Sunflower Poem and Dance Story for Young Children

                                           HELLO, FALL!    

    

My September post is a lively movement activity that celebrates autumn. The sunflower is one of my favorite flowers, and it provides the inspiration for this poem/riddle and a movement exploration.

 

            THE SUNFLOWER

        A Dance Activity for Young Children

To begin the activity, read the poem* below out loud, and ask the children to try to guess the answer. 

(*I wrote this poem as an entry in the Fall Writing Frenzy) 

             WHAT AM I?

I started as a little seed, 

Dark grey and very small.

And now that I am all grown up,

I’m over six feet tall!

The petals on my flower face,

Surround me like a crown.

I come in many hues and shades, 

Of yellow, red, and brown.

I start the day by looking east,

To greet the morning sun.

I follow it and face the west,

When summer’s day is done.

Some birds just love to eat my seeds, 

And people like them too.

I think you know my name by now, 

For each line is a clue!

SUNFLOWER DANCE STORY

Prepare: Children start this activity curled up on the floor and then respond with movement as you call out each line. Give them plenty of time between each prompt so that they can fulfill their movement ideas.

Optional: Quiet instrumental music in the background.

Begin the activity:

I’m a tiny, tiny seed.

A child planted me on a warm spring day.

I’m tucked down deep in the dark, rich soil.

Now it’s time to begin to grow.

I gently push against the sides of the seed shell.

I begin to sprout and reach through the soil.

Now I can see the blue summer sky.

I feel the warm sun and the cool rain.

I’m growing taller every day.

I’m starting to become a flower.

My petals surround my face like little flames.

I open my bright golden face to the sun.

I follow the sun as it moves through the sky each day.

All summer, bees and butterflies come to drink my nectar.

My heavy sunflower head begins to droop and nod.

Fall is here and my leaves are fading.

Birds like to eat my seeds.

The morning frost causes me to droop even more.

Winter is coming and I slowly fall to the ground.

The cold wind blows. 

My seeds scatter.

Snowflakes fall and cover the seeds.

I wait until springtime to sprout again.

Expand the Activity:

Use this same format for dancing about other types of plants, and other nature themes, such as the metamorphosis of a tadpole to a frog, and a caterpillar to a butterfly. 

Keep on Dancing, 

Connie

MOVING IS LEARNING!

                                    

                        

Connie Leads a Thirty-Minute Romp Through the Alphabet!

Hello!

I was invited by Kids & Company, of Toronto, Canada, to lead a thirty-minute video movement session for young children in May. Kids & Company requested a presentation that would get children up and moving while spending more time indoors during the Covid quarantine. 

I thought it would be fun to create a short activity for each letter of the alphabet. I devised 26 movement prompts that children and families can do together. This creative movement session will definitely use a lot of that great kid energy!

Click here to view the presentation:

DANCE THE ALPHABET!

Keep on Dancing, Everyone!

Connie

www.movingislearning.com

MOVING IS LEARNING!

Video Dance Party for Preschoolers

Hello!

Can you swim like a little fish?  Let's all try it now!

I hope everyone is staying safe during this unsettling time. Here is a fun activity that you can do at home, and you can also invite people to dance and sing with you, each using your own computers.  

I recently wrote a guest blog post for Redleaf Press entitled Video Call Dance Party:  Dancing, Singing and Learning Together! Stay connected with friends and family with a virtual dance party, and have a fun learning experience at the same time. There are lots of opportunities for children to practice large motor skills, contribute ideas, and use their imaginations.

Here is the link to the Redleaf Press blog: Video Call Dance Party: Dancing, Singing, and Learning Together!

The kids go jumping all around, let's go, let's go!

The kids go marching all around let's go, let's go!

And they all fall slowly down, to the ground, it's the end, 1 ... 2 ... 3!

Be safe, and keep on dancin'!

Connie

MOVING IS LEARNING!

Halloween movement ideas, a dance story, and a short Halloween story!

