Dancing Words Blog

Category: Science

  • Water Can Be….

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    I love exploring water within a dance class – the actions of water, the states of water, and how water travels high to low, across, around, and through. I explore water in elementary school classes and even with my 6th grade middle school students. 

    Water Can Be… - by Laura Purdie Salas and illustrator Violeta Dabija – is a great addition to your collection of springboards for water dances. The text is poetically written, and most of it could be the script/narration for a dance with students in 2nd-5th grade. 

    Water is water –

    it's fog, frost, and sea.

    When autumn comes chasing,

    water can be a…..

                Cloud fluffer

                Fire snuffer

                School drink-er

                Bruise shrinker

                Salmon highway

                Eagle flyaway

    The text is divided by the seasons. The descriptions and actions are varied and playful. The variety of text can easily lead to giving each student a "part" for the dance.

    In the back of the book, the author provides "more about water," detailing scientific facts about each concept touched upon in the book.

    Water Can Be… will provide rich connections between science and dance — exploring the movement and action of water in our world.

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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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  • 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. 

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  • This is the Rain

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    I love the theme of water and have explored it in many ways over the past 16 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. 

    *Also, please note, I added the category of "water" in the column to the right here. There are numerous books on the theme to explore in elementary dance classes.

  • A Leaf Can Be…..

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    The 2012 picture book A Leaf Can Be…, by Laura Purdie Salas and illustrator Violeta Dabija, is a great springboard for a dance with students in K-3 classes. 

    The rhyming text explores the many actions of leaves on and off of trees depending on the time of year – tree topper, rain stopper, shade spiller, mouth filler….pile grower, hill glow-er, ground warmer, nest former…"

    Whether you choose to use the actual text or to have your students write their own ideas about what a leaf can be, the action words can inspire a rich movement exploration about what leaves do, how they relate to other creatures in the world, and more. 

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  • A Butterfly is Patient

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    If you are unfamiliar with the various books by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long, I encourage you to check them out at your local library! Today I want to highlight A Butterfly is Patient.

    This book is filled with Long's gorgeous artwork about butterflies. The text includes both large print sentences on each spread and then several sentences of more detailed text. Use the large print to inspire your dance:

    A butterfly is patient.

    A butterfly is creative.

    A butterfly is helpful.

    A butterfly is protective.

    This book will be a great springboard for students in preschool-2nd grade. 

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  • Our Seasons

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    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.