literacy for little people: literacy connections and ... web viewthe track “literacy for...

Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making Meaning

Presented by Deborah Adero Ferguson

at theMississippi Arts Commission

2010 Whole Schools Summer Institute“Bringing Heritage Home”

Mississippi State University – Riley CenterMeridian, Mississippi

July 18 – 22, 2010

©2010

Deborah Adero Ferguson –

The track “Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making Meaning” has been developed from the VSA arts: Early Childhood Educational Program Start with the Arts model. Literacy for Little People is an instructional resource for early childhood and special education teachers that uniquely combines literacy, family involvement and strategies for integrating the arts – visual arts, drama and creative dramatics, dance and movement, and music – into all curriculum areas. Using the language and vocabulary found within children’s stories participants will go through the process of creating a literacy collage and mural of original poetry and visual art images that will inspire the development of improvised creative movement, drama and music activities. The “All About Me” and “The World Around Me” units presented in the track will allow participants the opportunity to examine aspects of their physical and emotional selves and the surrounding world. These arts encounters will translate into curriculum lessons of language arts, reading, science, math, social studies and character development. Although developed for young children the lessons can be easily adapted for older students. The focus is early childhood education, because these are the formative years when establishing literacy and a love for learning is crucial. There is also the underlying premise that all children can learn and, regardless of ability and age, should be treated with dignity and respect. This unit is designed to provide lessons that give children of all abilities opportunities to participate successfully in the arts and classroom learning. The lessons focus on what children can do, rather than on what children can not do and provides educators with ideas for modifying the environment, adapting materials and developing appropriate teaching strategies with a focus on literacy.


Presenter background

DEBORAH ADERO FERGUSON THE DANCING STORY LADY

15274 Daugherty RoadFOLEY, ALABAMA 36535

(251) 970-2188Email: [email protected]

Website: www.SouthernArtistry.org_deborahferguson

Deborah Adero Ferguson, the Dancing Story Lady, is a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a professional actress, dancer, storyteller and arts educator with over twenty five years of experience in the performing arts.

She has studied traditional dance, storytelling and music in the African countries of Kenya, Senegal, Gambia and the Ivory Coast through grants awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts. She has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C.; the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee; the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia; the National Black Storytelling Festivals and at schools, universities, theatres and festivals nationwide. She is also a writer and playwright and the national artistic director of the Nubian Theatre Company based in Memphis, Tennessee. She has received numerous writing awards and her poetry, short stories have been published nationally. “These People Can Fly” Ferguson’s original adaptation of Virginia Hamilton’s award-winning story was produced by the University of California Theatre Arts Department in conjunction with the African American Theatre Arts Troupe with a run in Santa Cruz and Seaside during the months of February and March, 2010.

An arts educator for two decades, Deborah Ferguson has worked with students of all ages and abilities through arts in education programs with the state arts councils of Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Illinois and Kentucky. She has an impressive track record as a trainer for teachers and administrators in developing arts based and arts integrated curriculums. She is on the faculties of the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Whole Schools Summer Institute and is a teaching and touring artist for the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts

Deborah Ferguson holds a Bachelors Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and Masters Degree in English: Creative Writing from the University of South Alabama. She is currently an English teacher at the University of South Alabama. A grandmother, she lives with her husband, Joseph, in Foley, Alabama.



UNIT: Music and Language Arts

ALL ABOUT MENAME CHANT POETRY

Target Grades: Pre-K, K-3, Sp. Ed

Materials needed: a few percussion instruments (optional), construction paper, pencils, crayons. Books that contain a child’s name: A, My Name is Alice by Jane Bayer, I See Rhythm by Toyomi Igus, Odd Velvet by Mary E. Whitcomb, There’s an Ant in Anthony by Bernard Most, You Can Call Me Willy: A Story for Children About Aids by Joan C. Verneiro. Books that contain children’s poems: A Kick in the Head, An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms by Paul B. Janeszko, and a Children’s Dictionary.

