In this newsletter

• Teachers’ Toolkit: What’s In Issue 7
• Important Dates To Remember
• Teachers’ Toolkit New Feature—But You Must Be Registered!
• Congratulations To The Winners In Our Giveaway Galore Competitions
• MacquarieNet: Australia’s Leading Online Reference Library
• 60 Earth Hour
• Primary Connections
• V-Kids: Excellence In Values Education
• Plan Australia: Children And Global Poverty / Child Rights: Lesson Plans
• Carbon Trading: What Is It All About?
• Historical Treasures
• Did You Know?
• The Food Mark
• Junior Gourmets
• New Earth-Like Planet Found!
• Read And Tell
• Classroom Debate: Arts And Culture Are Healthier
• Ready, aim, snap! Reconciliation Australia

Teachers’ Toolkit: what’s in Issue 7

The next resource-rich issue of Teachers ’ Toolkit magazine will be arriving in June and will include coverage of:

• Planet Ark ’s Schools Tree Day: Getting your school and community involved, including how to plant a ‘dinosaur tree’—the Wollemi Pine
• National Literacy and Numeracy Week 2007
• Dental Health: focus on some of the best oral health practices
• Elections and Parliament: ramping up for the forthcoming Federal election
• Groovy Music: help with your students’ music education and well-being
• Teach Australia: celebrating the achievements of our teachers
• MacquarieNet: Australia’s leading online reference library.

Additionally, we highlight some great new resources now available to schools.
Teachers’ Toolkit magazine makes your job easier—don’t miss it!

Important dates to remember

Here are some special dates (with hyperlinks) to consider for occasional activities:

18 May: National Mathematics Day
22 May: International Day for Biological Diversity
25 May: National Safe Schools Week
27 May: National Reconciliation Week
5 June: World Environment Day
8 June: World Ocean Day
17 July: School AIDS Day
30 July: Dental Health Week

As always, we acknowledge the wealth of information to be found on the EDNA website’s Australian Schools Calendar.

Teachers’ Toolkit new feature—but you must be registered!

In our never-ending quest to ensure that Teachers’ Toolkit magazine subscribers get maximum benefit from each issue of the magazine, we have created a new feature. As soon as the complete content for each issue is posted on the Teachers’ Toolkit website you will be sent a direct link to the content and, if desired, you may download all or part of each issue. This is of course in addition to receiving the normal printed copy. This way, with just one click, you become the ‘first on the block’ to see (and perhaps save to your desktop) each new issue of the magazine. Register for Teachers’ Toolkit.

Congratulations to the winners in our Giveaway Galore Competitions

(1) The Competition for our e-newsletter subscribers
	We are proud to send to the following subscribers, a copy of The Sausage Sizzle Report, a helpful guide to fundraising. Thanks to all the respondees. • Melinda Brodie (Nicolson Avenue Primary SA) • Jenny Pearce (Huonville Primary TAS) • Melinda Giles (Bonython Primary School ACT ) • Merrilyn Ricketts (Dunwich State School QLD) • Kate Westoby (Castle Cove Public School NSW) • Pauline Riethmuller (St Mary's School [Merredin] WA) • Jane McKenzie (Quirindi Public School NSW)
(2) Pilot BEGREEN Pens
Pilot Pens have kindly supplied the BEGREEN Prize Packs and Pilot Pens Licences www.pilotpens.com.au	(i) 50 BEGREEN prize packs Thanks to Pilot Pens, Teachers’ Toolkit have given away the 50 BEGREEN prize packs (valued at $50 each) to the first 50 newly signed-up teachers for the Teachers’ Toolkit E-newsletter (as of Monday 26 March). Congratulations to the lucky winners. (ii) Pilot Pen Licences Ten sets of 40 Pilot ‘Pen Licences’ have also been given away. The Pilot Pen Licences are a great way to congratulate your students as you admit them to the world of ink! Go to www.teacherstoolkit.net.au to see a sample Pen Licence. The new range of environmentally-friendly writing instruments developed by Pilot Pens are providing another way for teachers to help the environment. The Pilot BEGREEN range includes pens, spotlighters, markers and erasers, all made from 67% to 100% recycled materials. Visit www.pilotpen.com.au.

MacquarieNet: Australia’s leading online reference library

If you haven’t taken a look at one of Australia’s best online reference sites, then here’s something for you and your students to experience and enjoy.

