Another Christmas, another John Lewis ad

I may have retired – my second Christmas period away from teaching – but the time still goes so fast! Every year, I am curious as to what John Lewis & Partners did with their famous annual Christmas ad. It was always fun to share and discuss these productions with the students. Merry Christmas!


Christmas 2019 Ad | John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners | Excitable Edgar


The Making Of Excitable Edgar (Extended Version) | John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners

Revisiting the ugly duckling

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.

Dogs, dogs, dogs

This week, Early Stage 1 and Stage students are investigating factual information about dogs.

We also discussed a few famous literary dogs, such as Clifford, Fearless and Spot.

Clifford & Phoebe at Penrith PS (2011):

Travelling Fearless at Penrith PS (Book Week 2010):

Travelling Fearless, Part 2: Farewell Fearless! (Book Week 2010):

An Easter tale (2014):

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)

Hicketty Picketty: preparing for Chicks R Us

This week, students in Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 will be learning the nursery rhyme Hicketty Picketty. We will also be reading Out of the egg, by Tina Matthews, which is a variation of The little red hen fairy tale.

The inclement weather last Friday gave Class 1HB another chance to brainstorm a digital story. This time they ended up with an Easter theme, which will prove useful with other classes as the term progresses:


An Easter tale

The subsequent week consolidates the learning with this digital quiz on PhotoPeach, which draws upon images and information gathered in 2011 after a unit of work based upon the annual Chicks R Us experience:


What’s in the egg?

Another picture book favourite is Clifford’s happy Easter by Norman Bridwell, which features a North American (spring season!) Easter egg hunt and the dyeing of boiled eggs.

And our PhotoPeach digital story about Clifford the Big Red Dog’s last visit to our school library:


Clifford & Phoebe at Penrith PS

Plants, trees and forests

This week, Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 classes are investigating the topic of “Trees” (and “forests”), and relating it back to the fairytales of Hansel and Gretel and Goldilocks, and to previous work on “Autumn” leaves.

Books to be used include Seed to plant by Melvin & Gilda Berger and Trees (Go facts plants series) by Paul McEvoy.

Supporting Youtube video clips will include:


Planting bean seeds


Time-lapse phaseolus runner bean. Hypogeal germination


Acorn to oak filmed over an 8 month period time-lapse

The 2013 CBCA Crichton Award nominee, “A forest” by Marc Martin, will also be a useful resource for this topic. I recently found the following clip on Youtube which carries similar environmental messages. It is an animated short by Aspen Center for Environmental Studies “exploring how forests affect, and are affected by, the forces around them”:


What’s happening in our forest?

Hansel and Gretel

Gingerbread house
Gingerbread house from 2010, made by Ms Stockton’s mother!

Two versions of Grimm’s fairytale of Hansel and Gretel will be used this week with Stage 1 and Early Stage 1 students. Picture books are by Tony Ross (from Arrow, 1989) and Lucy M George & Rachel Swirles (Koala, 2010).

A school made resource, a digital slideshow in PowerPoint from 2010, will also be used: Handsome & Gentle, a fractured fairy tale by Class 2FR, based on “Hansel & Gretel”.

The ugly duckling

This weeks fairy tale for Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 students is The ugly duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. We will be using the picture book adaptation by Masumi Furukawa (Flip up fairy tales series by Child’s Play, 2006).

Ugly duckling
The ugly duckling

Hans Christian Andersen bust
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) bust

Hans Christian Andersen on Observatory Hill
Hans Christian Andersen on Observatory Hill, Sydney

Digital stories:

The ugly duckling, an assembly item by Class 2FR (from the year 2010)

The ugly caterpillar, a digital fairy tale by Class 1K (also from 2010), loosely based on “The ugly duckling”

Cockatoo and Tiger, a digital narrative by the other half of Class 1K (2010), also inspired by “The ugly duckling”.

Next week, the work will be followed up with an investigation into the attributes of ducks. The books, What is a bird? by Feana Tu’akoi (Scholastic, 2007) and Amazing facts about Australian birds (Steve Parish discover and learn, 1997) by Pat Slater, will be contrasted with the fictional ducks featured in Duck in the truck (Picture lions, HarperCollins, 2000) by Jez Alborough, Vote for Duck (Pocket, 2004) by Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin and The goat, the duck and the bale of hay (Viking, 2004) by Rachel Flynn & Tom Jellett.