Animal Movement, Part I (I Love Steve Jenkins)

One of my favorite children's authors and illustrators is Steve Jenkins. I would like to highlight three of his books that can inspire great movement explorations and group dances.

Into the A, B, Sea by Deborah Lee Rose, with illustrations by Jenkins, is a beautiful alphabet book filled with action words. Whether your students improvise as you read through the book, or you select several of the actions to create an "ocean dance," the book is full of possibility with students in preschool – 2nd grade. The action words include: cling, crawl, spin, and soar. 

Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea is new to me, and seems like a perfect book to be a springboard for a group dance about the levels of the ocean and the creatures that inhabit each part. I imagine this will be a fun project with 2nd graders. (If you want more specifics on a particular lesson plan, please email me at jillhrandall@sbcglobal.net.)

Last, I would like to highlight Move! by  Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. This book is also filled with language rich, dance inspiring actions. I love the images in the book, but I especially love the size and placement of words in Move. The list of words can create a high energy dance for students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Here is the direct list from one of the last pages of the book:

• waddle
• slide
• float
• dance
• run
• fly
• climb
• slither
• leap
• swim 
• dive
• walk
• swing
• move!

In terms of music to accompany these animal explorations, I recommend selections from Carnival of the Animals, easily purchased on iTunes.