Category: Uncategorized

I am in full planning and brainstorming mode for the fall. In the coming weeks, I will run two different series on the blog. The first series is the theme of Magic and Whimsy. I have about a dozen books to share – beautiful stories and images to use this fall for longer term projects. The second series is the theme of Poetry. I will highlight some of my favorites to use within dance classes.

I will also touch upon the classic themes of the seasons, autumn, leaves, and Halloween in the coming months.

The blog will also explore book options for middle school students, which are harder to find and less common.

Last, we will explore "embodying landscapes" – using books about geography, cities, neighborhoods, buildings, and public sculptures and landmarks.

Stay tuned, and subscribe to the blog's feed to receive all of the blog posts.

Dear Blog Readers,

As we prepare for summer and teaching classes and camps, I welcome your suggestions and questions. What are your themes for summer? I will gladly make the postings in June and July to share ideas around these themes. 

Email ideas to jillhrandall@sbcglobal.net (h in the middle).

Sincerely,

Jill 

I am working right now with the fabulous librarians at my school, to help celebrate National Dance Week in the library. National Dance Week kicks off on Friday, April 20th. They are pulling all dance books for the upcoming book display and classes next week.

National Dance Week is a perfect time to celebrate, discuss, and read about dance and dancers. Find out more at http://www.nationaldanceweek.org/ or in the SF Bay Area, http://bayareandw.org/

Let's celebrate together!

As we start thinking about the new school year, I am going to create a few lists. These lists will be of my top 12 books for various age groups: preschoolers, K-2 students, and 3rd-5th grade students. I hope that these lists will be of use with librarians, classroom teachers, preschool directors, preschool teachers, and dance teaching artists as you place orders for the coming school year.

Stay tuned!

I was just visiting my husband's hometown of Sherborn, Massachusetts. We stopped by the local library to gather a stack of books for our two children to enjoy on our trip.

As you enter the children's section of the library, they have several "book bags." There is a sign attached to each bag – trains, trucks, etc. What a great idea – gathering books together of commonly loved children's themes for families to peruse and check out.

Librarians, I encourage you to try this fun idea too at your site, and please include a dance  book bag!

*This tote bag is from Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, California.

I would like to highlight four books that can be used as springboards in dance classes.

Eric Carle’s book From Head to Toe is a simple story that easily translates into a warm up exercise in a preschool class. As you read along, you and your students can wiggle, stretch, and bend. I like using this as a first activity in a class.

Denise Fleming’s In the Tall, Tall Grass and In the Small, Small Pond are full of actions. You can read aloud as you ask your students to improvise around your classroom. I would recommend these books for students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade.

Last, Audrey Wood’s Quick as a Cricket can be read with students in preschool through 2^nd grade. Using the entire book for a movement exploration might be too much, but using the text from one-third to one-half of the book could lead to a nice exploration of tempos, emotions, and more. (Teaching tip = if not reading the entire book, simply mark pages with post-it notes for quick access.)

To me, the beauty of animal books is the rich action words (dart, dip, slip, slide, swoop, and glide). If your students are excited and curious about animals, this is a great hook into your dance classes. You do not have to have the students imitating the animals; let the language and images lead the way to movement possibilities.

I first met Gigi Arrington in 1997 when I was teaching at her daughters' elementary school in Salt Lake City. Gigi has been the Educator Director for the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company for many years. That year, she created a dance with her daughter's third grade class based on the story of Sadako and the thousand paper cranes. I believe it was based on the book Sadako by Eleanor Coerr and Ed Young. Fourteen years later, this dance sticks with me – its story and the beauty and elegance of seeing young people dance this tale.

I invited Gigi to write a post here on books in her dance classes over the years:

I've used many books in my 34 years of teaching dance to children. My teaching mentor was Dee Winterton who was a master of inspiring children to move.  I watched him teach two books — Giant John and Where the Wild Things Are and those experiences helped set my own teaching philosophy. Where the Wild Things Are is my favorite children's book to use in teaching. I learned something quickly when using books to teach dance; just because it says "dance" in the title doesn't mean it is a good book to use to teach dance. Dee taught me to look for a book with movement potential —words that generate and inspire children to explore with their bodies. I love challenging children to show me what "mischief" looks like in their eyes, their fingers, their elbows, their knees. How does mischief move? Max goes through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost a year–great space words for children to experience through movement. And who wouldn't want to roar and gnash and roll? And finally–THE WILD RUMPUS!! The pictures for the rumpus are the inspiration; not a word is needed. I love this book. I think it is important for children to know that being "wild" is part of growing up; and that you are still loved after you make mistakes . . . "he found his supper waiting for him  and it was still hot!"

This title is of a recent article in the May/June 2011 Horn Book Magazine. The article is written by publisher Allyn Johnston and author/illustrator Marla Frazee. (Marla is one of my favorites, including her magical illustrations for All the World). I encourage parents, classroom teachers, and dance teaching artists to take 5 minutes to read this article. In the age of digital, animation, and tons of "screen time," there is still so much value and richness in reading aloud beautiful picture books. 

Why We're Still in Love with Picture Books

Welcome to my new blog. One of my niches within dance education is my running list of book resources for dance teaching artists, librarians, classroom teachers, students, and parents. This blog will share recent book finds and recommendations. I will also post where you can purchase the book. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I will note which public libraries have the book. Please join me!