During each school holidays we try to look towards the sustainability celebration dates ahead and give a few simple ways you might consider linking them with your River Detectives learning. Not to create extra work but to kill two birds with one stone. They are suggestions only – please delete if they are not needed.
We are gleaning the sustainability celebration dates from a great 2026 calendar recently distributed by ResourceSmart Schools. You can check the full document out here and use the QR code on the calendar to find out how easy it is to register for the RSS program and use their engaging, date-linked classroom activities to spark sustainable curiosity all year round.
- Outdoor Classroom Day, May 21; This is the perfect day to head to your adopted waterway (if you can). You could do a habitat survey to assess riparian habitat and upload your results to the website. All instructions are in the field manual. For a more visual guide see here. Or you might just like to gently ease into Term 2 within the school yard with some nature play activities from our nature study activity matrix.
- Reconciliation Week, May 27 – June 3; The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2026 is All In, a call for all Australians to commit wholeheartedly to reconciliation every single day. Explore some of the short, engaging – and most importantly local videos – on our website. All videos are Victorian, many will be regional and some may even be specific to your waterway/country, exploring the importance of waterways to Aboriginal culture, the way they have and continue to care for them, and the innovative ways they are working with NRM agencies to manage waterways.
- World Environment Day June 5; explore this year’s theme; A global call for climate action. This can be a heavy topic for students so we have you covered with some gentle ways to generate discussion about climate change in the context of water. Enjoy this recorded reading of ‘Wave of Change’, a beautiful book by Meg Humphrys with open-ended questions that inspire thought. We also interviewed Meg in 2024 about her book and she shared inspiring ways the world IS working on climate change. Check out the primary version here and the secondary version here. For two great examples of school projects tackling climate change check out:
As always we’d love you to share anything you get up to. Start your own conversation on the website’s Billabong Banter blog to share photos or stories of the way you are embedding the River Detectives program.
And if you find a great resource that’s not on the River Detectives website let us know and we’ll add it!
