Our Seasons

Illustrator Grace Lin's artwork always catches my eye on a bookshelf, and I recently picked up the 2006 book Our Seasons by Grace Lin and Ranida T. McKneally.

This book might be best used as inspiration for teachers who are wanting to explore the theme of seasons with students in 2nd-5th grades.

The book is text heavy, with detailed descriptions to explain seasonal changes, such as why leaves change color, why you can see your breath, etc. But as a teacher, the book's format and various elements will definitely get ideas rolling for a dance project.

Throughout the book, there are haiku poems, such as:

Punching the blue sky,

The wind shows off its power.

Ki-ki almost flies.

The overarching questions are beautiful, and can inspire dance ideas….

1. What makes the wind?

2. What is snow? 

3. What makes a thunderstorm? 

This book is a great example of one of the many ways to use a children's book within a dance class; sometimes a book can simply start ideas rolling for the dance teacher.