Dancing Words Blog

This is the Rain

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.

Exploring Pathways with K-3 Students

I asked several colleagues for their favorite picture books on pathways, and all of us were somewhat stumped on this subject area. To date, there are still few books to be used as springboards when exploring lines and pathways with elementary age students. 

Today, I want to highlight the four we came up with. Clearly, there is room for more books on this theme! I recommend checking them out of your local library and purchasing used copies online. My top pick from the list is Little Green.

1. Little Green by Keith Baker (get regular copy, not board book version)

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, zig zag 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

Repost: Flora and the Flamingo (Now a Caldecott Honor Book!)

The folks at Chronicle Books (one of my favorite book publishers) have released another playful picture book to inspire young ones to dance. 

Flora and the Flamingo, by Molly Idle, is a wordless picture book with two characters - a young girl and a flamingo. Both wear their "pink costumes," ready for dancing.

The story is a playful dialogue of a friendship forming. In movement terms, it is a fun way to introduce the ideas of follow the leader, mirroring, and call and response with students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade.

Share this book within a creative dance or pre-ballet class, or purchase it for your your one who loves to dance. The beauty of wordless books is that they encourage us to ask the kids, "What is happening here? What's the story? What do you think?"

Check out the Chronicle Books website for two reasons.

1. There is a "book trailer" that shows you all of the pages of the book. It is set to the classical piece, "By the Beautiful Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss II. Watching this trailer inspired me to want to use this particular piece of music when using this book.

2. Also, orders over $25 receive free shipping this week. (Chronicle publishes lots of inspiring books for dance classes, including the new book on Josephine Baker, Josephine.)

Flora and the Flamingo will lead to multiple movement possibilities. What a great way to start doing work in pairs/duets with young ones. One dancer can be the role of Flora, and one dancer can be the role of the flamingo. I also love the use of color in the book, and it inspires me to want to bring in large pieces of pink fabric with the kids as well. (Pink tulle is very inexpensive, and then you can give each student a yard of fabric.) Pick out several of the images and ask the students to make the same shapes in their bodies ("see and do").

Have fun and play!