May 19, 2015

The Animal Boogie

 Title: The Animal Boogie
Fred Penner (Author)
Debbie Harter (Illustrator)

Arts Modality: Creative Movement


Materials: The Animal Boogie
optional toy binoculars OR toilet-paper tube binoculars

We're going down in the jungle. 
Come if you dare.




"What can you see swinging through the trees?"
"What can you see stomping its feet?"
"What can you see flying in the sky?"


To extend the movement opportunities, also consider these ideas:

Dance a pattern.

He goes flap, flap, boogie, woogie, oogie.
Flap, flap, boogie, woogie, oogie!
Flap, flap, boogie, woogie, oogie!
That's the way he's flying in the sky!"

Dance with a partner.

Dance in an ensemble.

January 28, 2015

The Gruffalo

Title: The Gruffalo
Julia Donaldson (Author)
Axel Scheffler (Illustrator)

Comprehension Strategies: Visualizing, Inferring
Arts Modalities: Visual Art, Drama


The Gruffalo
chart with picture of gruffalo (covered for beginning of lesson)
crayons or markers
character masks (optional)


Activate schema by asking questions such as:
“What animals live in the forest?”

Discuss the words predator and prey.






You can also listen to the song with this youtube link:


Read the entire book from start to finish!



We went out to the "deep, dark wood!"



January 20, 2015

Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball

Title: Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball
Vicki Churchill (Author)
Charles Fuge (Illustrator)

Arts Modality: creative movement

Reading Strategies: inferring, making connections


Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball

Do you ever feel like curling up in a ball? Or maybe jumping as high as you can? Either way, you and your little listeners are sure to connect with the feelings of the toddler-like wombat in Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball

In this charmingly illustrated book, the wombat and his woodland friends spend the day doing some of their favorite things, such as jumping, walking around, falling down, and just standing still. Along with all the romping and rolling, there's rhyming as well. The simple rhyming phrases are easy for little ones to listen to, repeat, and understand. In much the same way, the simple movements are easy for young movers to watch, mimic, and enjoy.

Begin your story time by simply asking the children, "Have you ever wanted to curl up in a ball?" Go ahead. Let them wrap their arms around their legs and curl up into balls. Next explore the feelings that would make someone want to curl up so small that no one could see him or her, like the combat wants to do in the beginning of the book.

Continue this exploration of emotions with a picture walk through the book. Invite the children to look carefully at the wombat's facial expressions on each spread. Also consider the expressions of his companions. What feelings and situations would make them want to move the different ways they move in the book?

After you've used the illustrations to infer the animal's feelings, invite listeners to connect to the text through movement. Help the children find their own spaces. As you read each rhyming phrase, allow the children to copy the wombat's actions. Help them describe his movements. Where are his arms? Do his legs go in the same direction every time? When is his body up high? When is it down low?


As you read, children can:
  • Curl up in a ball
  • Jump high
  • Walk round and round
  • Fall down
  • Stand still
  • Make funny faces
  • “Play” in mud
  • Run fast
  • Curl up in a ball and “sleep”

If you feel like reading another book that connects emotions with movements, try Sometimes I Feel Like a Mouse: A Book about Feelings by Jeanne Modessitt and Robin Spowart. Another good pairing is with Quick as a Cricket by Audrey and Don Wood.

June 14, 2014

Lines that Wiggle

Title: Lines that Wiggle
Candace Whitman (Author)
Steve Wilson (Illustrator)

Comprehension Strategy: Synthesizing
Art Modality: Creative Movement


Materials: Lines that Wiggle
streamers, colorful scarves or fabric ribbons
painter's masking tape


For a sneak peek inside, visit the publisher's site here.


Wiggle Number One:

Wiggle Number Two:

Wiggle Number Three:






April 23, 2014

Tap the Magic Tree

Title: Tap the Magic Tree
 Christie Matheson (Author & Illustrator)

Comprehension Strategy: Questioning                       
Art Modality: Creative Movement


Tap the Magic Tree
felt: red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, pink and two different colors of green

Begin your lesson by focusing on students’ background knowledge. If possible provide a collection of photographs of trees in all seasons. You might collect these photos from calendars, Google images, or photography books. A walk outside to look at trees would be a nice beginning to discussing how trees change during the seasons.

