We are surrounded by RED

Class 3/4L recently had an extra session in the school library, so we decided to create a digital slideshow, inspired by the powerful cover art of the new picture book, One red shoe, by Karin Gruss & Tobias Krejtschi (Wikins Farago, 2014). The book, set in the war-torn Gaza Strip, features black and white illustrations through, with the dramatic use of spot colour on a US-style, Chuck Taylor All-Stars red canvas shoe, to persuade the readers and viewers with symbolism.


Surrounded by RED

The resulting, jointly-constructed text of this digital slideshow, created during a Circle Time brainstorming session, is quite reminiscent of the colour poems featured in the now-classic book, Hailstones and halibut bones by Mary O’Neill (1961), although the students were not exposed to that particular work. Yet. Red objects featured in the images came mainly from the school library environment, but also a few from my personal digital albums.

Download free Teachers’ notes for One red shoe.

How the birds got their colours

Stage 1 and Early Stage 1 students are learning about Aboriginal Dreaming stories.


How the birds got their colours by Pamela Lofts and Mary Albert

A student, from somewhere in the world, adapted this story as an animation, setting it in the Philippines:

How birds got their color by Naufal Shukri

How smart are crows?


Crow intelligence – multi-step tool action test


Joe the talking crow


Smart crow uses cars to crack nuts in Akita, Japan, near Senshu Park

Last time we visited this part of the cycle, students enjoyed this Youtube clip.