MacquarieNet (www.macquarienet.com.au), the Australian online resource library, has created hundreds of resources that link directly to curriculum outcomes, offering teachers a wealth of support. While international in scope, MacquarieNet is a general reference website with a strong Australian focus and is suitable for students from primary to advanced secondary level.

MacquarieNet: FREE TRIAL

MacquarieNet gives you and your students access to a wealth of information on Australian topics and Indigenous studies. Why not set up a free one-month trial for your school today? Contact: support@macquarieonline.com.au to take advantage of this great offer.
Watch out for the MacquarieNet feature in the forthcoming issue of Teachers’ Toolkit magazine.

60 Earth Hour

Primary Connections

Primary Connections, a partnership between the Australian Academy of Science and DEST, is an innovative program that links the teaching of science with the teaching of literacy in the primary years of schooling. Primary Connections is a professional learning program coupled with comprehensive curriculum resources that has been designed to provide teachers with both the confidence and the support to deliver innovative science learning in the classroom. Building on students’ natural curiosity and addressing what they already know, Primary Connections helps develop students’ passion for exploring how the world works while providing the opportunity for conceptual change. The project is still under development, with seven out of the 19 projected units having already been published. The quality of the published units was demonstrated when the first four units were awarded the 2006 Australian Publishers Association Award for Excellence in Educational Publishing (primary teaching and learning category). For further information about professional learning facilitators in your area and the units available, click here to go directly to the relevant website: Primary Connections.

V-Kids: Excellence in values education

The exciting new V-Kids series was developed by Rigby to support the implementation of values education in Australian schools. The series is an innovative resource that utilises effective educational strategies to address and teach values to Australian kids.

The V-Kids series is aimed at middle to upper primary students. Each book in the series is engaging and fun to read with the added bonus of appealing to reluctant readers. The V-Kids resource includes 15 student books in comic style, including a story and a hands-on team challenge. A comprehensive Teachers’ Resource Book is included with the series.

The V-Kids series promotes core social values that are essential in every school and provides hours of enjoyable reading for students. Values education has never been so enjoyable! Click here to read a teacher’s review of this new series: Teachers' Toolkit V-Kids Teacher's Review. For further information about V-Kids visit www.rigby.com.au.

Plan Australia (www.plan.org.au) Children and Global Poverty / Child Rights: lesson plans

Children and Global Poverty
These lesson plans provide an outline of the important issue of children and global poverty. It looks into the definition of poverty, types of poverty and its impact, and links between poverty, money and happiness. The lesson plan includes talking points, web-based references and activities. Download the lesson plan from the Teachers’ Toolkit website by clicking here: Children and Global Poverty.

Child Rights
This lesson plan provides an outline for exploring child rights within the context of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It looks into child rights as human rights and the relevance of the Convention and summarises the four key categories of the Convention. The lesson plan includes talking points, web-based references and activities. Download this lesson plan from the Teachers’ Toolkit website by clicking here: Child Rights.

Carbon Trading: what is it all about?

Teachers’ Toolkit has received a number of email enquiries pertaining to the topic Carbon Trading, what is it all about? In classrooms, after hearing about carbon trading, students have asked their teachers what it is all about.

While carbon trading is a very complex topic, we will try to offer a simple explanation.

Carbon trading, or more accurately emissions trading, is an administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in emissions of pollutants by companies or other groups. Pollutants, which come from mineral and fossil sources or are produced by humans themselves, are compounds which are dangerous to the environment and can also be harmful to humans in the long term.

How does it work? A central authority sets limits on the emission of a pollutant. Companies or other groups that emit the pollutant are given credits or allowances which represent the right to emit a specific amount. The total amount of credits cannot exceed the agreed figure, thus limiting total emissions to that level. In order to prevent paying penalties, companies that pollute beyond their allowances must purchase credits from those who pollute at levels less than their allowances. This transfer is referred to as a trade in emissions (exchange of goods, services, or both.)

The end result is that those who exceed their limits, and have to buy credits, are effectively fined for polluting while those who sell their credits are rewarded for having reduced emissions. Via this cost-effective trading system, companies are encouraged to work towards the reduction of greenhouse gasses at the lowest possible cost to society.

It is possible that at some future time, individuals might also be required to trade in emissions. We might all, for example, be given a personal emissions limit that covers personal activities such as electricity use, car travel or air travel. If we exceed our limits we would have to purchase extra credits from someone else or else go without a particular product or service. Each individual thus becomes responsible for his or her greenhouse gas emissions.

