When you and your students explore the letter U, these books can be springboards and inspiration for improvisation and dance projects.
Up and Under
I am always on the lookout for picture books with prepositions. Prepositions are so fun to explore in movement with students in preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grades. You can explore relationships - over, under, around, and through - whether it is students dancing with a prop (hula hoop), students dancing together, or using imagery to inspire movement (ex. crawling through a tunnel).
Tana Hoban's classic picture book Over, Under, and Through is a great starting off point. Up, Down, and Around (Katherine Ayres and illustrator Nadine Bernard Westcott) is also a great exploration of prepositions as well as plants.
You might play with different parts, dividing the class into two to explore the "above ground" and "under the ground" ideas (such as in Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner).
- Over, Under, and Through - Tana Hoban
- Rosie's Walk - Pat Hutchins
- Star Climbing - Lou Fancher, with paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
- We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
- Over and Under in the Snow - Kate Messner, with art by Christopher Silas Neal
- Up, Down, and Around - Katherine Ayres, with art Nadine Bernard Westcott
Underground
Many of Denise Fleming's picture books are fun to use in dance classes - full of action words and animal inspiration. Her latest book, Underground, is a wonderful new addition.
I have a small collection of books about plants and animals underground. This theme is fun to explore in preschool and kindergarten dance classes.
Use Fleming's new book to inspire improvisation activities or a group dance. This picture includes numerous animals and creatures that go underground - digging, tunneling, and burrowing.
Upside Down
"Silly Sally went to town, walking backwards, upside down." So begins this playful picture book by well-known children's author Audrey Wood. The main character encounters different animals, and does a certain action with each one (a jig with a pig and leapfrog with a dog).
Use the book as a starting to point to explore many ways of moving backwards and upside down (or the concept of "direction" in general).
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