Mississippi Language Arts Competencies and Objectives:

1. The student will apply strategies and skills to comprehend, respond to, interpret, or

evaluate a variety of texts of increasing levels of length, difficulty, and complexity.

a. The student will understand and make simple inferences about text. (DOK 2)

b. The student will respond to narrative and informational texts in a variety of ways that

reflect understanding and interpretation. (DOK 2)

Access points for Students with Cognitive Disabilities: Independent: student will identify pictures and symbols that provide information; Supported: student will identify pictures or objects that provide information; Participatory: student will respond to familiar persons and routines

2. The student will express, communicate, evaluate, or exchange ideas effectively. a. The student will compose a description of a person, place, or thing. Access points for Students with Cognitive Disabilities:

Independent: student will prewrite by identifying familiar persons, objects, or events to generate ideas for pictures that tell a story.

Supported: student will prewrite by selecting familiar persons or objects to generate ideas for a picture that tells a story.


Participatory: student will associate wants and needs with a familiar person or object (e.g. indicate awareness of familiar person, objects, or routines).

Mississippi Music BenchmarksGoal 5: Students should make valid connections among the arts, other subject areas, and everyday life.Content Strand: Connections (C)

Benchmark: Recognize connections between music, the other arts, and other subject areas

Learning Objectives:

Recognize one’s name as being unique and special. Identify name in writing. Build vocabulary related to rhythm and pattern in music. Demonstrate tapping to a strong rhythmic beat. Create a rhythmic pattern using one’s name. Create a poem using syllables/beats of one’s name

Preparation: Display children’s names throughout the classroom on desks, tables, the chalkboard, storage bins, coat racks, etc.

Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign language for “name”, and use it throughout activity.

For children who are deaf or have auditory challenges: Face children and tap the rhythm on a drum in their view so they can follow along. Invite them to feel the drum. Allow yourself and the students to stomp the beat on the floor (so they can feel it). Remember that they can still enjoy and learn from music. Write out words or phrases of songs on the board or easel. Use pictures to illustrate the story.

For children with speech and language challenges: Be aware that they may have difficulty with this activity. Vary the speed of the tapping that accompanies the children’s names, so that the beta is slower and easier to follow.

For children with physical disabilities: Be prepared to suggest a way they can feel successful as they tap the rhythm of their name.

Prior Knowledge: Read one of the suggested books to introduce the unique quality of each child’s name. While sitting in a circle invite children to feel a rhythm. Start with a slow soft knee pat and chant. “Feel the beat on your knees, on your knees, on your knees.” Repeat with other parts of the body, like chest, head and cheeks. Repeat each line several times before moving on to a new body part. Move to “Feel the beat in the air, in the air, in the air.” Floor, chair, desk,etc.


Vocabulary: poetry, name, beat, rhythm, compose, syllable, dictionary

Essential Question: How do we create a rhythm and compose a poem with our name?

Procedure: Plan to complete this lesson over several class periods Part A

Invite the children to chant the Name Chant. “Let’s feel the beat of our names on our knees.” Model the chant and beat and invite students to repeat and follow.

Model a name while patting out the rhythm on your knees.. “Bob-bie. Bob-bie, Bob-bie”; “Jan, Jan, Jan”, Roderick, Roderick, Roderick.”

Ask for volunteers to chant their names while others listen. Go around the circle chanting each child’s name in turn. Invite children to join in. Pause between each name. Go around the circle a second time, this time not pausing between names, so that all the

names form a continuous chant and the rhythm keeps going.

Interpret and expand the experience: Discuss the activity. What did you like about the Name Chant? Who has a name with a single beat? Two beats? Three or more beats? Discuss where accents fall in each name and help children compare differences. Ex. Shoń tay vs A` li `ci` a.

Part B Introduce the words syllable, adjective and compose. Read a poem that uses syllables as a

base (such as haiku, senryu or tanka) and tell students they are going to create a simple poem using the beats or syllables of their name and another word, an adjective, to describe themselves. Ex., Ann Fun, Tif fa ny Ter ri fic, Har ry Hap py.

Create a class chart of names and beats/syllables by dividing an easel pad or chalkboard into columns labeled 1 Beat, 2 Beats, 3 Beats, 4 Beats etc. As a class list each child’s name in the appropriate column. As a class brainstorm and list adjectives that have corresponding syllables for each name and add them to the chart. Introduce and use the dictionary to find adjectives.

