Bridging the gap between global environmental issues and understanding it in our own lives.
I am sure that most of the population love a piece of chocolate here or there but do we ever think about where it comes from?
A recent article discusses some major chocolate companies and their bid to decrease deforestation and child labour in key areas where cocoa is grown.
A lesson in the classroom or at home that involves chocolate is always a fun lesson
So how about:
“The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will” – Theodore Roosevelt.
Where in the Wild by Jonny Lambert is an engaging picture book which shows the reader the beauty of different habitats and the animals that live within each one.
On each double page spread we learn about the plants that make the space habitable for the diverse group of animals who choose to make it there home – but there is a great aspect to each page which young children will love.
On each page is a window to another page which shows how some animals can live in two different types of habitats – even when they are quite different – we loved guessing where they might lived the first time we read the book and enjoyed talking about how they can live in both habitats on subsequent occasions.
On each page are colourful pictures of the animals, plants and insects interacting accompanied by rhyming story and also some small facts about different types of animals.
Where in the Wild by Jonny Lambert is a great book to raise awareness about how animals need special places to survive and it is up to us to ensure there are more of these areas – not less.
So what else can you do with this book?
SUSTAINABILITY
In your local area is there habitat for different animals? Find out who lives here and how they live in this environment.
Can you make your local green spaces better places to live for local animals? Try planting more trees and having less grass or built up space.
GLOBAL ISSUES
Where in the world do large rates of deforestation occur and why? (Geography Link, Numeracy Link)
Explore why people chop down large areas of trees and which country is most responsible – is it the country where the trees are or countries that buy the products or two own the land?
ANIMAL CONSERVATION
Explore the life cycle of different animals and why they need certain habitats as they change and grow. (Science link)
Which animals in the world can only survive in certain areas?
How many different types of animals are on each page? Explore a favourite of yours and the area they live in.
And – come over and join my facebook group where we discuss how we can help our students and children understand and take action on these big issues!
Children and adults alike will be inspired by this picture book that shows us that even if we look different, act different or like different things – we can all be friends!
Along came a different by Tom McLaughlin is a story about shapes – reds that love being red, yellows that love being yellow and blues that love being blue but the problem is they love being themselves so much that they can’t seem to like each other – that is until some very different shapes come along and make the reds, blues and yellows realise just how silly they are acting!
This is a great book to look at the importance of accepting all different people who live in our society and that in the end we are all very different – which is great!
Children can also explore different shapes both regular and irregular, colours of different objects and the beauty we see when colours get all mixed together.
Try this book to ignite some great conversations amongst both adults and children in a time when we really need to foster acceptance in the multicultural societies we all live in today.
What were you doing when you were 13 years old?
Did you ever consider leaving your family for a year to go to a village in another part of your country to teach some others how to read and write?
The courageous character in this story, My Brigadista year by Katherine Paterson, does just that.
Set in Cuba during 1961, the country has been fighting to become independent under Fidel Castro. And although there were many terrible things he did do throughout his rule (and the author does make this clear at points throughout the novel and at the end) he had a goal to make all people in his country literate.
Seen through the eyes of 13year old Lora, we learn about Cuba and the mission she takes part in.
I enjoyed reading about how she met the families, taught them how to read and write in the evening while helping out with the farm during the day. We see the world through her new eyes and feel the passion she has to want to help these people.
As a teacher I could feel this passion as I once travelled to Costa Rica to help in remote communities with work around the towns and also with English.
Lora’s story is possibly one which has not been told in this way before and I believe it is one for anyone studying the history of dictatorships, history of war and the effects it has on the people in the country and the vital role of literacy for everyone.
My Brigadista year by Katherine Paterson is a book for older readers.
I recommend this one for the classroom, perhaps read out loud as it may ignite volunteer work in some, a love of history in others and a wonder for what else is out there beyond our own suburbs.
And – come over and join my facebook group where we discuss how we can help our students and children understand and take action on these big issues!
Octopus are very intelligent creatures and with eight legs and a bunch of friends they are also very good at cleaning up – even if the mess isn’t theirs!
Anne Helen Donnelly has created another fun book with a much loved character – Ori the octopus and this time he has a little message for all of us!
