WildAREness, Project, SymmeTREE,plant,tree,children,school, eco Schools, green Flag, Litter, Waste, Energy, Water, Travel, Biodiversity, First Class, tiny forest education video learn dolly Songbook, Electric Vehicle, bike, Walk on Wednesday, curriculum,
We are celebrating the Award of our FIFTH INTERNATIONAL GREEN FLAG FOR BIODIVERSITY 2017!
Welcome to our calendar. Firstly, we are enjoying the UN decade for Biodiversity, 2011-2016. It is not easy to persuade lawn-lovers to take a break but every patch helps, consider setting aside some garden everybody! I will let you know how I get on with my lawnmower-loving people I know.
The way to change, and for it to stick, is by taking on tiny, little, habits. This is how we will turn things around. Tiny.
That word "work?" Nah. This could be called "Yearly Scheme of Work" but hey life is short for another one of those, right? Well for me it is, maybe not for you tiny people reading.
So here is a rollout of the months of the year with some ideas we are trying that work for us, let us know if you have suggestions to add to our list....
Time to get organised with our calendar. We have copied our Habits of the Month onto this page. When the blog got to 50 pages long, it was time to get organised.
Here is our calendar of rolling events.... How about WOT; Walk on Tuesdays? WOT...walk ANOTHER day? Wednesdays; is of course, WOW day... What about Feet First Fridays?
Because we had a fruit party when we were thinking this up, we thought we would call January OPERATION SWEATY NATION!
oH NO TEACHER THAT IS A SPELLING MISTAKE!
I mean OPERATION SWEETIE NATION! Or juicy nation? Or Buzzy nation? No, it will be OPERATION EDUCATION of course. Yes, that sounds much more serious. We are going to taste sweet native fruits and also some HOWTH WILDFLOWER HONEY. Yum. We will educate ourselves in January about climate change and what forests can do to help. On the way we are learning lots of other things! We will go out walking around the school gardens and see what is happening out there, instead of sitting in our chairs. They say sitting is as bad as smoking now. Oh no! We can't have that! How lucky we are to have massive grounds beside the sea and parks. We have been checking our WildAREness Forest Are most days, there are still great blue and yellow wildflowers blooming.
So now we had that great idea, we thought February could be OPERATION BIRDSONG NATION. Or birdie nation for the little ones? We want to attract lots of birds to our WildAREness. Tweety Nation? Ornithological nation? hmm. We need to discuss the name.
Here are some top tips for feeding birds we are going to try out from the Ireland's wildlife website!
We will have a competition in February for best bird feeder and best bird box. Ideas we tried you might like... Make net bags with feathers and other nesting materials, hang them up for the birds.
March can be Operation Emerald Nation Commemoration;
Let's go green! We are commemorating 100 years of freedom! What a great occasion. Our aim is to plant 100 square metres of forest (WildAREness) in 100 locations in November. This will give us a hectare of forest. This idea is inspired by Mary Kelly, retired, our dear colleague who is greatly missed, though luckily she visits us most weeks.
We need help! Is there anyone out there who would like to assist? In the last week we have had offers of help from Forest Friends who are inviting us onto their radio show, the local hospital, GIY Clontarf Branch, the Allotment Gardeners and Fingal Parks Department! Get in touch with Orla Farrell at [email protected] please.
We need Little spaces to plant trees here and there. 10 x 10 meters is ideal as that is a good size for biodiversity. Bigger is even better. People to dig some holes, the smaller the better. Some trees, the cheaper the better. Big, small and in the middle sizes.
All on a zero budget, or as close as makes no difference. We can do it, team Ireland! Go to We love trees for your How To Info!
April Operation ElimiNation; We all join in the National Spring Clean and eliminate all rubbish to its correct location in our area!
May Operation ; YourMove Nation; Scootingnation and Walkingnation; We will join in with National Walk to School Week! and try to get as many as possible walking for the whole month of May. June Operation Pedalnation Picnic Station Meditation Oh we are getting carried away here, stop. We will join in with National Bike to School week and try to get as many as possible cycling for the whole month of June. Watch a bike safety video here for kids 5 to 9 to get ready now! Here is another video forBicycle Safer Journeys for age 10 - 14!