Part C Let students select a piece of construction paper, a pencil and crayons. Instruct students to write their names breaking them into the appropriate beats/syllables

and then write another word(s) that describe them but are made up of the same number of beats/syllables.

Invite children to decorate or draw a picture around their poem. Let students share their creations. Explain the poem will be used in a later activity.

Extending the experience: Conduct a name hunt. Place tagboard cards with children’s names randomly around the

classroom or outside on playground. Have children find their names, Listen to and learn songs related to names: ‘Mary Wore a Red Dress” by Ruth Seeger

from American Folktales for Children. Substitute the children’s clothing. “The Name


Game” by Joanie Bartels from Sillytime Magic. “Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?”

Tape record children chanting their name, Have the recording available in the library or learning center.

Create name puzzles for each child. Cut pieces of one color of construction paper into squares. For each child write each letter of his or her name on a square, one letter per square. Place the lettered squares into an envelope labeled with the child’s name. One name = one color. Have children put their name puzzles together. Perfect activity to generate parental involvement.

My Family Learns With Me:

Dear Family,During our music activity, we tapped out the rhythm of our names. We learned about rhythm, as well as how many beats or syllables are in our names. Please talk to your child about the experience and select one of the books listed below from the library to read with your child or other activities to continue learning at home.

Together you might tap out the rhythm of your name and the names of other family members and friends on your knees. Together listen to music and tap out the beat. Think of an unusual word that has four or five beats or syllables. You might want to use a dictionary. Write the word on a piece of paper, if appropriate, have your child draw a picture of it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of a “big word” is “Mississippian”.

Our book list:

Come and visit us at school anytime!

Laugh, love, learn,Your Child’s Teacher---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suggested Criteria for Assessment: Fulfill the task Cooperate and interact with partner or group Perform with focus and clarity

Assessment: Student work Teacher Observation Performance

Teachable Moments:Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making

Meaning


UNIT:ALL ABOUT ME

DANCE: MY BODY IS ME


Materials needed: Masking tape, hand drum or small percussion instrument, CD or tape player, large (8” x10”) pictures of children’s body parts.

Books that feature different parts of the body: Angelina Ballerina by Katherine Holabird; Bones: Our Skeletal System by Seymour Simon; Face Talk, Hand Talk, Body Talk by Sue Castle; From Had to Toe by Eric Carle; Jonathan and His Mommy by Irene Smalls-Hector; Muscles, Our Muscular System by Seymour Simon, My Feet by Aliki, Nick Joins In by Joe Lasker; Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaola; The Five Senses Series: Touch, Taste, Smell, Feel, HearBy J.M. Parramon and J.J. Puig; The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss.

CD’s that feature songs about the body: “Bean Bag Boogie” by Greg and Steve from Kids in Motion ; Í’m Not Small” by either Bill Harley from Monsters in the Bathroom or Sharon, Lois and Bram from One Elephant, Deux Elephants ; “The One and Only Me” by Lisa Atkinson from The One and Only Me.








2. The student will express, communicate, evaluate, or exchange ideas effectively. a. The student will compose a description of a person, place, or thing. Access Points for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities:


Independent: The student will listen to familiar read aloud stories and answer literal yes/no questions about persons, objects, and actions in pictures.

Supported: The student will communicate effectively when relating familiar experiences.

Participatory: The student will listen for informative purposes (e.g., following prompts, cues).

Mississippi Science BenchmarkPre-Kindergarten BenchmarksScientific Investigation

Develops Awareness of the Five Senses

101/ I – Recognizes the five senses and the body parts that utilize the five (5) senses. Mississippi Dance Benchmarks

Goal 1: Students will communicate ideas and feelings by creating and performing dance.

Content Strand: Creating/Performing (CP)

Benchmark: Respond spontaneously through movement to various stimuli.

Learning Objectives: Express thoughts, feelings and preferences about creating different movements for

different parts of the body, Identify familiar and less familiar parts of the body. Describe the functions of various parts of the body. Build vocabulary about parts of the body. Generate a variety of movements, including changes in direction and speed, for various

parts of the body. Create dances using movements found in stories for various body parts.