Hello and Happy Fall,

Here is a playful movement lesson plan based on the classic picture book Barn Dance! by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, along with a Halloween-based warm-up and a very short original story!

Halloween Warm Up and the

Barn Dance! Dance Story

WARM UP

The children will make up movements for the Halloween characters below. Ask them to stand in a circle. Begin with "Bat,"  ask the children to move away from the circle like a bat, and then back to their spots in the circle. Continue this same exercise through the list:

Bat

Scarecrow

Rolling Pumpkin

Robot

Black Cat

Falling Leaf

Outer Space Alien
Spider

Take suggestions from the children for more ideas, and continue this activity as long as the children are engaged.

 BARN DANCE! DANCE STORY

*A special thank-you to Kathleen Smith, fellow creative dance teacher, who introduced the ideas for this lesson plan to me.*

Materials:  

• The book Barn Dance! by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
• Lively musical selections, such as a classical piece, and blue grass instrumentals
• Optional props (1 per child): 
• Sparkly/swirly streamers (crepe paper or fabric)
• Bandannas
• Orange paper plates

Instructions for presenting the dance story:

Read the book aloud to the children. Ask the children to spread out in the space.

Retell the story through movement, using the following movement prompts. Allow the children to explore each one until you move on to the next one.

It is a very quiet, clear night. Lie down and listen to the night sounds. Now wake up, stretch, tiptoe to the window, and sneak outside.  (Note:  remind the children this is a pretend story, and they should never sneak out of the house!)

Now let's dance about the night: the sparkly stars, the floating clouds, and the wind!  (play classical music selection, and pass out swirly streamers if you have them)

Listen!  The scarecrow is calling all of the animals with his music. How does a scarecrow move? Let’s move like the scarecrow. Can you play a pretend fiddle, like the scarecrow?

Now move like the animals who were following the scarecrow to the barn!  There were horses, sheep, cows, pigs, raccoons, foxes, rabbits, chickens, skunks, and crows!  (play a bluegrass piece)  

Help the children put on bandannas, give everyone a "pumpkin" paper plate, and instruct the children to go to a corner of the room to hide (like the little boy in the story), asking the children to cover their faces with their paper plates. One by one, call the children's names. When you call a name, instruct the child to put her "pumpkin" down, run and jump over the apple barrel, and go back to her hiding place.  

Now ask them to all come out together and spin around like the pigs (play another bluegrass piece). Finish this section by asking each child to make a shape like a dizzy pig, and turn off the music.

Now grab a pretend apple!  It's time to go home! Do you hear the rooster crowing? That means the sun is coming up.

Walk quietly up the stairs, and sit on your bed. Take a bite out of your "apple." Was it a dream, or did the barn dance really happen?

And now, for a short (97 words!) Halloweensie story:

                     

             

                Prelude

Oh my deary, time to get ready.

What shall I wear to the Hallow’s Eve Ball?

My crookedy hat,

my raggedy gown, 

my tappity boots

for my clackity dance. 

My face will be painted a ghastly green,

with lumpity warts on full display. 

My scraggledy “do” I’ll primp and prime, 

with cobwebs twisted and tangled and tied.

And what shall I bring?

My cleverest spells, 

my gnarliest broom,

my trickedy, terrible, powerful wand.

The finishing touch:

My stinkedy, horrible potion perfume.

A little dab here, a little glop there, 

and I’ll be the smelliest of them all!

"Bird Count" Picture Book, With a READ AND DANCE Lesson Plan

GREETINGS!

For this blog post, I am introducing a beautiful new picture book by Susan Edwards Richmond, with gorgeous illustrations by Stephanie Fizer Coleman, and published by Peachtree Publishing Company, Inc.

        This book will be released on October 5, 2019!




Here is a 
READ AND DANCE lesson plan to present to young children, to enrich and enhance the enjoyment of this book! This lesson is a collaboration between Susan and myself; I developed some movement prompts based on her book, and she created this full lesson plan around my movement ideas, tying it to arts and early literacy standards. She includes materials needed, explanation of how to present it, accommodations for children with special needs, and an idea for expanding this activity into an informal performance for parents and friends. 

