Recommended Books

Kick! A Scanimation Picture Book

Rufus Butler Seder

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Now introducing “Kick!”, which does for kids what “Gallop!” does for animals – one child rides a bike, another kicks a football, a swimmer cuts through the water, and a skater pirouettes on ice. The effect is joyous, magical, mesmerizing, and perhaps even more compelling than “Gallop!” Because of the endless fascination that children find in watching other children. The second book created by Rufus Butler Seder, the inventor, artist, and filmmaker who developed Scanimation out of his obsession with antique optical toys and other pre-motion-picture illusions, “Kick!” uses ‘persistence of vision’ and a patented state-of-the-art multiphase animation process to create astonishment. There is nothing else like this unique, patented technology that literally inspires wonder.The images burst with activity, and adding greatly is a happy, rhyming text that captures in words, the pure energy of the figures in motion. You can’t put it down.

Teaching ideas

Gallop! A Scanimation Picture Book

Rufus Butler Seder

Australian Curriculum:  Description

A first book of motion for kids, it shows a horse in full gallop and a turtle swimming up the page. A dog runs, a cat springs, an eagle soars, and a butterfly flutters. Created by Rufus Butler Seder, an inventor, artist, and filmmaker fascinated by antique optical toys, Scanimation is a state-of-the-art six-phase animation process that combines the “persistence of vision” principle with a striped acetate overlay to give the illusion of movement. It harkens back to the old magical days of the kinetoscope, and the effect is astonishing, like a Muybridge photo series springing into action—or, in terms kids can relate to, like a video without a screen. Complementing the art is a delightful rhyming text full of simple questions and fun, nonsense replies: Can you gallop like a horse? giddyup-a-loo! Can you strut like a rooster? cock-a-doodle-doo!

Teaching ideas

The Odd One Out: Spotting Postcards

Britta Teckentrup

Australian Curriculum:  Description

“Foundation Year – Sort, describe and name familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in the environment (ACMMG009)
Describe position and movement (ACMMG010)
Year 1 – Recognise and classify familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects using obvious features (ACMMG022)
Choose simple questions and gather responses and make simple inferences (ACMSP262)
Year 2 – Investigate the effect of one-step slides and flips with and without digital technologies (ACMMG045)
Year 3 – Identify symmetry in the environment (ACMMG066)
Year 4 – dentify symmetry in the environment (ACMMG066)

Teaching ideas

Who What Where?

Olivier Tallec

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Foundation Year – Sort, describe and name familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in the environment (ACMMG009)
Describe position and movement (ACMMG010)
Year 1 – Recognise and classify familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects using obvious features (ACMMG022)
Choose simple questions and gather responses and make simple inferences (ACMSP262)
Year 2 – Investigate the effect of one-step slides and flips with and without digital technologies (ACMMG045)
Year 3 – Identify symmetry in the environment (ACMMG066)
Year 4 – dentify symmetry in the environment (ACMMG066)

Teaching ideas

Who Done It?

Olivier Tallec

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Foundation Year – Sort, describe and name familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in the environment (ACMMG009)
Describe position and movement (ACMMG010)
Year 1 – Recognise and classify familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects using obvious features (ACMMG022)
Choose simple questions and gather responses and make simple inferences (ACMSP262)
Year 2 – Investigate the effect of one-step slides and flips with and without digital technologies (ACMMG045)
Year 3 – Identify symmetry in the environment (ACMMG066)
Year 4 – dentify symmetry in the environment (ACMMG066)

Teaching ideas

What’s faster than a speeding Cheetah?

Robert E. Wells

Australian Curriculum:  Description

This book explores the concept of speed. Different animals, objects and concepts are benchmarked against one another to develop an understanding of speed.

Teaching ideas
Used for a unit starter. Many fertile questions can be derived from this book, e.g. what's faster than a speeding cheetah? Junior secondary could use this book to explore converting abstract units MPR to km/h

Inchworm and a Half

Elinor J Pinczes

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Use direct and indirect comparisons to decide which is longer, heavier or holds more, and explain reasoning in everyday language (ACMMG006); Measure and compare the lengths and capacities of pairs of objects using uniform informal units (ACMMG019)

Teaching ideas
Measuring other lengths using concrete materials, e.g. string. Explain the history of what sea speed is measured in knots (concrete idea for measuring an abstract concept)