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

Merry Christmas!

Have you been wondering why no updates?

Currently I am on Long Service Leave, preparing for retirement. I guess there will be irregular blog updates as they occur to me. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas!


John Lewis Christmas advert 2018 featuring Elton John | The boy and the piano


The making of The boy and the piano | John Lewis & Partners Christmas ad 2018

Researching Scottish soldiers

Stage 2 students need to build their field knowledge about Scottish soldiers for a writing activity based on the ending of the picture book, “Billy the Punk” by Jessica Carroll & Craig Smith.


Anzac Day 2013, walking with the bagpipes in Sydney


Massed pipe bands in Sydney on Anzac Day 2012


Funny introduction to Scottish uniform in Halifax Citadel

Addressing English outcomes in library lessons

Today, I want to explore with my teacher colleagues the upcoming National Simultaneous Storytime picture book for 2018, Hickory dickory dash by Tony Wilson & Laura Wood, and how it fits into our existing K-2 literacy cycle, and how it can address English outcomes for Stage 2 and Stage 3 students (see Objective C).

English K-10 syllabus outcome (From NSW Education Standards Authority, NESA):


English Objective C
English Objective C

We will also briefly discuss:

* aspects of Guided Inquiry activities for Stage 2 and Stage 3, team-taught, library lessons this year (Note: units use the KLA’s own syllabus outcomes plus related English outcomes)

* revisit the concept of pre-, mid- and post- surveys for students (from the SLIM toolkit) to collect both qualitative and quantitative data (action research)

* some possible strategies for improving student attitudes and successes with longer form fiction, such as novels (see Objective D).

English K-10 syllabus outcome (From NSW Education Standards Authority, NESA):


English Objective D
English Objective D

OASIS searching:



Searching the library catalogue in Oliver


Students searching with the Orbit interface in Oliver

How are mountains formed

Stage 2 students are investigating mountains during their Term 2 library lessons. These Youtube clips will hopefully provide some field knowledge for class discussions.


Where do mountains come from?


GCSE science revision – formation of sedimentary rock layers


Blue Mountains formation


Ring of Fire: earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the Pacific explained – TomoNews

Islands of Australasia

This week, Stage 2 students are investigating aspects of the islands that make up Australasia.


Family holidays | Best Fiji island resorts for family vacations | Jean Michel Cousteau


New Zealand top ten things to do, by Donna Salerno Travel


Samoa tourist attractions: 15 top places to visit


One News – Tokelau to be entirely solar powered

Stage 2 investigates Australasia

As part of the Stage 2 History unit, Places are similar and different, we are learning about Australia in relation to its nearest neighbours during Library lessons. Here are some Youtube clips we are be examining, concerning the Continental Drift theory, the Pacific Ring of Fire and Australia’s strategic position in the Pacific region.


Continental drift


‘Ring of fire’ threatens a larger earthquake


Australia’s geographic challenge