The video of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW Network meeting held on 15 June 2020 is as follows:

The corresponding slides for the above Network Meeting are here.

PUBLISHED: 15 JUNE 2020

What is Eid?

Eid al-Adha "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Bairam" is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims all over the world. It is when Muslims sacrifice a goat, sheep, cow or a camel, sending meat to poor people as a donation. It marks the end of the Pilgrimage or Hajj for the millions of Muslims who make the trip to Mecca each year and pray 5 times a day. They like to tell Allah what they are thinking and hope for him to help them, and remember Ibrahim and Ishmael's courage and devotion to God.

On this day famiy, children, friends gather and celebrates this festival happily. Many muslims across the world and especially in Australia people travel to Mecca for celebrating Eid al-Adha.

When is Eid?

Begins in the evening of Monday, 2 May and ends in the evening of Tuesday, 3 May

Activities:

• Inviting families or providing a Middle-East feast for the staff and children to celebrate the meaningful gathering.
• Intentional teaching: How many people across the world including Australians travel to Mecca to gather and celebrate Eid al-Adha.
• Discuss how different cultures and religions celebrate different days, however celebrated in the same concept as family gathering, time of giving and acts of kindness. 
• Baking cookies of Eid - Click the following link for the reciepe: https://cleobuttera.com/middle-eastern/fabulous-kahk-eid-cookies/
• Reading books to children about Eid Al-adha and learning more about the festive season their family, friends, neighbours and people in the community celebrate - https://childrenslibrarylady.com/books-for-ramadan-eid/
• Centre project - Raising money or hamper collecting and donating to the poor where staff, families, children. 

For further acitivity ideas click on the following link: https://www.twinkl.com.au/resources/topics/festivals-and-cultural-celebrations/eid-ul-fitr

What is Schools Tree Day? 

National Tree Day is celebrated annually, which started and has grown into one of Australia's biggest community events since 1996 as the community gather in tree-planting and nature care event. 

As we should be educating and encouraging taking are of our mother nature everyday, we celebrate Schools Tree Day to the last Friday in July.

When is Schools Tree Day? 

Wednesday, 28 July

Activities: 

• Centre project - Getting the children involved in planting a tree around the service and learning the importance of playing an active role in the community. 
• Intentional teaching - Learning and discussing the life cycle of a tree, how it grows and what it needs to grow
  - Creating a poster
  - Create an ongoing tree and plant care program with your children.
• Seed experiment - Children plainting their own plant and watching the plants grown and taking care of their plant by ensuring it is watered, recieving enough sunlight reflecting off their life cycle of a tree - https://www.pre-kpages.com/science-kids-growing-plants-experiment/
• Reading books regarding taking care of our environment
• Have a week dedicated to environmental awareness. Download our educational lesson plans for your students to learn more about the environment.
• Arrange a visit from a ranger or local council representative. They may be able to provide you with information and tools for your event or to arrange a demonstration on how to plant correctly and what native wildlife may be attracted to the plants.
• Creating a recycling corner to save trees! 

For further information regarding how to get involved in School Tree Day click on the following link: https://treeday.planetark.org/get-involved/schools

What is National Diabetes Week?

National Diabetes Week raises awareness of the signs and symptoms of diabetes to increase earlier detection and promote action.

Every day almost 300 Australians are diagnosed with diabetes. But for many the diagnosis is being made too late putting them at risk of life threatening or serious health issues. That’s why we’re urging people to “take the time” to learn the signs and symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Type 1
Each year 640 children and adults are admitted to hospital because the early symptoms of type 1 diabetes – severe fatigue, thirst and weight loss – are not recognised. More than half of these hospital admissions are children and teens and when you know that type 1 diabetes can be fatal if not diagnosed in time – making sure the early signs and symptoms are picked up is critical.

Type 2
On top of this there are almost half million who are living with type 2 diabetes but don’t know it. That’s because type 2 diabetes can be “silent” and occur without any obvious symptoms. Find out more about the signs and symptoms of Type 2 diabetes.

When type 2 diabetes goes undiagnosed there is the danger of complications like vision loss and blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage and heart disease occurring.

When is National Diabetes Week?

From Saturday, 8 to Saturday, 15 July

Activities:

• Promote intentional healthy eating activities - Cooking activities i.e. Fruit Kebabs
• Discuss food chains which outlines sometimes and always foods
• Children to use their fine motor skills to cut images of sometimes and always food to great a poster.
• Encourage families to allow children to pack/make their own lunch from what they have learnt
• Celebrity Heads with Fruit and Vegetable - Children will wear the fruit and vegetable headbands. The child will sit facing the other children and describe what type of fruit is on their head. (ideal for preschoolers)
• Fruit and vegetable memory game
• How much sugar is in what we drink? - Experiment by counting how many spoons of sugar are in; soft drinks, milk, juice v's water

Click on the following link to persual further activities ideas: http://www.goodforkids.nsw.gov.au/media/1081/he-learning-experiences.pdf