Friday, October 28, 2011

A Rhinoceros Stampede

With a horn growing
to over a metre long,
if a rhino runs in your direction...
you're in trouble!

We drew rhinos this week.
The kids are loving
the chalky backgrounds...


Rhinos spray urine
to tell other rhinos
where their territory is...


When two males meet,
the smaller male
will often lie down,
to show the bigger male
that he doesn't want to fight...


Their horn is made of "stuff"
similar to our fingernails and hair...


... so, it's surprising
that their horns are so valued...
valued enough for poachers
to kill the protected rhino,
just to sell the horn.


Mothers move away
to give birth to their calf... 
I guess another adult
could easily kill
the newborn calf
by stepping on it!


The black rhinoceros
is one of the most
endangered animals in Africa.


The black rhino
has a prehensile lip...
it's pointed...


... while the white rhino
has a wider mouth.


Their foot print
is shaped
like the ace of spades!


The kids now think
that the black rhino
and the white rhino
are "pretty cool".


Friday, October 21, 2011

Wear it Loud!


What does a loud shirt say about you? 
Today, a loud shirt screams for the kids. 
Today’s loud shirt show that kids
deserve the gift of sound...
 they deserve to hear.
Friday 21st October
is a day for those dreadful shirts...
the embarrassing ones... 
the coloured ones,
the flowers and dots,
the stripes... 
so long as it hurts the eyes,
 it can help the ears!
A world without sound...
 imagine.
No barking dogs in the night,  
no sirens and no screaming people...
But, no loving words from family,
no music,
no crickets on a summer’s night.
Many parents are heartbroken
on hearing that their child is deaf. 
Cochlear implants can be bought
and the hearing process can start...
but the brain has to be taught
to interpret the messages from the implants... 
therapy can ensure that the brain
receives the messages. 
With time,
modern science and  therapy,
a deaf child can become a child
who hears and speaks
as well as any other child
in their class. 
This takes money...
... more money than most families have,
about $10 000
worth of therapy a year.
So... Loud Shirt Day is celebrated.
People wear their worst shirts,
 laugh at each other
and raise a few dollars...
 so that kids can hear.

Monday, October 17, 2011

For the early birds...

Today has been set aside
 to think of premature babies
 and their incredibly strong parents. 


Once you’ve opened that door...
... stepped into the world of
premature babies...
there’s no going back.
Your life will change
 forever.



I don’t have the words,
so I’ve stolen them
 from Sean Simpson  
who walked
through the premature door
 in 2007 and wrote
this wonderful poem for us
   so that we wouldn’t have to
say the words ourselves.


 A Daddies Poem
Time stands still, the day has arrived
 A baby born early, has he survived?
 Emotions are torn, what should I do
 Lost in a world that’s so new to you
 
The baby is rushed in to NICU care
 Mum on a table, it doesn't seem fair
 A mother and baby, two floors apart
 Separated by distance, connected by heart
You stand on the outside as the scene flashes by
 The team go to work, don't let him die
 Tubes and machines keep him alive
 You pray for a miracle, let him survive
The doctors they tell you, prepare for the worst
 Your world tears apart your dreams are immersed
 He is far too small, he has a battle ahead
 You search for some hope in the eyes of the Ped
 
The day turns to night and the team goes away
 A doctor and nurse are the only to stay
 The clock goes so slowly yet the hours still pass
 You try to reach out to that face behind the glass
Your life is the monitor you watch every beat
 You watch every breath, you don't leave your seat
 You don't leave his side he is your blood and your life
 You would give your left arm and so would your wife.
A father’s pain is hard yet it only seems token
 Compared to a Mums who lays battered and broken
 Her dream has been robbed and so has her joy
 Her only life’s wish is to hold her new boy
 
As night starts to deepen you to start to reflect
 Your start to question what to expect
 You try to reason you try to make sense
 You feel joy yet your pain is intense
The longest night in history draws to a close
 The day that stood still the day where time froze
 The smallest human you have ever seen
 So tough, so hard, courage unseen
Hours become days and days become weeks
 Weeks become months, with falls and peaks
 The road is long the journey is hard
 The climb is tough your mind is scarred
But your family and friends are there, you’re not alone
 You soldier on regardless as NICU becomes your home
 Those brilliant doctors and staff are there on your ride
 With those Angels of MERCY there at your side
How can one so little be so tough and brave
And defy all the odds that once looked so grave
A heart the size of the MCG in a body built so small
 He took on every challenge and answered every call
Sometimes when he is sleeping I sit there at his side
 And appreciate every second and watch him with such pride
 Our boy came home, his battle was hard, the lucky we were among
 Some Angels stay there forever, forever they are young
Sean Simpson 2007

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Heartbreaking


October 15 is
Pregnancy and Infant
 Loss Remembrance Day
One organisation in Australia
brave enough to talk about
infant death is
If this photo rips at your heart,
you might like
to consider donating to
so they can buy another bear...
and present it
to another family 
who will never have the chance
to see their beautiful baby grow.
“Rest, little angels”.
 

