Welcome to Term Four everyone 🙂
In many regions you will be enjoying having your students filter back to school, in others I’m sure this is just around the corner.
This update comes to you gently; understanding that every school will have a unique approach to supporting student wellbeing and learning at this challenging time. It is not intended to add pressure to your busy schedule but offer a variety of options should you be looking for some nature-based, citizen-science learning opportunities for this term. Coincidentally many of the events clash and cross over which is not great timing so just choose what interests you / shelve things as options for later/next year when things settle down or simply pop them into your school newsletter for families to enjoy !
- The Great Australian Platypus Search, August-November; Many of you will already be on board with this innovative project to collect eDNA from hundreds of sites across the state helping scientists develop a comprehensive map of platypus populations. There is still time to get on board – new sites have just been released so feel free to sign up or take on extra sites here .
- Explore Your Backyard; is an online learning festival to celebrate National Water Week October 18-24 encouraging people to grow their gardening skills and explore their local neighbourhood. Check out the program with something for everyone. Some events are live, most will be available on demand by visiting Facebook or the Explore Your Backyard 2021 YouTube channel.
- The Great Southern BioBlitz, 22-25 October; is an international period of intense biological surveying to record living species across the Southern Hemisphere in spring. Sign up at iNaturalist and use the App to make observations during the collection period (this is also an awesome app for identification and data collection anytime)
- Australian Backyard Bird Count, 18-24 October; is a great way to connect with the birds in your backyard, local park, patch of forest, schoolyard, waterway, etc. There is a fantastic user-friendly App and you can count as many times as you like during the event to help BirdLife Australia understand how our native birds are travelling. Head to the website for more information and get involved in birdwatching – nature’s ultimate treasure hunt !
- Australian Pollinator Week, 6-14 November; Count wild pollinators in your local environment to build a database contributing to wild pollinator insect conservation in Australia. More details on their website . Junior Landcare are also offering a free webinar to share how you can use their free educational resources to uncover the amazing world of bees, butterflies and all things pollinators.
- Environment Education Victoria ‘Stories of Sustainability’ webinar series; The Term 4 program is out with three free webinars for all teachers statewide:
1. Your Sustainability Vision: 21 October
2. Books That Move You: 11 November
3. Revegetation for Reconciliation: 25 November
For more info and to book see the flyer 
If you do participate in any events, feel free to leave a comment under this post about how you enjoyed it.
Have a great last term everyone ! from everyone at River Detectives 🙂