After asking, “What do we already know about how trees change?”, begin to ask questions about Tap the Magic Tree. How are the branches on the cover different? Why are the branches different? What causes the branches to change? What will happen if we tap the tree? Is it really magic?

After reading the book, ask, "How do the heat of the sun and the movement of the wind affect the tree?” To explore these ideas through creative movement, pair the students. Explain that one student will be the tree. The other student will be the wind and the sun. As you reread the text, invite the sun/wind partner to move around the tree. This student will pretend to tap, jiggle and rub the tree to create a collaborative dance.
For example, when you read, “Now blow a whooshing breeze...” the wind partner might wave his arms toward the tree. When you read “Rub the tree to make it warm...”, ask the tree partner to explore how she might move her hands to represent the leaves and flowers as they bloom.

Art Extension:
To create a tactile center for creating art similar to the text’s illustrations, you’ll need red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, pink and two different colors of green felt. Duplicate the bare tree at the beginning of the story onto card stock. Cut simple leaves, blossoms, apples and snowflakes out of the felt to match the colors and sizes in the story. To use the center, a child taps and claps and wiggles his fingers to change the magic tree. As he is arranging the felt pieces on the tree, he will also have the opportunity to practice his sequencing and story retelling.

To get a peek at how delightfully interactive this book can be, watch the trailer:

You can also peek inside the book here: 

An activity guide with Common Core State Standards is also available: 

April 3, 2014

Giraffes Can't Dance

Title: Giraffes Can’t Dance
Giles Andrae (Author)
Guy Parker-Rees (Illustrator)

Comprehension Strategy: Making Connections                     
Art Modality: Drama, Creative Movement

Meet Gerald, the humble and inspiring giraffe in Giraffes Can’t Dance, written by Giles Andrae and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees. Gerald is tall and slim and a really bad dancer. Other animals show up at the Jungle Dance to skip and prance. In fact, the warthogs waltz, the rhinos rock and roll, the lions dance a tango, the chimps do a cha-cha and the baboons even spin a Scottish reel. Feeling useless and lonely, Gerald leaves the dance. Just in time, a cricket gives him a wonderful piece of advice: “...sometimes when you’re different you just need a different song.”  Gerald finds his boogie, and his dance is like a dream. The moral of the story? “We all can dance...when we find music that we love.”

Giraffes Can’t Dance

We know that good readers ask questions before, during and after a story. With this lesson, good readers will be guided to making connections before, during and after a story.

Begin by asking, “Have you ever tried to do something and you didn’t think you were very good at it?” The story I tell my kids is actually about dancing. When I took my movement class during my Integrated Arts program, I was very nervous. I didn’t think I’d be able learn the steps fast enough and I already knew I wasn’t very coordinated.

Read aloud Giraffes Can’t Dance. There is also an animated version you can enjoy: 

After the read aloud, use these ideas to practice making connections through movement.
Travel through the story from Gerald’s perspective:

How does it feel to be tall and slim? Stretch your neck to eat the leaves.

Try to run around, but buckle at the knees. What are your feelings when you fall?

Slowly walk onto the dance floor. Freeze. How does your body look when you feel useless?

Creep away. How do you move when you are sad and lonely?

Find your own space where you can look up at the moon. 

Shuffle your hooves in circles on the ground. Gently sway from the neck. Swish your tail.

Throw your arms out sideways! Leap into the air!

Twirl and finish with a bow.

Just for fun, try out some dance movements inspired by the other animals. Your students’ will probably not be familiar with this dance lingo, so be sure to use the illustrations to increase their understanding of the new vocabulary.

Waltz like the warthogs.
Rock and roll like the rhinos.
Get a partner and do a bold and elegant tango like the lions.
Do a cha-cha like the chimps.

Now for making connections after the story. Again, I tell my kids that in my class, I learned to enjoy moving in my own way—even if it was a little bit fun and funky. When we acted out this story, guess who played the part of Gerald? (I’m not sharing pictures of this part!) Ask, “What special skills or talents do you have? What is something you didn’t think you were good at but you now you have fun doing it anyway?”

Need more Gerald?
Visit Deep Space Sparkle for a step-by-step art lesson.

I jumped for joy when I recently found this new Gerald book…