Australians are among the world’s highest emitters of greenhouse gases. Visit the Australian Greenhouse Office or take a look at the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory 2005 to view our greenhouse emissions performance. Ask your students if they know that about 50% of all greenhouse emissions in Australia can be attributed to electricity use.

Historical treasures

Having just celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (18 March) and World Heritage Day (18 April), consider what other important historical structures should be treasured. Research local, national and international sites and create a list of treasured structures. Start with the local community and branch out accordingly. The Australian Council of National Trusts might be a good starting point for research.

Did you know?

On average, every Australian adds 600 kilograms a year to our ever-growing mountains of waste. How do we cope with the throw-away society in which we are living? Recycling is a good start but is energy-intensive, so consider ways to reduce the waste in the first place. Why not advise your students to take the following steps:

• start a compost bin
• use reusable shopping bags
• be less consumer-driven and wear the same clothes over two seasons
• be smarter about what you throw away
• reduce your ecological footprint

The Food Mark

We had some great responses to the March 2007 article ‘Playing Healthy’ and we thank all those who responded. We are still interested in your views on this topic. Check out the article and respond by email or else download the questionnaire for completion and fax it to us as directed. Click here for direct access: Playing Healthy.

Healthy eating sites

Talking of ‘food’, here are some useful websites to find information on healthy eating plans for children, or how to adopt healthy lunch days in your school:
www.healthinsite.gov.au
www.goforyourlife.vic.gov.au
www.nutritionaustralia.org
www.stephaniealexander.com.au
www.kitchengardenfoundation.org
www.edibleschoolyard.org
And stay tuned for the September/Spring issue of Teachers’ Toolkit magazine (Issue 8) for heaps of healthy ideas and activities to get your students really moving!

Junior Gourmets

Adele Horin in a recent Fairfax newspaper article (Sydney Morning Herald 21 April) wrote about today’s junior gourmets, who might have been yesterday’s vegemite kids! Horin helped define what ‘there’s nothing to eat in the house!’ means to our youngsters:

• any food that needs to be cut or peeled
• any food that has to be cooked in a saucepan
• any food that is frozen except ice-cream (defrosting is a real drag!)
• anything that has to be opened with a can opener (pull-top rings are okay, providing the contents can be immediately eaten!)
• anything that has to be assembled
• food that is behind milk; or in a vegetable crisper
• food that is not stored at eye level
• food that has to be eaten using cutlery, rather than being ripped apart with teeth
  plain yoghurt
• Vegemite or peanut butter sandwiches.

New Earth-like planet found!

An international team of astronomers has found the smallest Earth-like planet (labelled Gilese 581d) yet outside our Solar System. The new planet, about 50% larger than Earth, is five times the mass of the Earth and can be found about 20 light years away in the Milky Way, orbiting a red dwarf star. The planet's cold temperatures make the chance of finding life on it very unlikely. By the way, a light year is 9.5 billion kilometres!
Time to take another look at Our Solar System studies: visit the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex website. (http://www.cdscc.nasa.gov/Pages/pg06_education.html)
Have your students create a marketing campaign for the new planet … real estate that is ‘out of this world’.
Learn more about this discovery by consulting the following website resources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_page_id=1965&in_article_i d=450467
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1906138.htm

Read and tell

Should teachers read aloud to their students from an overhead or whiteboard, or let their students read for themselves? Recent research from the University of New South Wales has shown that students are best able to digest information if the information is in either verbal or written form but not both forms at the same time. Apparently, there are limits on the brain’s capacity to process and learn multiple-format information in short-term memory. Oh my, what does that say about those PowerPoint presentations we have all sat through?

Classroom Debate: arts and culture are healthier options than sport

How many of your students would rather get involved with The Arts than sport? Generally speaking, sport gets many millions of dollars more in funding from businesses than does the arts. Why is this so? Should we celebrate the achievements of our sports people any more than we celebrate the work of Cate Blanchett, The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Dance Company, etc? Why shouldn’t the arts and cultural fields be worthy of as much support, encouragement and pride as we direct towards sport? Surely the long-term benefits of achievements in the arts must have a more positive reward to future business, with regard to skills and attitudes, than the skills displayed on the playing field.

STOP PRESS!

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