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As we are planning for the coming school year, let's explore the theme of wind.

There are numerous books to explore the concept, to inspire students to move "like the wind" – exploring the qualities of lightness and strong force, fast and slow,and over/under/towards/away. In your classes your students can explore being the wind or being moved by the wind.

While You Were Chasing a Hat by Lilian Moore can be an easy introduction to the concept of wind and all that it moves in our world. Students in preschool and kindergarten will identify with the text, and the text can inspire a simple improvisation of being moved "by the wind."

When the Wind Bears Go Dancing by Phoebe Stone is a playful book about the "wind bears in the sky." Again, children ages 4-7 will delight in hearing this story and creating a dance with you in class as you become the magical bears in the sky that make things move.

For students in K-2, there are two books with poetic text that could lead to beautiful group dances with a windy theme. I recommend both Where Does the Wind Blow? (Cindy Rink) and Like a Windy Day (Frank Asch and Devin Asch).

Wind can be a beautiful theme to explore along side, or instead of, your usual theme of the season of fall and leaves. 

Today I would like to highlight two playful picture books for young ones in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. These books are fun for parents, librarians, and teachers to share with students.

The theme is dancing at home. Kitchen Dance by Maurie J. Manning is a story of a mom and dad dancing in their kitchen. Their two young children hear sounds from their room, and sneak out to find their parents joyfully dancing together in the kitchen one night. In the end, all four of them are dancing.

Dancin' in the Kitchen (Wendy Gelsanliter and Frank Christian) is also a whimsical tale of a family cooking, dancing, and celebrating together. Marjorie Priceman's illustrations are one of the highlights of this picture book. 

These are great books to share with young kids who simply love dancing informally at home.

Both books can be found used on amazon.com.

"Lines that wiggle…..lines that bend….wavy lines, from end to end."

These are the first few lines from Candace Whitman's playful picture book. The book is poetically written, and the text can be your "script" for a dance with many sections for students in grade 1, 2, and 3. Use the book to explore lines and pathways.

Have fun!

While vacationing on the big island of Hawaii, we like to stop into the library to load up on books for my two young sons. Of course, I couldn't resist checking out their dance collection while there.

I found a book on tap dancing that I would like to share with you today. Tap is an amazing percussive dance form, and there are few books on the form. Tap by Lisa Dillman is part of the "Get Going! Hobbies" series that Heinemann publishes. This informative book is ideal for school libraries and is geared towards students in 2nd-5th grades. 

The text includes history, alignment and balance, safety tips, and how to produce "single sounds" and "multiple sounds." Throughout the book there are great photos of famous tappers over the years – Sammy Davis Jr., Fred Astaire, and Gregory Hines. (Photos of some more female tap dancers would have balanced out the book more….)

For lovers of tap, I would also recommend the joyful picture book about Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles – Think of That!. There is also the autobiography of Savion Glover, Savion!: My Life in Tap. 

Today I would like to share two books that work nicely with a prop – ribbons. 

I have done these lessons with students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grades. My students have always loved lessons with props – ribbons, hula hoops, fabric, elastic loops, and such.

A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman is an older book, but still holds its magic. I first heard of this book while co-facilitating a workshop many years ago with Carol Flanagan at Saint Mary's College. In the story, a little boy imagines playing with a rainbow. In my preschool classes, I have first read this book, and then provided the students with silk ribbons in rainbow colors, about 1.5 yards long. (I purchased this beautiful ribbon at Stonemountain and Daughter in Berkeley, CA. You can also purchase individual ribbons on sticks through many catalogues, including Nova Natural.) With the students, they can improvise and play with the rainbows or you can create a dance together as a class – deciding how the rainbow moves (over, under, around, through, etc).

The Squiggle by author Carole Lexa Schaefer and illustrator Pierr Morgan is also a playful book to inspire ribbon dances. In the squiggle, a red string/ribbon becomes many things in a child's imagination. I love to read this to students and then create a dance together, where each student contributes one idea for the dance. Our red ribbons can be snakes, ocean waves, rainbows, and much more. I have used a variety of red ribbons over the years, but in particular love organdy ribbon. I purchased mine at Stonemountain and Daughter in Berkeley,CA, and here is a link to purchase some on the internet.