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Promoting Care of Our Environment in June
Every day is a good day for caring for our environment and for ensuring that the next generation accept their role in doing so with enthusiasm. However, in June, some days provide an opportunity for participating in an international movement focusing on the environment:
5 June World Environment Day
8 June World Oceans Day
22 June World Rainforest Day
Although Queensland Day on 6 June is not specifically about the environment, I’ve included it as it’s a celebration of my home state.
5 June World Environment Day
The theme of this year’s World Environment Day is “Reimagine. Recreate. Restore” focusing on ecosystem restoration.
You can find out more about how to be involved on the website and download a free Ecosystem Restoration Playbook here.
There are numerous readilearn resources about minibeasts and other animals such as turtles and alpacas to support learning about the environment and biodiversity. These can all be found in the science biology resources.
The teaching ideas for the International Year of Plant Health also support learning about the environment.
8 June World Oceans Day
World Oceans Day is a day for celebrating, protecting and conserving the world’s oceans. ‘The purpose of the Day is to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean, develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean, and mobilize and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world’s oceans.’
The theme for 2021 is ‘One Ocean, One Climate, One Future — Together”.
Here at readilearn we have many turtle-themed resources which are suitable for celebrating World Oceans Day, including:
Let’s find out about Sea Turtles, an interactive ebook.
What do you know about Sea Turtles, an interactive quiz based upon information in the interactive book.
Ten Tiny Turtles, an interactive lesson for teaching addition of numbers up to ten.
Turtle Island — a directions game, encouraging children to follow directions including forwards, backwards, left and right.
Turtle domino cards, turtle-themed domino cards to print, play and use in many maths activities.
And check out the interviews with authors and illustrators whose picture books encourage caring for the ocean and its inhabitants, including:
Kim Michelle Toft author and illustrator of numerous picture books which encourage a curiosity and concern for the marine environment. Her beautiful silk paintings are stunning works of art.
Anne Donnelly author and illustrator of Ori’s Clean-Up which provides children with strategies for keeping our oceans clean.
Renee Hills author and Anna Jacobson illustrator of Turtle Love, a gorgeous picture book about caring for turtles.
Karen Tyrrell author of the junior fiction chapter book Song Bird Great Barrier Reef Rescue.
22 June World Rainforest Day
The purpose of the day is to ‘raise awareness and encourage action to save one of Earth’s most precious resources, our rainforests’.
Watch this video narrated by Alec Baldwin and Jane Goodall that does a lot to raise that awareness.
Some of the teaching ideas for the International Year of Plant Health may be useful to you in finding ways to celebrate.
Read the interviews with authors about their rainforest-themed books. The books are perfect for reading aloud to your class or for independent reading by your more advanced readers.
Rebecca Johnson author of the junior fiction Rainforest Camp chapter book which won the Wilderness Society Environment Award for Children’s Literature in 2017.
Karen Tyrrell author of the Song Bird Superhero junior fiction chapter book Rainforest Rescue.
Aleesah Darlison author of Stripes in the Forest, a story of the last wild thylacine.
Muza Ulasowski illustrator of Forest Wonder, a gorgeous book written by Caroline Tuohey that celebrates animals of the Australian forest.
6 June Queensland Day
Queensland Day celebrates the date that my home state Queensland separated from New South Wales and achieved status as an independent colony in 1859.
The koala is the Queensland state animal emblem.
The interactive problem solving lesson Little Koala’s Party and related lessons and activities are perfect to use at this time.
The printable Queensland Day Posters include a map of Australia, the Queensland flag, coat of arms, animal and floral emblems, bird and aquatic emblems — 10 posters in all, plus information about each.
Queensland Day Word Search is a fun activity to use when celebrating Queensland Day.
For these and other dates to celebrate in June, refer to the free list June Days and Events to Celebrate in the Classroom, which I have now updated for 2021.
While you are here, remember to check out the complete readilearn collection of
over 470 teaching resources for the first three years of school
Resources beyond worksheets – lessons for teachers made by teachers.
Let readilearn lighten your workload.
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I appreciate your feedback and comments. Please share your thoughts below.
looks like a big month for our environment, and you’ve got lots of good materials to help school children celebrate it!
Every month should be a good one for the environment, eh? Thanks for reading and commenting, Jim.
you’re right, every month should be a good one for the environment. Just like every day should be Mother’s Day! 🙂
Exactly! 🙂
Great post and resources, Norah! Sharing…
Thank you, Bette.
I hope ths comment comes through Norah – Jetpack unexpectedly closed the connection and mine was ‘lost’. Very informative post and so well set out too. I hope these days are internationally acknowledged. I’m saving this post to use on social media when June is underway.
Thank you for your persistence, Susan. I’m pleased to know you will promote the dates also.
Hi Norah, a great post and wonderful learning tools about a very important topic – saving our environment.
Thank you, robbie. It is an important topic. I don’t think we can be reminded too often.