Bird Watching

Children dream of flying! Adding the graceful flutter of wings, the beautiful singing and stunning feathers into a project about this diverse group of animals is sure to capture the imagination and curiosity of your students. From eagles and macaws to ostriches, flamingos and peacocks, all birds share some fascinating features. While not all birds can fly, they all have wings and feathers. Penguins are great swimmers, using their paddle-like wings to swim through the water. However, the tiny wings are useless for flying. Ostriches are famous for their remarkable speed on land, yet, they cannot fly with their small wings and weak chests.



Whether it is pigeons in the cities or penguins in Antarctica - birds have adapted to a wide range of different environments from arid deserts and lush rainforests to bustling and noisy cities. Adaptations to various environments are a great topic to explore using a fact booklet. Birds can often be found in local parks and gardens so it is a great opportunity for kids to study and learn more about these creatures. Looking for local birds and using an identification sheet to see which birds they have spotted is a fun activity, especially on warm summer days. 



An interesting project is to compare different bird species, exploring birds’ diverse characteristics such as size, beak and body shape. Make a poster ranking birds by size:  birds vary greatly in size from the smallest bee hummingbird to the largest bird the ostrich. A poster with beautiful birds makes a great classroom display. Feather colors are also a fascinating topic, the perfect inspiration for an art project. 

Do you have any dinosaur enthusiasts in your classroom? Birds have a fascinating history being descendants of theropod dinosaurs. These dinosaurs had feathers and early birds, Archaeopteryx, had teeth. There may be discussions about exactly how birds evolved from dinosaurs. However, several fossils have now been found that demonstrate that non-flying dinosaurs and birds are related. A great topic to explore. 



Happy Summer and Happy Bird Spotting!

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July 2024 Products

July brings us another wonderful month of summer activities and adventures. Start the month by learning about the rich history of America and the significance of Fourth of July. Delight in introducing some fascinating creatures that deserve to be appreciated this month, from cows and horses to snakes. Explore the lives of two remarkable women, Malala Yousafzai and Amelia Earhart. The summer months offer opportunities for learning and growth and are a great time to help your students explore their current interests or develop new ones.

As America prepares to celebrate the Fourth of July, get ready to mark Independence Day in your classroom with some fun, patriotic and educational activities. A fact booklet is a great resource to help students gain a better understanding of the history as well as the significance of the Fourth of July. Learning about this national holiday will help students feel a stronger connection and pride towards our country. 



Animal projects are an awesome way to capture students’ attention. There are so many engaging and fun activities to choose from: animal songs, animal movements, animal yoga, reading books starring animals, listening to animals' sounds or making an animal craft. Learning about a farm animal such as cows and celebrating Cow Day on July 9th is a great way to show some love to our four-legged friends. Visiting a local farm is a great opportunity to learn more about beef and dairy animals. Alternatively, your students may like treats like cheese, a glass of milk or even a scoop of ice cream. 

I Love Horse Day on July 15th is another chance to learn more about domesticated animals and the role they play in people’s lives. Horses are great companions and friends for humans but they have also given their lives working for humans and even fighting in wars. World Snake Day is held every year on July 16. The goal is to increase awareness of snakes and not all of them are scary or venomous! Snakes have a bad reputation and this day is a chance to promote a love for all living creatures. 



Malala’s birthday is on July 12th and this is a wonderful chance to explore the remarkable life of this brave woman. She continues to campaign for girls’ right to attend school. Another brave woman was Amelia Earhart who was born on July 24 1897. Use a fact booklet and encourage your students to dream big while researching the life of a courageous and determined woman who was the first female pilot to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean! Let these two women’s stories ignite a passion for courage and determination!



Create a Happy Classroom in July filled with learning and creative activities with my resources! 

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World Reef Day

World Reef Day is celebrated in the month of June to help create awareness of the stunningly beautiful and important coral reefs. When you look at a coral reef, you might think that it is a group of rocks. But corals are animals that together build a reef. Coral reefs are an important ecosystem engineer in our oceans and they can be found in tropical destinations around the world. The largest reef, Great Barrier Reef, can be seen from space.

