Oh, I love the new books section at the library and stumbling upon new titles. Today I scooped up How to Two by David Soman. Do you work with preschool-first grade age children? This is a great book to explore groupings, taking turns, entrances/exits, and choreographing sections of a dance. Let's go!
The text is super simple, but poetic and inspirational to lead us into a dance project. First start off with a read of the book to the group. How to one….how to two…how to three… The illustrations are of joyful, moving children.
Each section of the dance can be one simple movement that the students repeat. For example, "How to one" could be one student skipping in the space. Then the dancer exits to the side. "How to two" could be two students in the middle of the room doing several criss cross jumps. You can cue them with your hand when it is time to exit.
Of course you can creatively alter the text, but the text goes to "How to ten." This means you need ten or more students in your class. If you have 10+, then several students can have more than one part in the dance. Even with a class of 20, students can be in an least 2 sections.
Co-create the ten sections together. Write them on big chart paper. Here is an example of how this might go:
1 = skipping in a circle
2 = criss cross jumps
3 = swaying back and forth
4 = sit spins
5 = jumping jacks
Students can move freely in the space when it is their turn to dance, or you can place blue tape to help with spacing:
X
X X
X X X
X X X X
Some music selections to try out include:
- "Sky Full of Stars" by the Vitamin String Quartet
- "Bambo Koyo Ganda" by Bonobo
- Various versions of the jazz standard "Sweet Georgia Brown"
Have fun! Please leave a comment below if you tried it out with your students and have more ideas and versions to share. Thank you!
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