Author: Jill Randall

Over the past year, I have highlighted books to accompany each letter you are exploring with students. Here are links to all of the posts. As we teach one of the most important concepts to young children – the alphabet – let's explore it in a multimodal way that involves seeing, hearing, feeling, and moving so that all children can learn in their own way. Moving through the alphabet is playful and memorable. Click on any letter below to find books for your classes with preschoolers, kindergarteners, and first graders.

   

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W 

X

Y

Z 

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We have reached the letter Z! Yay! Let's zip and zigzag around. The letter Z will inspire us to explore pathways.

Here are four books to inspire moving in zigzags, straight lines, curving pathways, and much more. Explore zigzagging with your feet, hands, and arms.

1. Little Green by Keith Baker 

A hummingbird – making various pathways in space (zig zag, curlycue, etc)

2. Jonathan and His Mommy by Irene Smalls and Michael Hays

A son and mother taking a walk and exploring all different ways to walk – big steps, small steps, zigzag pathways

3. Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman and Steve Wilson

An artistic exploration of lines that wiggle, bend, spiral, curve, etc.

4. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

An imaginative tale of a little boy drawing his world around him – the path he takes, the moon in the air, and much more to create an adventure

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No surprise – there aren't picture books to support studying the letter X! Wish there was one though. There are lots of great action words that include the letter X: extend, expand, explode….

Also, having students make Xs with their whole body is a simple and wonderful thing – whether on the floor or standing.

As I have suggested in several prior posts, creating a book bin of alphabet books is a great idea. For example with the letter X, look at all of the "X pages" in your bin. Have students pair up, and give each pair one alphabet book. Ask them to find the X page. What movement or shape can they create related to that page? Give each pair a chance to share in front of the class. Again, you can string all of the ideas together to create a "X Dance."

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Many wonderful, movement inspiring words begin with W: water, waves, winter, and wind.

W IS FOR WATER

I love the theme of water and have explored it in many ways over the past 18 years in dance classes varying from preschool through 7th grade. Students explore the actions of water, the water cycle, forms of water, and more.

This summer at the library, I found the book This is the Rain by Lola M. Schaefer and illustrator Jane Wattenberg. This is the Rain is a cumulative story, like The House That Jack Built, where the story gets built upon. 

As for movement inspiration, the book talks about the water cycle and the many forms/states of water. The use of repetition in the text is a great way to explore repetition in your dance class.

I encourage dance teaching artists, classroom teachers, and science teachers working with students in grades K-3 to check out this book. You can purchase used copies on amazon.com. 

I have eagerly awaited a copy of this book in our local library system, and I finally checked it out recently. To my delight, Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems, might be one of my new favorite children's poetry books to use in dance classes. The poetry is by Kate Coombs, with illustrations by Meilo So. Both text and paintings are full of magic, whimsy, and imagery to inspire movement with students ages 5-10. 

From start to finish, the poems take you on a journey along the shore and in the water. Topics include: sand, tide pools, waves, jellyfish, squid, and coral. The poems lend themselves to a variety of projects for both small groups (solos and duets) and whole group vignettes. You could easily use all or most poems in the book to create a beautiful performance with your class. 

Thomas Locker's three picture books - Water Dance, Cloud Dance, and Mountain Dance - are great springboards for group dances. The use of the word "dance" refers to the changing of states, forms, and rises and falls within the natural world.

Water Dance is a book with poetic language. Each page describes a different form of water:

I wind through broad, golden valley

joined by streams,

joined by creeks.

I grow ever wider,

broader and deeper.

I am the river.

W IS FOR WAVES

V is for Volcano

Volcanoes move and dance. We too can take inspiration from their movement – brewing, exploding, pouring, oozing, and spreading. 

I love the book Volcano Wakes Up! by Lisa Westberg Peters and illustrator Steve Jenkins. Through a series of poems, a story of a brewing volcano is shared. Through five different perspectives – such as a cricket nearby and the sun and  moon – you learn about a Hawaiian volcano. 

I suggest reading the whole book to your group. This can become your research and brainstorming. Write down words and images that come to mind. In small groups, can your students list 6-8 ideas from the book and make a vignette based on it? How can the students explore dynamic qualities, pathway, direction, and tempo? Or, take some of the short poems from the book, divide into groups, and create vignettes based on the poems. 

You could also select several of the illustrations, in the same manner (about 6-8), to create a movement phrase. There is lots of potential within this single book.

Alphabet Books Too

As I suggested in the first post of this alphabet series, creating a book bin of alphabet books is a great idea. For example with the letter V, look at all of the "V pages" in your bin. Have students pair up, and give each pair one alphabet book. Ask them to find the V page. What movement or shape can they create related to that page? Give each pair a chance to share in front of the class. Again, you can string all of the ideas together to create a "V Dance."

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When you and your students explore the letter U, these books can be springboards and inspiration for improvisation and dance projects.

Up and Under

I am always on the lookout for picture books with prepositions. Prepositions are so fun to explore in movement with students in preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grades. You can explore relationships – over, under, around, and through – whether it is students dancing with a prop (hula hoop), students dancing together, or using imagery to inspire movement (ex. crawling through a tunnel). 

Tana Hoban's classic picture book Over, Under, and Through is a great starting off point. Up, Down, and Around (Katherine Ayres and illustrator Nadine Bernard Westcott) is also a great exploration of prepositions as well as plants. 

You might play with different parts, dividing the class into two to explore the "above ground" and "under the ground" ideas (such as in Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner). 

 

• Over, Under, and Through - Tana Hoban
• Rosie's Walk - Pat Hutchins
• Star Climbing - Lou Fancher, with paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
• We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
• Over and Under in the Snow - Kate Messner, with art by Christopher Silas Neal
• Up, Down, and Around - Katherine Ayres, with art Nadine Bernard Westcott

Underground

 

Many of Denise Fleming's picture books are fun to use in dance classes – full of action words and animal inspiration. Her latest book, Underground, is a wonderful new addition. 

I have a small collection of books about plants and animals underground. This theme is fun to explore in preschool and kindergarten dance classes. 

Use Fleming's new book to inspire improvisation activities or a group dance. This picture includes numerous animals and creatures that go underground – digging, tunneling, and burrowing.

Upside Down

"Silly Sally went to town, walking backwards, upside down." So begins this playful picture book by well-known children's author Audrey Wood. The main character encounters different animals, and does a certain action with each one (a jig with a pig and leapfrog with a dog).

Use the book as a starting to point to explore many ways of moving backwards and upside down (or the concept of "direction" in general).

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