Dancing Words Blog

Author: Jill Randall

  • The Color Green

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    Exploring COLORS with children is always full of
    possibility, for students in preschool all the way up to eighth grade.

    • Explore all of our associations with a color and
      what in our world is that color
    • Play with props (fabric, ribbons, hoops) of a
      specific color
    • Explore emotions related to each color

    Today, let’s focus on GREEN. Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s
    Caldecott Honor Book, Green, is a
    perfect introduction for a project or activity associated with green. The
    poetic text can also easily translate into a dance – “forest green…sea
    green….slow green….glow green….” Seeger’s book looks at objects, animals, and
    environments that are the color.

    Use Green with
    students in preschool-2nd grade. 

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  • Alphabet Series: The Letter F

    When you and your students explore the letter F, some of these books can be springboards and inspiration for improvisations and dance projects. 

    F is for Feet

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    Exploring the letter F is the perfect time to study our feet  and the many actions they do. Check out the following books:

    Use the text to inspire a list of actions of feet – fast, slow, high, low, etc. Make a warm up or improv activity with these various actions.

    F is for Flowers

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    I love the alphabet book A Garden of Ordinary Miracles. This alphabet book of various flowers is fun inspiration for making different shapes in our body, or in a group. 

    F is for Flamingos

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    As I have written about on the blog previously, Flora and the Flamingo is pure inspiration and joy for dance classes. It is a great book to explore the concepts of following a leader and mirroring. 

    F is for Fast

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    Opposite words are great to explore in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade dance classes (fast/slow, high/low, up/down, etc). Explore the book Fast and Slow: An Animal Opposites Book by Lisa Bullard. This book can easily turn into a group dance. 

     

    F is for Flamenco

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    George Ancona's book Olé Flamenco is a detailed book with classic Ancona photos as well as text about the dance style of flamenco and its costumes, music, and use of the hands.

  • Alphabet Series: The Letter E

    When you and your students explore the letter E, some of these books can be springboards and inspiration for improvisations and dance projects. 

    E is for Earth

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    My Mama Earth  and Earthdance are two books I have highlighted over the past year in the Magic and Whimsy Series. Both books use poetic text to look at many aspects of our world. Both can lead to group dances evoking a feel of awe and wonder about the natural world. 

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    E is for Emotions

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    Two of my favorite books on emotions are great for dance classes.

    On Monday When It Rained, by Cherryl Kachenmeister and photographer Tom Berthiaume, inspires students to explore facial expressions and show how our face changes when we are worried, excited, and confused.

    My Many Colored Days, by Dr. Seuss and illustrators Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, creates a beautiful dance about colors and our associated emotions (happy, sad, mad, busy). 


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  • Alphabet Series: The Letter D

    When you and your students explore the letter D, some of these books can be springboards and inspiration for improvisations and dance projects. 

    D is for Dancing!!

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    Exploring the letter D is the perfect time to gather up all of the wonderful picture books about the art form of dance. Check these out from your local library and find great deals on used books on amazon.com. 

    • Dance - Bill T. Jones and Susan Kuklin
    • Dance! – Elisha Cooper
    • Let's Dance - George Ancona
    • I am a Dancer - Pat Lowery Collins and illustrator Mark Graham
    • Dance with Me – Charles R. Smith Jr. and Noah Z. Jones
    • Dictionary of Dance – Liz Murphy
    • Alphabet of Dance – Barbie Heit Schwaeber and illustrator Damian Ward (Smithsonian Institution) 
    • Mabel Dancing – Amy Hest and illustrator Christine Davenier
    • Dancin' in the Kitchen – Wendy Gelsenliter

    D is for Down

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    I am always on the lookout for books about prepositions. Up, Down, and Around (Katherine Ayres and illustrator Nadine Bernard Westcott) is a great exploration of prepositions as well as plants. 

    D is for Digging

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    I recently wrote a blog post for the Book to Boogie Blog about Emma Garcia's book Tip Tip Dig Dig. This playful picture book explores the actions of construction vehicles. Find out more here. 

    D is for Day

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    One of my favorite alphabet books is Ida Pearle's A Child's Day: An Alphabet of Play. The actions in the book include: catch, jump, open, and view. Use the book as an opening warm up with your students, exploring our everyday movements. Then, how can you string several of these together, add music, and make a dance? 