Meet Ori – a friendly Octopus who loves his underwater home, just not the rubbish that seems to be hanging around. Together with his friends they pile up the rubbish that is hanging around their watery houses but alas as the week goes by, the rubbish falls from the piles and scatters across the ocean again – encouraging them to problem solve a little bit more and work out where rubbish should go.
Children will love the bright illustrations, the use of alliteration and repetition and the simple message of cleaning up after ourselves.
Ori teaches us all that rubbish can not only go in the bin but also be recycled, reused, repurposed, composted or even better – refused!
Ori also shows us that teamwork is one of the best ways we can make the world we live in a better place.
So what else can you do with this picture book?
Free activities from Anne’s website: http://www.annehelendonnelly.com/activities/
And some ideas from me:
– Explore alliteration of the animals names. What other names could these animals have? Can you think of names for other ocean animals?
– Explore repetition throughout the book. What other actions do Ori and his friends do that could use this type of language?
– Link all the different types of rubbish and where they go when we need to get rid of them.
– Explore your own bin: What is inside your bin after one week of being at home?
– Think: How can you create less rubbish in your bin? Try these activities in your home via my dropbox: (Please note this is in very very draft form!)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xnstqsthasuz2tu/How%20much%20plastic%20is%20in%20our%20pantry.docx?dl=0
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/362368594250457/
A turtle hatches from her egg and immediately her life is in danger – we know that has always been that way but how have humans made the dangers even more numerous?
Tilly’s Reef Adventure by Rhonda N. Garward is a wonderful book – both illustrations and story engage young children from start to finish and gives them so many different ideas for questions they can ask.
The main character in this story is Tilly, and she is a new turtle, born with an instinct to survive.
She escapes from crabs, birds and barracudas but it is the one thing that she wasn’t prepared for that nearly kills her – a plastic bag!
Luckily for her there are some caring humans around who help her out of the bag as they continue to pick up rubbish along the beach.
Continue reading “Tilly’s Reef Adventure by Rhonda N. Garward”
‘When I open a book, it opens a whole new world’
Last year we read and reviewed Liv on Life:Green is good and have been wondering what Liv and her dog Bowie have been up to.
This time they are off to the library to explore new worlds, learn new facts and find comfort when life in the playground gets tough.
Liv loves going to school and has lots of friends – but we all know the playground can get busy and friends can get lost or want to play different things.
It is the day for Liv not to have anyone to play with but luckily the school library is open and within that space she can find comfort, new information and so many new worlds.
School libraries are such important parts of schools and it is so sad that so many schools are getting rid of these precious places.
Liv tells the reader about new worlds she discovers, new insects she never knew about and new ways to play with friends – and she shows us that reading with a friend can even be more fun!
Elizabeth Grocery writes these books with so much engagement within the writing and the illustrations. Children will get so much out of these books – friendships, self confidence and courage.
Young artists can admire the simple colour scheme used throughout the novel and take note of the wonderful books they can see Liv and Bowie reading.
The Liv on Life books are written by Elizabeth Gorcey but inspired by her young daughter – Liv and her amazement at the world.
So what else can you do with this book?
Have you ever been out on a bushwalk, seen some rubbish but thought – it’s not mine, I’ll just leave it? Or have you ever left something behind because you didn’t want to carry it home?
Perhaps reading Benny Bungarra’s Big Bush Clean up by Sally Morgan and Ambelin Kwaymullina will help you to consider the ramifications of those small bits of rubbish we leave behind and the effect they have on Australian bush animals.
Benny Bungarra’s Big Bush Clean up is a great story about a very friendly lizard called Benny Bungara. We meet him on a beautiful day, warming himself up under the sun – but when he hears a strange sound he just has to find out what it is.
Thinking it might be a new bush creature he scrambles up a tree to see but once there he discovers it’s a friendly Olive Python with his head stuck in a bottle. Benny helps remove the bottle only to find other creatures who have been effected by rubbish humans have left behind – broken glass and fishing line.
The friends know they need to ask the humans for help but while they are waiting for the help they decide to start cleaning up the place themselves by reusing some items, recycling others and putting some in the bin.
