Earth Hour is organised by the World Wildlife Fund and occurs each year in March.
In 2015 Earth Hour will be on Saturday 28th March at 8.30pm.
It is one hour a year when we turn off our lights and think about how we can make changes to prevent climate change.
Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 and has since spread to over 162 countries, 7000 cities and towns, and is supported by millions of individuals, families, schools and businesses.
What can you do?
Here are a few ideas for activities you might want to do with your family or friends. You could also come up with your own ideas:
Play some games by candle light – board games, card games, charades
Tell stories by torch light
Go for a walk with a torch
Have a fun indoor picnic at dinner time by candle light
Take pictures of your activities and send into school
Check out the official Earth Hour website for any questions you may have, and more suggestions for Earth Hour celebration activities.
Thank you for uniting with the world to protect our planet!
The Wood Frog (Rana Sylvatica) can survive being completely FROZEN for weeks at a time!
The Wood Frog lives in the cold Arctic environment of Alaska so this is a very clever adaptation to have.
During the freezing winter, the tiny amphibians can survive for weeks with an incredible two-thirds of their body water completely frozen. Frozen frog popsicles!
When their body temperature drops, they stop breathing and their hearts do not beat. In order to keep ice from freezing in their cells, they pull water away from their extremities and produce a type of antifreeze solution (known as cryoprotectants) that keeps them safe.
In most animals, prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures causes cellular shrinkage — a process in which the formation of ice in the tissues pulls water from the body’s cells, essentially sucking them dry and eventually killing the cell. But in Wood Frogs, the cryoprotectants in their bodies, which includes glucose (blood sugar) and urea, lowers the freezing temperature of the animal’s tissues and reduces the amount of stress on the cells and tissues, allowing them to survive a deep freeze.
Watch this video for fan-froggy-tastic footage of the Wood Frog defrosting. Amazing!
Darwin’s frog was named after Charles Darwin, who discovered this unique creature living in Argentina and Chile, while on his famous world voyage.
Darwin’s Frog is a very cleverly adapted frog. It camouflages itself from predators by lying on the ground looking like a dead leaf (it has a pointy nose giving it a leaf shape). It can also turn on its back exposing the boldly patterned surface of its belly. The most amazing feature of this frog however, is that the tadpoles develop into frogs inside the male frog’s throat!
First, the female lays her eggs in the water. The male guards the eggs for 2-3 weeks but still, about half are eaten by insects and other predators. Any eggs that actually make it to the tadpole stage (usually about half) are swallowed by the male, who carries them around in his vocal pouch and protects them as they grow.
Once the tadpoles are tiny froglets, and large enough to protect themselves, they hop out of dad’s mouth and swim away. What a clever and unique way to protect your babies!
But sometimes clever adaptations like this are not enough.
There are two species of tadpole-swallowing frogs. Rhinoderma darwinii is considered vulnerable and Rhinoderma rufum is considered critically endangered.
The vulnerable status of these frogs seems to be due to several reasons including deforestation, habitat loss, climate change and disease.
Plastic Free July was developed in Perth, Western Australia and since its inception in 2011, has spread across Australia and Internationally.
It aims to raise awareness of the amount of plastic in our lives by encouraging people to eliminate the use of single-use plastic during July each year.
Did you know that Australians alone discard 1 million tonnes of plastic each year? And in America, 28 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in landfills. Once there, it can take up to 1,000 years to decompose! And in addition to the plastics in landfills, it’s estimated that there are 100 millions tons of plastic debris floating around in the oceans threatening the health and safety of marine life.
How can you get involved?
There are loads of ways your school can participate in Plastic Free July. Some big, some little, but all voluntary and fun!!
You can get involved as an individual, a family, a business, a group or a school. For schools, Plastic Free July has teamed up with the amazing team at Waste Wise Schools and come up with a curriculum linkedActivity Guide.
The guide is divided into three sections: Foundation to Year 2, Year 3 to Year 6 and a secondary school leadership package. Each section includes four activities teachers can complete according to their own planning timetable.
Have a nude food day Nude food lunch days are days when students (and parents!) try their best to pack a lunch box without single-use disposable plastic. You could have a nude food day per week or if you’re up for it, a whole month of nude food.
Conduct a bin audit
See just how much single-use plastic your school has been using. You could take a photo of the plastic in your bin or even get your class to count/weigh the waste if you are keen.
Create a class dilemma bag
A dilemma bag is where the students and teachers place the plastics they found hardest to avoid. You could create graphs to see which plastics show up the most.
Celebrate and share
Make sure you celebrate your school’s efforts!!!! Host an event and encourage students to bring along their dilemma bags and share their stories.
You can also check out my blog post Recycling Plastics for more information about plastic and how to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Last week I visited the Year Fours of Amity One Block, Hillarys Primary School, and what a great time we all had.
I was super impressed with the quality of questions the children came up with and we had HUGE fun creating our own froggy character.