Reefs are beautiful ecosystems that mostly lie just under the surface of the ocean.  They cover less than one per cent of the ocean but are home to 25 per cent of all marine species and are sometimes referred to as the Amazon of the Ocean.  Though most reefs are located close to the water surface, there are also deep-sea corals. The largest one is the Million Mounds, which stretches from Miami, Florida, to Charleston, South Carolina. These colorful underwater gardens face a difficult and uncertain future. Changes in our climate have meant warmer and more acidic water. Pollution and overfishing are also challenges that face coral reefs worldwide. 

The corals are fascinating to explore, and your students will love to look for different shapes, textures and colors.  There are soft and hard corals, bumpy and smooth, and coral with stunning patterns. Your students will love exploring what a brain coral looks like, or an elkhorn coral. Building a model of a coral reef using recycled materials is a wonderful way to combine art and science.

You can include reading comprehension to a coral reef project by using our book Nyla’s Glowing Underwater Garden: A Coral Reef Adventure. This is a fiction story about a pygmy seahorse. Animals who live on the reef, camouflage to blend amongst the coral. The animals either want to stay safe from predators or hide as they hide. Finding a pygmy sea horse among sea fans, a type of soft coral is very difficult. Your students will enjoy looking for Nyla and her friend Nick in the book, which has stunning real-life photos. 



Through the story of Nyla, a pygmy seahorse, students will learn about the adaptations and changes made by marine life due to climate change, such as corals glowing in fluorescent colors. You might think that a glowing coral is great, but it is a sign that the algae that live in the coral has left. A coral is white, and the stunning colors come from the algae living inside them. When a coral gets stressed, they lose their color since the algae disappear. The coral turns white - coral bleaching. In a final desperate attempt to lure back the algae, and the coral glows in fluorescent colors. 



I hope you have a great time celebrating the amazing underwater gardens on the first day of June. And a project about coral reefs can continue throughout June, which is National Ocean Month! Happy snorkeling! 

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June 2024 Products

Teaching in June can be a great experience by integrating special holidays and events into the learning. There are many special days and events in June to celebrate, giving you the pleasant challenge of choosing which ones to focus on. Moreover, you can empower your students by letting them select events that they want to research using my popular Fact Booklets. The students can then share their findings and you can decorate the classroom with their work about the US flag, giraffes, flamingoes or sea turtles.

 



You can start the planning by selecting activities for Garden Week, June 2nd - 8th. Embrace flowers, fruits and vegetables! Celebrate the beauty of nature, sow some seeds and watch the miracle of life sprouting and blooming. If you have a school garden or a park or forest, your students can bring their drawing equipment with them and practice the drawing skills that they have developed using How to Draw - Gardening. 

Flag Day is celebrated on the 14th of June in the United States. Exploring historical events can be fascinating and the story behind the red, white and blue flag is a wonderful chance for students to explore the events that led to the design of the modern flag. Read the story about Betsy Ross and engage in discussions about whether she sewed the first American flag. While numerous historians say that she may not be the creator of the flag, the legend of the seamstress continues to fascinate

                                                         

Every year on the 16th of June an animal that existed since the time of the dinosaurs is celebrated. The theme for Earth Day 2024 was Planet vs Plastic and you can continue with this theme and let your students read about how plastic is dumped in our oceans and how this is hazardous to sea turtles.  There are also many other threats to these beautiful creatures such as marine pollutants and coastal development on nesting beaches. You can also focus on more positive aspects and read stories about these magnificent ancient animals and how they contribute to the well-being of sea life, for example, leatherbacks and hawksbill sea turtles help to control the populations of jellyfish.  



Towards the end of June, your students can celebrate two stunning animals. On the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the 21st of June, the tallest animal is celebrated. World Giraffe Day is a great opportunity to learn more about this iconic African animal. The Giraffe Fact Booklet with craft is the perfect addition to a Zoo or Safari project. Finally, National Flamingo Day, June 23rd, is a chance to celebrate these amazing long-legged birds. The color of flamingos is a great topic for a research project. Flamingoes get their color from the food they eat. 

Have a wonderful June embracing everything Green during the First National Garden Week and end the month making a stunning pink Flamingo display using the included craft that comes with the Fact booklet.

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South African Culture

Africa, the second-largest continent, offers a tapestry of beauty that deserves recognition and celebration. Since 2015,  people around the world have marked May 5th  and celebrated the continent's diverse and unique cultural and natural treasures. The focus is on raising awareness and promoting as well as protecting Africa’s World Heritage. 



