Day!  

Of course, if it is fun stuff you want... then 6th September is also Pet Rock Day and the 9th September is for celebrating Wonderful Weirdos Day - and I know there are a few of those around.  I am pretty sure some of the students (and maybe the staff) would put me in that class - and I am quite happy to wear that tag. You need people like us around.

I am also sharing a link I came across on the MindShift site about collecting data on students.  Although I am not a teacher in any way, it made sense to me in terms of forging a good relationship with the students and although I believe we actually do a pretty good job of it here, maybe this post has a few more ideas that can be employed.  

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/08/26/rethinking-data-how-to-create-a-holistic-view-of-students/

 Wishing you a great weekend, hopefully with more rain to come - and I will leave you with this thought:

'Always be yourself - unless you can be a Unicorn.  Then always be a Unicorn'

Weblinks and Special Days

For those of us who use Pinterest, especially as a teaching tool, their new rules mean that everyone needs to have an account to be able to access whatever it is you have set up for students or staff.  This tends to make it a little - unfriendly, shall we say - for use in a classroom arena.

Below are a few links of similar on-line tools that may be worth taking a look at.  Comments were made on the TL list-serv that most of the Pinterest collections are able to be moved across to the Juxtapost site without too much of a problem - however I haven't tried it myself.

http://www.juxtapost.com/      (fast simple way to bookmark images)

https://sqworl.com/   (listed as Simple Visual Bookmarking for Educators)

http://www.pearltrees.com/     (organise all your interests)

Have a look and see what you think.

 Just out of interest, below are a few special days coming up that may be of interest to your class - or yourself.
Today (15th May) is Endangered Species Day, Tuesday 22nd May will be the International Day of Biodiversity, Tuesday 5th June is World Environment Day - and my personal favourite Tuesday 2nd June - Rocky Road Day.

Have an awesome weekend folks.