UK department store Sainsbury’s features Judith Kerr’s famous book character, Mog the cat, in an advertisement for the Christmas season. These ads are also excellent examples of persuasive visual texts.
Sainsbury’s official Christmas advert 2015 – Mog’s Christmas calamity
Sainsbury’s official Christmas 2014 ad – 1914
And the current ad is:
Sainsbury’s official Christmas advert 2016 – The greatest gift
The last time The ugly duckling came along in our K-2 literacy cycle, I made use of some personal photos taken of a Hans Christian Andersen memorial statue at Sydney’s Observatory Hill.
The ugly duckling – Silly symphony Walt Disney 1939
Our Khaki Campbell ducks~
Khaki Campbell… ducks a must see!!!
Make way for ducklings, the famous picture book by Robert McCloskey, and based on a real life event, is also immortalized in statue form at Boston Common, USA. These statues get dressed thematically at various times of the year.
Students in Stage 1 and Early Stage 1 have been researching bear facts, as a result of reading variations on the fairy tale, “Goldilocks and the three bears”.
Fun facts about bears
Grizzly bears catching salmon – Nature’s great events – BBC
Black bear and cubs in hibernation – BBC wildlife
Polar bear mom and cubs
Students in Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 have been studying the Aboriginal Dreaming Story of “How the birds got their colours”. This week, they are investigating birds. Our playground is currently well-populated with large crows (or ravens?) and the students have been enjoying (or being blamed for) their hilarious antics: tossing scraps out of the bins, stealing shiny rocks from a memorial garden, and frog-marching pigeons out of the playground.
I found some fascinating Youtube videos that demonstrate the intelligence of crows, as they complete an exercise involving a three-step plan, and then an eight-step plan.
Crow intelligence – multi-step tool action test
Are crows the ultimate problem solvers? – Inside the animal mind – BBC
Smart crow uses cars to crack nuts in Akita, Japan near Senshu Park
Remember Aesop’s fable of “The crow and the pitcher”?
Causal understanding of water displacement by a crow
Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 students are learning about Aboriginal Dreaming stories.
The Rainbow Serpent
The Rainbow Serpent (by Dick Roughsey)
Batik painting, inspired by Dick Roughsey’s Dreamtime picture book, The Rainbow Serpent
Rainbow Lorikeets wild and free in their native Australia
Stage 1 and Early Stage 1 students are learning about the nursery rhyme, “Hickory dickory dock”.
Hickory dickory dock nursery rhyme with lyrics – Cartoon animation rhymes & songs for children
Hickory dickory dock | Super simple songs
Peppa Pig Cuckoo clock
How to care for a pet mouse
Stage 1 and Early Stage 1 students are learning about the nursery rhyme, “Hey diddle diddle”.
Hey diddle diddle | Nursery rhymes | HD version from LittleBabyBum
Hey diddle diddle
Top 10 interesting and unusual cat breeds
Box fiddle
This year, our three-year literacy cycle commences with Little Miss Muffet. (Click on this link for previously located Youtube resources.)
An additional clip:
Little Miss Muffet | Nursery Rhymes by LittleBabyBum
Chinese New Year Highlights video (from Year of the Ox, 2009)
Past student book rappers created a digital slideshow on Photo Peach to accompany our work on the Aboriginal Dreaming story, How the whale got a hole in his head:
How the whale got a hole in his head
Humpback whale shows amazing appreciation after being freed from nets
Additional audiovisual resources on whales, starfish and barnacles, used in previous years of the cycle, are HERE.
