- Countdown Read a fascinating article about fingerprints; perform a great new play; share the fears of an emotional onion; and get ready for another great competition.
- Blast Off It's NAIDOC Week. Meet Australia's first cricketers and read a wonderful creation story. There's a hilarious story about fish and a very clever 'How to draw'.
- Orbit Strange things are happening at Mellow Yard; in part one of a new serial. There's an interesting article about Aboriginal languages and a great new sci-fi story.
- Touchdown This issue is bounding with horses. There are stories, poems and even a puzzle about these amazing four-legged creatures. And meet Bungaree: the first Australian.
Andrew Cranna may be a new sensation to the publishing world with his first book,
The Bloodhound Boys but, Andrew's talents have been no secret at
The School Magazine, where
- he has been
illustrating the
Teaching Guides for several years now.
Check out Andrew's work on our
Teaching Guide Worksheets – then
download them free!
For a detailed overview of each of the
Teaching Guide levels, visit our
website and find out 'What's coming up'.
Have you Scootled lately?
With over 20,000 teaching resources aligned to the Australian Curriculum Scootle is a fantastic repository. Visit
Scootle today!
Trove and National Library of Australia
Trove offers FREE online service to find information about Australia and Australians, and includes
- journals, articles and data sets
- books
- pictures, photos, objects
- digitised Australian newspapers from 1803 to 1954
- music, sound and videos
- maps, diaries, letters archives
Did you know you can ask the NLA a question on any topic, and a week later they'll send a free report on what they could find?
NAIDOC Week is celebrated 6-13 July 2014. This year’s NAIDOC theme honours all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who have fought in defense of country.
Visit the
Bangarra Dance website and discover some wonderful teaching resources that explore Aboriginal culture.
Take a walk through the Botanical Gardens with an Aboriginal Education Officer on a
heritage tour or take a
self guided walk.
Attend
NAIDOC in the City at Hyde Park on Monday 7 July from 11am to 3pm and explore Aboriginal culture: food, dance and art.
How about becoming part of
The Great Book Swap, which helps to raise money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation? It's a great way of encouraging reading, while raising money for children in remote communities who don't have access to quality reading material.
Wombat Books has invited school-aged children to enter their inaugural
Illustration Challenge. Winners will be published in a picture book by well-known children's author Aleesah Darlison.
For details on the competition visit their
website. Entries close 11 August .
Science Week (16-24 August)
The year's theme for National Science Week 2014 will be
Food for our future: Science feeding the world. The theme was inspired by the
International Year for Family Farming and covers topics like food security, agricultural sustainability and innovation. Next year the
World Expo, to be held in Milano, Italy also has as its focus ...
Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life
In keeping with the Australian Curriculum focus on
sustainability, take a look at the ABC for scientists' insights into the
role of soil in feeding the world and many more
environmental topics.
Australian wattle seeds that took a trip into space were recently planted in the Botanical Gardens. Find out about the purpose of their trip which featured on
Catalyst.
Visit the
PlantBank Open Day, 24 August 11am - 4pm The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan Drive, Mount Annan. Information: 4634 7935.
Educational tours and their app available.
Useful science resources linking with the Australian Curriculum can be found at
ScienceWeb Australia - a joint project of the Australian Science Teachers Association and the Education Services Australia.
The Young Scientist Awards is a project of the Science Teachers’ Association of New South Wales (STANSW) and is open to schools K-12. Entries close 22 August 2014.
Why not host a
Science Week debate? Here's a few possible topics:
- Do aliens exist?
- Is global warming a human-caused problem or a natural occurence?
- Are humans in danger of becoming extinct?
- Should we be investing money in space exploration?
Listen to two of Beatrix Potter's most popular tales.
Visit Kids' Book Review and find good books to share with your students, plus interviews with authors.