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  • Alphabet Series: The Letter C

    When you and your students explore the letter C, some of these books can be springboards and inspiration for improvisations and dance projects. 

    C is for Clouds

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    There are three great books about clouds. Little Cloud by Eric Carle can easily turn into a dance exploration, with students shifting shapes and levels; pair this with Sora and the Cloud by Felicia Hoshino. Cloud Dance by Thomas Locker is a picture book for K-5 students about the varieties of cloud formations.

    C is for Color

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    My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss, with illustrations by Steven Johnson and Lou Fancher, is a fun exploration of colors and the emotions associated with each one. This book is a great example of a picture book that so easily "lends itself to movement."

    C is for Circle

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    There are numerous poetry books about shapes. Check out When a Line Bends….A Shape Begins (by Rhonda Gowler Greene and illustrator James Kaczman) and also Shape Me a Rhyme (by Jane Yolen and photographer Jason Stemple). Use the poems specifically about circles to make a new warm up activity with your students.

    C is for Carrot

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    Carrots and dance? Yes, indeed. Jan Peck wrote an amazing variation on the folktale The Giant Turnip. Sweet little Isabelle's dancing is what makes a giant carrot grow. This book is simply wonderful to read to students, to hear about dancing in a magical way. I also have a dance related to this story. Many years ago I made a giant carrot with fabric, about 5 feet high. My students' dancing makes this carrot "grow" as they circle around me and take turns dancing. Check out The Giant Carrot by Jan Peck and illustrator Barry Root. 

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  • Off We Go!

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    I was excited to stumble upon this book at the library, Jane Yolen's 2000 picture book Off We Go!. Off We Go! will quickly become a well-used book in preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade dance classes. 

    Like Steve Jenkins's book Move!, Off We Go! is a super easy and accessible book for movement inspiration. The various animals in the book tiptoe, hop, dig, and slither. Laurel Molk's illustrations evoke a calm and joyful energy. 

    Dance teachers can use the text as inspiration for an improvisational activity, or teachers can easily create a dance based on the text.

    Young dancers always love animal inspiration. Students will love exploring the movement of spiders, ducks, snakes, and mice.

    Off we go!

     

  • Snowflakes and Symmetry

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    One of my favorite books in my classes this fall (6th-8th grade) is the small photography book Snowflakes, featuring the incredible "micro-photography" of Kenneth Libbrecht. You can purchase new and used copies on amazon.com. 

    There are numerous uses for this book. The book is full of pictures and quotes, not a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Even in this digital age, my students always love having a book in hand and beautiful color images as inspiration. 

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    1. With my 6th grade students, we have an entire "water dance project" in conjunction with the 6th grade science curriculum. One component of the project includes states of water. This book is a great addition to my collection, to use as springboards.

    2. With all of my classes, the book is a great example of symmetry. I am always on the lookout for visual images to use when exploring symmetry and asymmetry in classes.

    3. In my 7th/8th grade dance elective course, we are creating an entire performance around the theme of Winter. We are using these images and embodying them as we make a stop motion film this trimester.

    This book can easily be used in elementary dance classes as well. 

    Images

  • Guest Post: Book to Boogie Blog

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    I am proud to share my post on the Book to Boogie Blog today. I wrote about the fun and playful picture book Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia. It is a great book to explore at a library during storytime, in parent/child dance classes, and in preschool dance classes. 

    Read the blog here.

     

  • New Book/CD About the Seasons

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    I spotted this book in the window of Mrs. Dalloway's in Berkeley just the other day. It is a great find, just in time for the beginning of Fall.

    Local educator Michael DeWall has created a beautiful book and CD to explore with children in preschool, kindergarten, first, and second grades. Illustrator Sara Kahn has created color-rich watercolors to accompany the lyrics of the songs. In the back of the book you will find the sheet music for these nine original songs as well as a CD.

    The music is definitely "children's music," but I like it a lot. My own children are enjoying listening to it, and I can easily see PreK-2 dance teachers and classroom teachers using it in classes. The music is joyful and a great addition to your music collection about the seasons. The songs explore a variety of themes including: changes, rain, picking berries, and the four seasons.

    Check out Seasons: Rhymes in Time here.

  • Happy Fall! Exploring the Seasons through Dance

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    Happy first day of Fall! If you look at the column on the right on this blog page, you can see the new category "Seasons." Click on it and you will find a variety of books to explore. 

    Happy dancing!