A simple message comes across in this book and young readers will understand what they need to do.
Humans have a huge impact on the planet and we all need to be much more mindful of what we leave behind each and every day.
Benny Bungarra’s Big Bush Clean up by Sally Morgan and Ambelin Kwaymullina teaches children in a fun way about how to never leave rubbish behind and always think about the best place to put it once we have finished with it.
So what else can you do with this book?
– Check out my (in very draft form) resource to help minimise the amount of waste you have in your house: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xnstqsthasuz2tu/How%20much%20plastic%20is%20in%20our%20pantry.docx?dl=0
– Look at your bin at the end of the week and work out what could have been reused, refused, repurposed, composted or recycled!
– Pack a waste free lunch box for a week and come up with different ideas that help you to leave less rubbish behind.
– Explore images of animals around the world who have been effected by the rubbish humans have left behind.
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Wow, another great list of books has recently been announced as part of the shortlist for the environment award from the Wilderness Society.
So many of these I have blogged about and I will have to search for the last couple to make sure I let you know about them too.
Here are the links to my blogs for these wonderful book – I hope you can find the time to read them soon!
Fiction:
Ella Diaries #11 Going Green by Meredith Costain and Danielle McDonald
Pippa’s Island 1: The Beach Shack Cafe by Belinda Murrell
Wombat Warriors by Samantha Wheeler
Non-fiction:
A Is For Australian Animals by Frané Lessac
Exploring Soils: A Hidden World Underground by Samantha Grover and Camille Heisler
Rock Pool Secrets by Narelle Oliver
Coral Sea Dreaming: The Picture Book by Kim Michelle Toft
Picture fiction:
Can You Find Me? by Gordon Winch and Patrick Shirvington
Tilly’s Reef Adventure by Rhonda N Garward
Fluke by Lesley Gibbes and Michelle Dawson
Florette by Anna Walker
I would love to be a part of the judging of this one day….
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How often do your children convince you that they need the latest toy?
How often do they ‘need’ to collect the whole set of some plastic thing because – they have to?
And how often do you succumb to consumerism and buy that thing that you know won’t last long or do much?
Well, this is the book for you!
The all new must have ORANGE 430 by Michael Speechley is a very poignant book for today’s world where consumerism reigns and common sense has faded.
We search for the latest and greatest but then quickly forget about it when something newer and shiner comes along.
Harvey is a young boy who needs to have The all new must have ORANGE 430 so he saves as much money as he can and buys it! But it isn’t what he thought it would be – it does nothing, takes up space and is completely useless. Harvey tries to take it back to the shop but they won’t take it and even the manufacturer won’t have it – he just tries to convince him to buy another cheap toy to replace it.
But as Harvey waits in line to talk to the manufacture of The all new must have ORANGE 430 he meets many other children who are also dissatisfied with their toy and together they realise how much more fun the boxes the toys came in are!
The message this book gives us is simple – we don’t need all the stuff we have because we have it all in our minds – creativity, imagination, problem solving.
And if we really want to save the one big thing that matters most – our planet – then we need to start resisting the big manufacturers who seem to trick us so often.
The all new must have ORANGE 430 by Michael Speechley is fantastic and a must read for all children and their parents. It will start some big discussions and make you think about what you purchase in the future.
So what else can you do with this book?
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
– Grab a box and play with it– find out all the amazing things you can do with one! Keep your toilet rolls, old paper etc and create different things instead of buying new toys.
THINK
– Take a look around your place and work out the things that you need and what you just wanted.
– Which toys give you the most joy and why? Which activities give you the most joy?
– Wonder where all the broken toys go and look at this artist and what he did to show us how wasteful we are. Jurassic Plastic.
– Could we live in a world without plastic toys? How would your life be different? (Explore ads on tv, the state of your room, money saved, less fights, more creativity)
– How do ads convince you that you need to collect the latest toys? Explore the price of many of these toys and what they do once you buy them.
– Challenge your family to create less waste by not buying things they don’t really need, eating more fruit and vegetables to save on packaging and spending time outside or in a world of imagination and creativity instead of with plastic toys.
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