Blog 3rd Birthday – May 23, 2015

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Like the bears in the photo above? They are Orlando Pirate and Polly Princess I purchased from The Kids' Cancer Project. Read to the end for a birthday surprise.

Background to Items given away on this blog...

When considering my major blogging events at the beginning of this year, I knew three were approaching. At that early time, I thought they might spread throughout the year but, with the free or not for profit photographic, video, DVD, CD work I do for community and schools growing, busy times have meant the events have come close together. Two have already been achieved and posts written. They were...

Koala – Phascolarctos cinereus & 100,000 Visitors posted February 18, 2015

Post 201: About Bilbies and 200 Posts posted May 23, 2015

It wasn't meant to be but I am writing this blog birthday post on the same day I wrote the post celebrating the 200th post which included a class giveaway. It means I will be running two giveaways for classes (the bilby items in another post and the above bears), both to be decided June 6 to allow for Northern Hemisphere classes approaching their end of school year.

Why giveaways? Whenever I can, I support a number of charities. Some, as fundraisers, offer items for sale. The koala in the Feb 18 post came from "Backyard Buddies", a group supporting animals and the environment in national parks. The bilby items come from "Save the Bilby Fund" raising money to help preserve the bilby.

For the 3rd birthday post, items come from "The Kids' Cancer Project" from The Oncology Children's Foundation. I bought two of their bears to give away. Details of the giveaway after a little information on "The Kids' Cancer Project".

A Little About The Kids' Cancer Project

(Text taken from The Kids' Cancer Project notes.)

The Kids' Cancer Project has a single mission: To cure kids' cancer

Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death from disease in Australian children. Finding cures for 100% of kids' cancer is dependent on medical research. The Kids' Cancer Project funds The Tumour Bank, The Gene Therapy Trial, Drug discovery Program and the C4 Consortium of 8 expert cancer scientists, as well as other targeted research.

Two Bears Needing a New Home

 

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Orlando Pirate and Polly Princess want to find a new home with classes somewhere in the world. If your class would like a chance to receive one of the bears, simply leave a birthday greeting for the blog in the comments. A random draw will decide the winning classes if there are more than two class comments. You don't need to have received a post or to have visited this blog previously. It's open to any school class.

* Note: If individual students want to leave a comment, they must ask permission from their teacher. The bears can only be sent to a class and not an individual student.

6 thoughts on “Blog 3rd Birthday – May 23, 2015

  1. Denise Krebs

    Dear Mr. Mannell,

    Congratulations on your three-year birthday for this splendid blog! The number of visitors you’ve received shows just how much you have sought and found ways to make a difference. You have made a difference in the lives of my students and me when you helped us grow in literacy (and history), love of learning, and faith in humanity! Thanks for all you are doing and may you have many more years of inspiring teachers and children.

    You have left some awesome and rich comments on the blog posts of my junior highers, but now I am in Bahrain teaching Kindergarten! We would love for you to stop by, if you can: http://krebs.edublogs.org and we would be delighted if we are the lucky pick for one of your sweet bears. Thank you for sharing your resources to also make a difference in the lives of children who some day will not have to have cancer.

    Blessings,
    Mrs. Denise and KG students

    Reply
  2. Roadrunners- Mrs. Todd

    Dear Mr. Mannell,
    Happy Birthday!
    It’s wonderful that so many big events have happened in one year with your great educational blog site. At that time we started a blog with an Australian classroom and our Flat Stanley project where the character Stanley (named Rocky and River — there were two of them) visited with a classroom and learned about Australia. We had Kanga and Roo visit with us).
    From there a wonderful mentor (who passed away this year) stepped in and connected me with another teacher (Catherine Monaghan) in England so we continue to have projects along with some Australian classes- Ms Crowder’s and others. We haven’t participated in projects as much this year because my mother was sick and died of cancer in the late fall.
    Our blog site started in April 2011 but we haven’t had any where the number of visitors you had. You’ve reached students and teachers across the globe with your extended comments post about so many great topics. It’s wonderful that you have dedicated time and effort in creating the blog site to help others and your obvious engagement in other things like the cancer research and saving the bilby.

    Thank you from all the students, teachers and global citizens around the world for your involvement.
    Enjoy the celebration of all the great events connected with your blog.
    Congratulations from….
    Mrs. Todd and the Roadrunners in North Carolina, USA.

    Reply
  3. Mrs. Yollis and class

    Dear Mr. Mannell,

    I’m not sure you can say you’re retired! Ha! 🙂

    Like Mrs. Krebs and Mrs. Todd have said, you have made a tremendous contribution to classrooms around the world. We still enjoy Pepper’s company as well as the cards and books you have shared. This year we did informational text. My new student from Belgium used your koala blog post and photos as a resource. (Credit given of course!)

    Thanks for being in our learning community and congratulations on your success!

    Warmly,
    Mrs. Y♥llis and class of third graders
    California

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Mrs. Yollis and Class,

      The random number 3 came up and you comment was 4th so I will be sending you Polly Princess. 🙂

      Ross Mannell

      Reply
  4. The Blogging Hawks

    Hi Ross!

    We want to wish you and your blog a VERY happy THIRD birthday! Your blog is VERY successful … we KNOW that because, not only is it its third BIRTHDAY … you’ve hit over 200 posts and over 100,000 visitors. We think that’s AMAZING. What a GREAT reason to celebrate. You’ve touched the lives of SO many learners around the world!

    What a kind, generous and THOUGHTFUL way to celebrate milestones. We LOVE that you support the fundraising in your community. And, we think you are AMAZING to help with kids’ cancer research projects and wildlife that is endangered.

    If we were lucky enough to be drawn to receive one of the bears, we know that Suzy Sunshine would take VERY good care of it! 😉

    We want you to know that we are STILL exploring the Backyard Animal cards … and … that Suzy Sunshine gets TONS of cuddles each and EVERY day!

    Thank you for being a part of our learning journey!

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

    The Blogging Hawks 🙂

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Blogging Hawks,

      The random number 4 came up and you comment was 4th so I will be sending you Orlando Pirate. 🙂

      Ross Mannell

      Reply

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