Looking to kill two birds with the one stone ? Term 3 is full of environmental events that link perfectly to the River Detectives program ! There are lots of opportunities to get involved and relate your learning to real life events in your community and beyond. Here’s some support to kick-start your planning for the months of July, August and September. Use the ideas to help you plan your Term 3 now or file them away for when the time comes . . . .
JULY
- NAIDOC Week; See Billabong Banter post sent last week
- Plastic Free July; Plastics in waterways and oceans is a huge issue. Come up with an action plan to reduce your plastic waste at school and home with resources at the Plastic Free July website. At the River Detectives website you will find lots of great videos to explore the impact of plastics on our waterways with students. Please take care viewing as these images/issues can be confronting for students;
There are some great picture story books to explore the topic such as ‘Louie and Snippy Save The Sea’ or encourage your students to write their own . . Rubbish in the River (riverdetectives.net.au
- National Tree Day; Schools Tree Day is coming up on Friday 28th July followed by National Tree Day (for community) on Sunday 30th July. You could spruce up some gardens at school or work with a local Landcare/Friends group on some revegetation at a waterway ? There are useful resources to enhance a planting event at the toolkit tab of the Tree Day website. From the River Detectives website you might be interested in;
AUGUST
- Platypus month; Check out these resources from the River Detectives website;
‘The Platypus Guardian’ featured on ABC a few weeks ago and is available for viewing on iView. You can also check out the results of the 2021 Great Australian Platypus Search.
- Science Week (12-20th); Make a pact to do your water science this week. Conduct your monthly water quality test or think of other ways to use your equipment:
- have students bring in samples from home / their dam / another waterway and test for salinity, turbidity, pH and phosphorus
- tweak samples by adding salt / fertiliser / sediment to see how this impacts salinity, phosphorus and turbidity results
Head to the Science Week website for more ideas or try an activity from this year’s resource book – there’s some water related ones !
SEPTEMBER
- Biodiversity Month; Spring is alive with biodiversity. It’s a great time to immerse your students in nature
And a heads up for Term Four . . . National Water Week is celebrated in October (16-22) and many regions are now taking expressions of interest to participate in the annual Poster Competition. Click here to register your interest if in the Coliban Water area or contact your nearest water authority for more information so you can start preparing.
Don’t forget we love to see what you’re up to. Leave a comment below or even better, send your regional coordinator photos/work samples so we can share good ideas with other River Detectives schools !
