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World Ocean Day top tips for making the most of the day – Friday June 7th!

We are absolutely delighted that you have joined thousands of other schools around the UK to celebrate World Ocean Day on Friday 7th June.

With the big day on its way we wanted to send you some key information on the project so you can feel confident in leading your classes through the most engaging ocean learning experiences possible. Alongside providing you with a film and slides for an assembly we have provided you day planners for the 5-7 age group and the 7-11 year age group. These are just a selection of all the available resources, you can find the rest on the platform under our two themes of Connection To Water and Impact on the Ocean.

Read more about our two themes this year and why:

Connection to Water
Most of us live blissfully unaware of how our daily actions impact the health of the ocean, or how the health of the ocean impacts on our everyday lives. For many the ocean is still viewed as a destination: a place to go on holiday to, an aquarium to visit. The fact is that the UK is a very watery place! We’re a small island surrounded by sea and filled with lakes, rivers and streams. In fact – you’re never further than 70 miles from the ocean anywhere in the UK.

The positive health and wellbeing impacts of water on humans are an area of fast emerging interest too. Author Wallace J. Nichols champion of #BlueMind has found that being near, in, on, or under water can make us happier, healthier, more connected, and better at what we do.

Our resources pack will allow you to deliver lessons that demonstrate how we really are watery beings!

Take a plunge into these videos and articles to learn more about our deep connection to water:
Every Second Breath (film at bottom of page)
How the ocean affects mental health
What does the ocean provide us with?

Impact on The Ocean
The ocean is big news right now. With Blue Planet 2 bringing the plastic pollution crisis into millions of front rooms across the UK, we are experiencing a growing wave of mainstream ocean activism. While plastics are not the only problem the ocean faces, this enormous crisis is engaging the wider public like nothing before and it has been impossible to ignore. Ocean plastics offers a once in a generation opportunity to open up a wider and critical conversation on our relationship to the ocean, waterways and the natural world more broadly.

Many of the resources in the Impact on the Ocean section of our website focus on this issue and suggest engaging lesson plans to get kids thinking about their use of plastics on day to day basis. There are also plenty of resources that delve into the issue of overuse of water in our day to day lives.

If you’d like to understand this subject more – we recommend you watch these three videos:
How humans are turning the world into plastics
The global water crisis. How much water we use everyday
Plastic Oceans – a message from the United Nations

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Following the nationwide water celebrations on 7th June we will be in touch with more details on how your school can continue to be a positive drop in the ocean.

Thanks for being a part of World Ocean Day for schools 2019!

#weareocean

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Visit our homepage for more information about the day, and if your school hasn’t signed up  yet, then you can do so (all free!) HERE.

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P.s – Don’t forget to dress up in blue for the ocean!