There were so many fantastic entries to our colouring-in competition and what a talented bunch of kids they turned out to be!. It was almost impossible to pick a winner – so we picked 2!
And here they are!
Congratulations Bellamy and Jack – joint winners of the Hillarys Primary colouring comp!
I particularly liked how Bellamy added a soccer ball (how did you know Darcy likes playing soccer?) and Jack’s brilliant addition of a bookshelf and Darcy Moon book – love it!
Congratulations to everyone who entered, and thanks again for having me come visit your classroom.
Due to rediculous timing, Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs almost didn’t get an official launch.
The reason for this is simple.
The release of Darcy Moon came within weeks of my family’s move from Singapore to Perth, and in the chaos that accompanies moving countries with two young children, I almost gave up on my life-long dream of throwing a book launch party.
It all seemed like too much to deal with.
But as you can see, common sense took over and I soon realised that I could NOT let a moment like this slip by unnoticed. No matter how much crazy stuff was going on in my life, this was something I had to celebrate. This was the culmination of a childhood dream.
So, with the help of my ever supportive family, we took the plunge and organised a party, which we very cleverly planned to take place ONE DAY before we left the country.
(Please note, life since then has been stupidly busy involving, amongst other things, temporary accommodation, buying a car, opening bank accounts and shopping for winter clothes as well as endless random items such as potato mashers, wind-up crayons and easter eggs – this may go some way to explaining the time gap between the book launch and the BLOG about the book launch … but back to the point.)
Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs was launched on April 13th, 2014 in the beautiful Blue Room at the Arts House in Singapore.
Me sharing my story with the crowd.
It was a very special occasion. A chance to celebrate the publication of my first book (I have my fingers crossed there will be more), and also, a chance to say farewell. Farewell to Singapore and the friends I made there.
A big green deep-fried frog cake!
The Illustrator of the book, Michael Scott Parkinson, couldn’t make it (for geographical reasons), but nonetheless his presence was everywhere and made the day soooooo much more visually appealing!!!
Sian, Noa and Akira sing for the crowd. Thank you Satsuki Nagatome, Opera Singer and Vocal Trainer, and thank you Suzuki and Jun xx.
I was super nervous about my speech, but everyone was so supportive and looking back on the day, I hope people left with a glimpse into how much writing this book has meant to me, and the emotional road to publication.
Thank you to my husband for taking hardly any photos throughout the event (I forgive him only due to his constant support, encouragement and love over the past decade – lucky escape!).
Thank you also to my daughter and friends for their beautiful singing, and thank you to my son for his delightful impromptu speech.
And a sincere thank you to Sarah Mounsey, for her moral support and heartfelt words on the day, as well as her enduring and much treasured friendship.
Also, thank you to everyone who attended. Your presence meant the world to me.
Massachusetts-based publisher Star Bright Books has bought the US rights to Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs.
This is SUCH exciting news, especially so soon after the release of the book in Australia. It’s not easy to break into the American market, and this is a dream come true for me.
Star Bright Books specialises in books for young readers and for those working in literacy programs in North America.
They believe ‘only the best is good enough for children and produce books that are not only entertaining, but meaningful and sensitive to the needs of all children.’
I’m excited to announce that Fremantle Press (the Australian publishing house of Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs) has signed a new distribution agreement, effective last week, with the Singapore-based company Closetful of Books.
The owner of Closetful of Books, Denise Tan will select a number of Fremantle Press titles for her program. ‘Hoppily’ for me, her first choice is Darcy Moon and the Deep-Fried Frogs.
Denise has an infectious passion for children’s literature and a strong background in the book trade, having worked with well-known Singapore bookshop Bookaburra for a number of years. I am so excited that Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs is her first Australian book choice.
Already she has featured me on her website, coordinated all the book sales for my author visits at the Australian International School, managed to get Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs into the gorgeous boutique PlayDate Bookstore in the Katong V shopping Mall, and is now working with me to organise a fun and family-friendly afternoon book launch to be held at the Singapore Arts House on April 13th.
All are welcome, so please do join us!
The arrangement with Closetful of Books is exciting not only for me, but as Denise slowly brings more and more quality Fremantle Press titles to Singaporean shores, all book lovers in Singapore will benefit.
What a talented bunch of kids at the Australian International School. Michael Scott Parkinson’s colouring in sheets were a HUGE hit. We had so many fantastic entries to our colouring-in competition. It was almost impossible to pick only 10 winners. So we picked 15!
Here they are. The top 15 AISS colouring-in sheets!
By Heidi Shaw, 5S
By Oliver Rogers, 3B
By Alice O’toole, 3B
By Eden, 4F
By Maryam Rennison, 4F
By Sofia Bahia, 5M
By Willow Butler, 3B
By Daniel Burnand, 3B
By Ella Carracher, 5A
By Melody, Su Shen Yue, 5A
By Hannah Fitzpatrick, 3B
By Imanol, 4K
Congratulations to all the winners. And thanks to EVERYONE who entered. Perhaps you can find your artwork in the picture below?
darcymoonbooks.com 