May and June travel initiatives will make a big difference to our carbon count. We will ask people to PARK AND PARK. or even to PARK, PARK AND PARK. What is that? Here is another idea; we have been looking at ad campaigns. We saw one in town, Wear Heels to Work in aid of the Hospice. We have a better idea for teachers; Wear Flats to Work on WOW day. Also the teachers could park at one building and walk to the other one. They could have meetings on the way just like the ForestAre group have walking lunchtime meetings. It is the newest thing in offices. Also people get good ideas when they walk. Maybe we could have a prize for teachers who park and stride. We could download the posters from Operation Transformation for parking and walking.
Well to come to school, we will ask those who have to come a long way to drive as far as the park and then walk through the park to school. Pay particular attention on your way into school to notice our school WildAREness areas and count the wildlife you see in it. Take a moment to breathe and enjoy the nature to start your day.
You may enjoy downloading the app STOP, BREATHE AND THINK and listening to their 3 minutes of forest birdsong, "Being in the Moment". Ah. We are trying this app out in school currently, it is considered very calming.
July Operation Recreation...pollination... Just enjoy yourself in the outdoors as much as poss. We are only young once. Middle aged once. Old once. Let's have fun in the outdoors.
August Operation Imagination NatureNation; Enjoy gardens and parks around the country. Story time. Check out Forest Mythology. In Ireland, Trees are not that great at keeping secrets. That is why we whispered to them, "We want every school in Ireland to plant a tree and sponsor another in emerging economies", we knew they would spread the word. Look up the story of "Labhraigh Loinseach had Ass's Ears" to know the story. An interesting Indian man was telling us recently at an event for International Womens' Day (where the head of SEAI was giving the main address,) that in India trees are famous for being good at keeping secrets! September Operation Operation 21st Plant a Tree for Peace Day. We have been offered a Peace Tree by Forest Friends; thank you! Read about it here. What? Ah we are just messing. Had fun on your holidays? It doesn't have to end! Get hold of a game of "Operation" and test your reflexes while having a laugh with your family as the evening draws in! Or any other board game.
Now you are back with all your old friends in school the fun starts again. We have thought up some brilliant board games you can play. You can use the board games painted onto most school playgrounds! OUTDOOR BOARD GAMES NO WAY. Yes way. We have made up dozens of games for you that you will love. Please tell us if you think of any new ones.
Today we are making up forest Are BOARD GAMES. We have decided to use boards we have already; the ones in the yard. They are already painted! We would not have to send anybody out a board game. Lots of schools have them already; we have seen them in Bayside, Donaghmede, our Senior building and lots of our friends schools.
We asked our Vice Principal for help because she has been teaching even longer than our teacher and knows lots about playground games. She thought of the name SNAKES AND ADDERS.
WOW. INSPIRED. Zach gave her a jelly prize! We are trying out games at break time.
Trying out Up the Bugs Daniel Dara Josh Oisin Natalia
A great success. Though we need more homes for bugs beside the game.
Trying out Trees and Adders is Zach Ryan Alexandra Amy
Result. A good game. But our foam dice kept blowing away...well today we did have hurricane-force winds we heard on the weather forecast! Also it blew into a puddle and had to be dried afterwards on the radiator. It really was breezy today, so windy that one boy's coat blew onto the roof! Then it blew off again, luckily. That is why we want to tackle Global Warming, friends, to minimise extreme events like this! So we will make wind and waterproof dice for the playground.
Becky from 2nd class thought of another great game, we are October Operation Batty Nation; focus on bats and insects, in preparation for Halloween. Also dead things fed on by fungus and algae, mushrooms and their dangers, rotting wood in our ForestAre and handwashing. How worms clean up our forest floor. Not forgetting Beetlenation. November Operation WildAREnessNation. We kick off with planting season in the Global North. Looking forward to Planting parties, Academies, Festivals. We will join in the National Bird Survey for the first Winter season at the end of this month. Get out the binoculars everyone and start counting! December Operation Celebration...we will relax and let Mother Nature have a sleep for a change! Mothers deserve a rest!
But first a party round the Christmas TREE!
WildAREness, Project, SymmeTREE,plant,tree,children,school, eco Schools, green Flag, Litter, Waste, Energy, Water, Travel, Biodiversity, First Class, tiny forest education video learn dolly Songbook, Electric Vehicle, bike, Walk on Wednesday, curriculum,