You will find this plan, and many more imaginative ideas for preschool through fifth grade, on Susan's website. Some of the resources she has developed for a unit on birds and bird watching include linking the book to technology and math, art and music, social studies and geography, Next Generation Science Standards, and so much more! 

Link to Susan Edwards Richmond's website

READ AND DANCE!

 Susan Edwards Richmond's Bird Count Activity Plan: 

Moving Like a Bird 

Description and Goals
Children will use movement to retell the story of Bird Count, by creating a dance that incorporates their interpretations of different birds described in the book. This activity offers children an alternative method of storytelling through a kinesthetic learning experience.
Developmental Areas and Skills: Creative and Physical Domains

Curriculum Standards and Guidelines
Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences (MA Department of Education):

Guiding Preschool Learning in the Arts: Movement and Dance: 6. Act out ways that movement
and dance can show feelings or convey meaning.

       Common Core English Language Arts Standards

Reading Literature #2: Key Ideas and Details
Reading Literature #7: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas Speaking & Listening #2: Comprehension and Collaboration

       Objectives

      Children will use their bodies to act out the movements of       birds in the story.

          Children will work cooperatively to create a dance based on their creative ideas.

• 
  
• Materials
• 
  
• Bird Count by Susan Edwards Richmond, illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman. 

• Music and a method to play it, such as a CD player.
• 
  
•  An open space in the classroom or outdoors.
  
  
• 
  
• Introduction
  
  
• Read or review Bird Count by Susan Edwards Richmond, illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman. Ask children if they can think of other ways to tell the story without using words. Tell them that, today, they are going to recreate the story using movement, or dance.
  
  
• Procedure
• 
  
• 1. Introduce Activity (above)
• 
  
• 2. Show children the illustrations of each bird in the story, one at a time.

            For each bird, ask: How might this bird move?

       3. Give movement prompts, and incorporate children’s ideas. Here are some examples:

•  Canada goose: Can you fly like a Canada goose? They are very strong fliers. Flap your wings as you sail through the sky. Now land in Curcurbit Farm’s fields, just like in the story.

  

  Fly like a Canada goose!

• 
  
•  Downy woodpecker: Fly like a woodpecker, and land in a tall tree. Use your long beak to peck and find insects.
• 
  
•  Duck: Imagine you are swimming like the mallards in the pond, and turn upside down with your bottom sticking up! Now dive like a merganser.
• 
  
• Great blue heron: Stretch your long neck looking for fish. You see one! Try to catch it.

Turn upside down like a mallard!

• 
  
• 4. Once you have explored movement with all of the birds in the story, play some lively music and ask the children to dance freely about pretending to be all of the birds in the book.
• 
  
• 5.  Optional: If children are interested, have them choose which birds they’d like to be.Then retell the story, asking each one to perform when they are introduced in the text.

Conclusion

Wrap up the activity when interest wanes or the activity begins to stray. Ask children if they would like to perform their dance for their families. If so, tell them you will revisit the activity at a later time to practice and prepare. If there is interest, you may wish to add an art component by encouraging children to create costumes or sets.

Accommodations

This activity provides children with challenges expressing themselves verbally an alternative method of expression. Allow children to participate using whatever kinds of movement they are comfortable with. Children who use a wheelchair can use their arms to imitate birds or maneuver the wheelchair in ways that imitate bird movement. Give children who may need additional focus a job to do, such as helping to display the book pages, or leading particular movements.

Evaluation
The activity will be successful if the children engage in movement that represents different birds in the story. Other measures of success are if the children are able to incorporate some of their own original ideas into their movements and if they can cooperate with others in performing a class dance!

Family/Community Engagement
Present the dance at a community celebration or special event. Or record the dance and share it in a weekly newsletter or on a class website.




Keep on dancin',


Connie

Moving Is Learning!