Northern Ireland author Yvonne Fleming has teamed up with Eco-schools and Twinkl for a first of its kind UK and Ireland initiative to teach younger children about the environment and climate change.
Her loveable Weatherbies, including Sammy Sun, Rosie Rainbow, Colin Cloud, Flo Snow, Ronny Rain, Willy Wind, will feature in animations about everything from recycling to eating healthily, growing fruit and vegetables, reading books and using renewable energy, like solar and wind power.
The Maghera woman's stories will be brought to life through fun and interactive online learning resources produced by Twinkl, which will be available in both English and Irish.
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The Weatherbies promote a blue-sky thinking ethos, helping to comfort children, reduce anxieties and fears they might have in today's ever climate changing world.
It is hoped the concept will inspire children to look up to the sky, see and feel the weather as a friend - one that can both nurture and be nurtured and the partnership with Eco-schools and Twinkl aims to encourage children to be more aware of climate change and how we can all play our own part in protecting the world around us.
Ms Fleming said: "I am delighted to be partnered with Eco-Schools and Twinkl, I feel it is a great opportunity to work with them to help educate children on environmental awareness, something we all feel is so important to teach children about. When we started working with Eco-Schools it was brilliant for me to hear that they felt The Weatherbies was the perfect fit for them in helping bring fun lessons to children, and with Twinkl’s excellent work, I feel that these lessons will be really engaging for the children and help them understand the world around them more.
"I look forward to what the future holds with our partnership as we continue to educate children on how to look after our environment and make a difference."
Yvonne is also delighted the books will be translated into Irish.
She added: "It’s been great to finally achieve a long-time goal of mine, to have my books translated into Irish. When I was going around the primary schools, I would be frequently asked if I would translate my books, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m really excited that we are able to develop both our online content and Twinkl’s teaching resources in Irish alongside the English versions."
Charlene McKeown, Eco-Schools Manager at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said: "We are all huge fans of the The Weatherbies books, and it is with great excitement that we enter into this partnership at the start of a new school year. Intertwining with our already blossoming relationship with Twinkl, the partnership will ensure that fantastic educational literature is matched by brilliant teaching and learning materials, to give schools much-needed resources to teach climate change awareness at an appropriate level to our youngest learners."
Susan Ferguson from Twinkl added: "We are extremely excited to be entering into this new partnership with The Weatherbies, alongside our already flourishing partnership with Eco-Schools. At Twinkl, we believe in supporting educators and in helping those who teach. With these fantastic resources, we will be providing vital material to teachers across the country, enabling them to promote environmental awareness in their young learners.
"We believe with The Weatherbies resources at hand, teachers will feel empowered. They will have the confidence to tackle difficult topics regarding climate change in their classrooms. We are very excited to see these resources in use and to see how beneficial they are for our young learners."
Click here for more information on The Weatherbies.
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