Despite Africa’s immense cultural and natural wealth, it faces challenges such as climate change, conflicts, diseases and unsustainable development. Because of the threats facing this diverse continent, it is more important than ever to protect and preserve their heritage. This large continent consists of 54 countries, 3 dependencies and one disputed territory. Africa has a rich history, including one of the world’s oldest civilizations - the Ancient Egyptian Pharaonic civilization. 



Your students will enjoy exploring the diverse landscapes, wildlife and cultures of Africa. The fact booklet about South Africa is an awesome way to start the journey to this fascinating continent. Your students will enjoy researching famous landmarks such as the Cradle of Humankind and Table Mountain. 

Writing about and explaining the discoveries is a great way to make the learning engaging.  Boosting the drawing skills with a How to Draw Booklet will make the work stand out visually. What can be better than learning to draw a baobab tree while reading traditional folk tales about this tree with its unique shape? The baobab tree is often included in stories and it is believed that kings and elders would hold meetings under the baobab tree. 

Wildlife in South Africa is abundant and many animals are familiar like lions, elephants, monkeys and giraffes. From aardvarks to rhinos, South Africa is full of wildlife that is unique to this continent.  Unfortunately, many of South Africa’s animals are endangered. Illegal hunting and loss of habitat have meant that several species in South Africa as well as in other African countries are in danger of extinction.

Most of the images of Africa are either of animals or nature. The people of Africa are often shown as looking malnourished and poor but the world’s second most populous continent, over one billion people, consists of a mixture of countries with various tribes that each have their unique characteristics. While Africa has numerous ethnic nationalities with varying qualities such as language, dishes, greetings, and dances, African people share a range of cultural traits that are interesting to explore in the classroom, for example, social and moral values. African cultures are widely diverse but many share a strong respect for the aged. 

Your students will enjoy exploring South Africa and learning that South Africa is often called "The Cradle of Humankind" because archaeological artefacts suggest that people lived in the area more than 100,000 years ago is a great introduction to a project. Try some African crafts and learn some traditional dance moves! 

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May 2024 Products

National Space Day, observed on the first Friday of May, this year falling on May 3rd, provides a perfect opportunity to ignite curiosity and creativity among students. While we may not journey to outer space to celebrate, space offers endless inspiration for engaging activities. Many students wonder what lies beyond our skies. Encourage students to learn about space through activities like drawing rockets and astronauts. Writing a story about a trip to space and illustrating it with newly acquired drawing skills is a wonderful way to mark this special day. 

National Space Day is a perfect opportunity to take some time to talk about humans' role in the universe. Maybe we are not as important as we like to think. There are many secrets out there waiting to be uncovered! And space is also a wonderful source of inspiration for storytelling. “May the 4th  Be With You” is an awesome opportunity to explore modern fairy tales. Star Wars Day is a day when you celebrate the  Star Wars series. This day has been observed since 1999, it allows us to indulge in celebrating fiction and inspires an appreciation for storytelling and exploration of the universe.

May brings opportunities to celebrate and learn about some of nature's remarkable creatures. On May 20, World Bee Day highlight the crucial role of bees as pollinators. As the bee population faces threats, this day emphasizes the importance of protecting bees and other vital pollinators like bats, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. Bees play a significant role in maintaining biodiversity, food security, and sustainable agriculture, making them indispensable to humanity. Engage your students in discovering the fascinating world of bees through educational activities using a fact booklet and bee-themed crafts to honor these essential insects.

A fact booklet is also perfect for celebrating the popular Sea Turtle Day - May 23rd.  This day is an opportunity to celebrate and teach students about the importance of protecting sea turtles and their disappearing habitats around the world. 



The month of May can feel like the beginning of summer so students may already be thinking about summer vacation so you may need something special for a project. A fascinating creature to explore is one of the largest and also most ferocious reptiles - the alligator. Celebrate National Alligator Day, May 29, with engaging activities about the lizards that have existed for over 35 million years. Alligators play a crucial role in wetland ecosystems by regulating the populations of various species and contributing to ecosystem balance. Explore the rich history and significance of alligators, which are native to only a couple of regions worldwide, including the United States, Mexico, and China.



Create a Happy Classroom by Embracing the Wonders of Nature, Unveiling the Mysteries of Space and Diving into Fairy Tales! 

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