Grass into hay: Little Boy Blue

Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 students are investigating the nursery rhyme, “Little Boy Blue”.


Little Boy Blue – nursery rhyme with karaoke

Here are the factual Youtube clips we will be using to expand their field knowledge:


Haystack building using pitchforks


How to make grass into hay bales


Round baling hay


Blowing horns


Blowing 2 shofars

Enter the gingerbread man!

Last week, Stage 1 and Early Stage 1 investigated versions of the fairy tale, The gingerbread man. This week, we will explore some Youtube clips of gingerbread recipes, attributes of foxes, and read Kel Richards’ The lamington man, an Australian version of the classic tale.


Ginger bread man – Fairy tales in English – animated / cartoon stories for kids


Fairytale: The gingerbread man read by John Krasinski by Speakaboos


2 adopted foxes and the ‘stepmom’ dog


Ylvis – The fox (What does the fox say?) [Official music video HD]


How to make a gingerbread man: gingerbread man recipe from Cookies Cupcakes and Cardio


Play Doh gingerbread man gingerbread recipe: how to make gingerbread man


Gingerbread man cookie recipe – Laura Vitale – Laura in the kitchen, Episode 253

The three billy goats Gruff

This week, Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 students will be investigating the fairy tale, The three billy goats Gruff, through a selection of versions, such as 3 billy goats Gruff by Ted Dewan (with a baseball motif), The three billy-goats Gruff Norwegian folk tale featuring woodcut illustrations by Susan Blair, and The three billy goats Gruff, from the picture book translated by Henriette Barko and illustrated by Richard Johnson.

Some useful Youtube clips include:


The three billy goats Gruff, by Henriette Barko & Richard Johnson


The three billy goats Gruff


3 billy goats Gruff song (Grumpy old troll)

The man, the boy and the donkey

Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 are studying fables this term. We found this great short video, with accompanying song, on Youtube:


Song: “A Man, a Boy and a Donkey” – Children’s Music Video

And here’s an award-winning music video version, by Derek Sonic Thunders, of Craig Smith’s “Wonky donkey” picture book and song:


Wonkey donkey song unofficial music video

Last term’s Stage 1 book rappers are doing an extension activity with me during our Literacy time: investigating claymation (stop motion) video presentations using a kit from the local post office, “Make your own haunted house movie” by Nancy Hall (Hinkler Books, 2010). We have already storyboarded our Halloween story, but have now checked out a few claymation fable videos on Youtube:


The story of the boy who cried wolf – claymation


Bugs and books 2008

More about frogs

After experiencing many versions of the fable, “The exploding frog“, our Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 students are studying factual information about frogs. These Youtube video clips (below) will support their learning:


Inside Taronga’s Corroboree frog conservation container
(with Michael McFadden, Mrs Brisco’s son-in-law)


Corroboree frog update from Mt Kosciuszko


Tree frog jumping


Frog swimming


Green treefrog calling


Frog song

The shortlist treasure hunt

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) released its 2011 shortlist of nominated children’s book titles for Book Week last Tuesday, and the mad scramble – to make sure school library collections have the books – has begun in earnest.

When the stores say a shortlisted title is “not available”, that’s because it has already sold out of its initial print-run everywhere (ie. the warehouses are often empty long before the nominations come out, or they are cleaned out the day the shortlist is announced), and the publisher is now attempting to get a second printing done in time for Book Week. That attempt is usually successful, at least for the city stores in most states. Sadly, books that don’t make the shortlist often never get a second hardcover printing. That precious nomination is often their key to longevity. Publishers are very frugal and only very strong sellers and award nominees get a second bite at the market. Paperback versions of nominated hardcovers often don’t get scheduled until the approaching Christmas season, too late for Term 3 Book Week celebrations.

I have permission from my Principal to round up the titles in whichever bookshops I happen find them in, hopefully in ones that offer us a decent discount. I haven’t bought any books for the library since last Easter (except the 2010 shortlist) because of our BER rebuilding, so my 2011 shortlist shelves were totally bare. I’ve been treasure hunting shops since last Tuesday when the list came out – and I have actually found almost everything (including most of the Crichton Award nominees for first time illustrators). Often it’s the lone copy on a shelf I find, but a surprising number of the titles have been in reasonable supply this year. I resist just back-ordering the whole list from one seller at this time of year, because inevitably I see older, first printing copies in forgotten corners all over Sydney, when I could be using them with the students, but the shops also dislike it when you keep canceling books from the order. This time of year drives the booksellers crazy, and it also seems unfair to think of all those wonderful books that just missed out making it to the Notables list, since they are probably destined to be a distant memory.

So there’s no easy answer. I happen to enjoy the treasure hunt, and am usually very successful. Several of my favourite haunts see me walk in the door and they say, “Ah, we know what you’re looking for!”, even if it’s been a year between visits.

The theme this year is “One World, Many Stories”, and is neatly served by this cute song on Youtube.

Gotta keep reading – a response

Gotta keep reading

CLICK HERE

This is the Year 4 (of 4/5P) students’ response to the famous Ocoee Middle School Youtube flashmob.

The rappers decided they wanted to try using the forward and back buttons of PowerPoint for creating a stop-motion animation to the Youtube-famous version of “Gotta keep reading”. They brought in soft toys from home, and some from the library, and we spent about half an hour doing the main shoot in the playground. It works really well on my laptop, but when we tried to video podcast it, the file was just too big. This .mov version is miniscule, but it’ll give you a taste of the fun we had making it.

The original flashmob is at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6D9jiEYxzs

Poster children!

#353

I feel like a proud father. The students at my school, Penrith Public School, were asked (late last year) to be the “poster children” of this year’s NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge poster. The posters arrived today and they look fantastic! Not that I’m biased. Definitely one to get framed for our new BER school library when it’s built.

Meanwhile, a teacher-librarian colleague recommended this great Youtube video clip:

Ocoee Middle School’s “Gotta keep reading” Youtube song, based on a Black-Eyed Peas hit song.