There are many environmental and cultural celebration dates throughout the year that tie in seamlessly with the River Detectives program. This is great news, as finding ways to ‘kill two birds with one stone’ is gold for time-poor teachers and crowded curriculums.
To support you, at the end of each term we will distribute some inspiration directing you to resources that are most relevant to exploring the events coming up in the following term. This is designed to help you with your planning and save your precious time.
Term Three is always a big one with many events on offer.
If the advice is not needed/relevant simply file away thisemail or delete it – there is never any obligation to do more than the basics with the RD program.
Term Three planning inspo:
JULY
- 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 on Friday 24th July followed by National Tree Day (for community) on Sunday 26th July. This year is the 30th year for NTD!! 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 support schools at the Tree Day website. From the River Detectives website you might be interested in;
AUGUST
- Science Week (15th-23rd); This year’s theme is “Seeds of Science: Nurturing knowledge for all.” Make a pact to do your water quality test this week and upload your results. Conduct your monthly water quality test, explore our water science resources 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
- there are some great extensions to water quality testing in our themed activity matrix
Head to the Science Week website for more ideas.
SEPTEMBER
- Biodiversity Month; Spring is alive with biodiversity. It’s a great time to immerse your students in nature
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 highlight your efforts and share good ideas with other River Detectives schools!
And don’t forget if you’re a ResourceSmart School there may be actions you can make progress on by participating in these events.