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Wash your Hands!


You reach out
and push down
on the pump
of the hand sanitiser... 
you squirt the sanitiser
onto your palm
and rub your palms
and fingers clean. 
And then, you touch something 
and start
the whole
process over 
again and again
until your hands are rough and dry
and you are bordering
on developing an
obsessive compulsive problem.
That was life
while my nephew was in hospital... 
 
So, when I noticed that it was
(15th October)
I knew I had to blog about it!
This day was originally created
for schools and kids 
in order to develop the
habitat of correctly washing hands...
... with soap.
This is a big day!
It’s celebrated in over 100 countries
By over 200 million people.
(That’s a lot of clean hands!)
The biggest argument they have
for washing hands with soap
is to fight diarrheal
and respiratory infections.
 (I’m on board after
hearing the diarrhoea word!)
Living in Australia,
we have it pretty easy.
But these infections kill
millions of children
in developing countries.
Annually!
Sadly, washing hands with soap
could have saved the children.
Hand washing in these countries
rarely happens.
If everyone washed their hands
before they ate
and after they went to the toilet,
we could prevent more deaths
than any vaccine.
It seems so easy!
 
Global Handwashing Day
focuses on the kids of the world
because they are the biggest victims
of illness and because, being young,
they are most easily taught new tricks. 
If children,
especially in developing countries,
can be taught to wash their hands
– with soap
 – regularly and carefully,
they could change the handwashing
behaviours of whole communities.
We could win the battle
against the germs!
 
So, could I put this into practice at school?
Could I let 29
ten and eleven year olds
 play around at the sink...
squirting soap and playing with water...
 washing their hands before they eat?
I see sooo many potential problems! 
sigh....
I’ll give it a go...
 
 

Friday, October 14, 2011

Splintery Dung

Let the animal art begin!


These two pieces were chosen as our
"Artists of the Week". 
(I drew the panda above this and the other is a photo - from a long-forgotten source.)


The kids were given the two pictures,
some paper and charcoal. 
This is what they came up with...


Cool fact -
panda poo
is full of splinters!


They are one of the
rarest animals
in the world. 


But there are a lot of them
in our classroom at the moment!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

I see...

286 million people
are visually impaired -
39 million people are blind
246 million have moderate
or severe visual impairment
But
80% of blindness is avoidable!
It’s no surprise that
90% of people with
visual impairments
live in developing countries.
Sadly, 19 million children
are visually impaired.


When I first saw the
World Sight Day logo
 I thought it was just a bunch of dots. 
That’s a sighted person for you!
Can’t see the language
 for the dots! 
Those dots are based
on the Braille symbols for
WSD – World Sight Day.
 
I’ve often asked my students
 to explain the colour
yellow
for me – as though
 I have never seen it
 and am blind. 
How would you describe
 “yellow”
to someone who has
never seen the world?

It’s harder than you’d think!
While you’re puzzling over that,
Pour yourself a glass of wine –
With your eyes closed.
 
The world is filled with beauty
And, being able to see...
It’s my job
To appreciate it.
 
Thanks to Vision 2020.
 


Friday, October 7, 2011

Smiles!!

Harvey Ball
Know him?
The name wasn’t familiar to me...
... but I know his work!



In 1963
Harvey Ball created
the smiley face!
This image is one of the most
recognisable symbols of cheer
(and is how I sign all
of my notes at work!)
It seems that people
like me overused the symbol
 and Harvey thought
that the true meaning
of his smiley face symbol
had been lost. 
He created
He thought that
for one day in the year,
we could focus
on making others happy.
Smiley Face is a day
when we should make
others happy...
show kindness... 
show that we care.
World Smile Day started in 1999. 
This year, the theme was
the same as always:
“Do an act of kindness. 
Help one person smile.”
I wonder how many people
smiled today?
Each smile helps
to make the world
a happier place.
Happy Smile Day!