Animal Movement, Part Two

I would like to highlight four books that can be used as springboards in dance classes.

Eric Carle’s book From Head to Toe is a simple story that easily translates into a warm up exercise in a preschool class. As you read along, you and your students can wiggle, stretch, and bend. I like using this as a first activity in a class.

Denise Fleming’s In the Tall, Tall Grass and In the Small, Small Pond are full of actions. You can read aloud as you ask your students to improvise around your classroom. I would recommend these books for students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade.

Last, Audrey Wood’s Quick as a Cricket can be read with students in preschool through 2^nd grade. Using the entire book for a movement exploration might be too much, but using the text from one-third to one-half of the book could lead to a nice exploration of tempos, emotions, and more. (Teaching tip = if not reading the entire book, simply mark pages with post-it notes for quick access.)

To me, the beauty of animal books is the rich action words (dart, dip, slip, slide, swoop, and glide). If your students are excited and curious about animals, this is a great hook into your dance classes. You do not have to have the students imitating the animals; let the language and images lead the way to movement possibilities.