Preparation:Create and define dance and personal space by taping an X for each child on the floor. The X’s should be “arms-length” apart. Put pictures of children’s body parts on the wall or bulletin board.

Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign language signs for key body parts, and use these signs throughout the lesson.

For Children with Cognitive Disabilities, those who are shy, or those who have difficulty understanding verbal directions: teacher should first model/demonstrate the movements and perform the exercises as example and inspiration. Model only one or two movements to focus on at a time. Build sequence gradually.


For children who are deaf or have auditory challenges: provide visual cues such as red or green cards to indicate when the drumbeat or music has stopped.

For children with vision challenges: use thick cord taped to the floor in either circles or squares to mark children’s personal performance space. With this, they can “feel” the edge of their dance and movement space.

For children with physical disabilities: fully include them in all dance activities. Don’t avoid words, topics or ideas because you think a child can not do the activity. For instance a child can “kick” a soccer ball using the footrest on her or his wheelchair; a child using a walker may be able to jump rope. A person in a wheelchair can climb a mountain with the proper equipment and assistance. Try not to isolate the children with disabilities by giving them “special scenarios”.

Prior Knowledge: Read stories that identify the parts of the body and their uses. Refer to the pictures posted around the room of children’s body parts. Have students identify the parts of the body and the teacher list each part on the easel pad. Invite children to recognize their own personal space by having them spread out around the room, an arm’s length apart.

Vocabulary: Limbs: arms, hands, legs, feet, thigh, calf, fingers, toesTorso: hips, pelvis, back, spine, ribs, chest, abdomen or stomachJoints: knees, ankles, elbows, wrists, shouldersHead: neck, jaw, mouth, tongue, nose, eyes, forehead, earsDance, creative movement

Procedure:PART A Plan to complete this lesson over several class periods.Essential Question: How can we identify and create movements for different parts of our body? With each segment, increase the complexity of the movements and the identification of body parts. Begin by defining their personal space. Have each student stand on one of the taped X’s. Encourage them to stretch their arms in all directions. If they touch a classmate or furniture, then they are too close and must move to another open space. Tell children the X’s help mark their personal space and are also their starting and stopping points. Invite them to move through the room, arms length apart and explore the space as if they are surrounded by a bubble. Bubbles should not touch each other, but if they do they bounce gently off. Use a hand drum or other percussion instrument or musical signal to “freeze” the children if any bumping occurs. Adjust their spaces as necessary and then begin again.

Encourage children to identify various parts of their bodies. Start with the familiar parts like fingers and hands, and advance to less familiar parts, such as wrists. Have them explore what each part can do. For each body part invite children to:

Explore the direction that it can move: forward, backward, sideways, up and down. Explore moving it at different speeds: fast, slow, very fast, very slow, super fast, super

slow.


Explore what it can do: stretch, wiggle, jerk, lead the rest of the body around the classroom, meet a friend, create a dance.

Expand the experience by combining the movements of two or more body parts. Create a dance with just wrists and fingers. Create a dance with an arm and a leg, separately, then together.

Continue to expand the experience by creating a dance for limbs, or for the torso, the head or the joints. Create a:

Fast dance, slow dance. Dance that is low to the ground, dance that is high in the air. Dance that is moving all around the room, dance that is only in one spot.

Expand the experience further by moving inside the body. Experience the lungs expanding and contracting, Relate this to a balloon or bellows. Feel the heart beat. Stamp a beat that is consistent with the heartbeat. Move to the rhythm

of the heart. Talk about the bones. Feel them under the skin. Create a stiff bones dance. Create a loose

“no bones” dance.Essential Question: How did we identify and create movements for different parts of our body?

Interpret the experience: Direct student attention. How does it feel to move different parts of your body together? Which parts move the easiest? Which parts are the hardest to move? Which parts feel stiff? Which parts feel loose? What did you like about creating movements for different parts of your body?

PART BUse the easel pad or chalkboard and with the children’s help list the movements the students created in one column and in another column list the parts of the body used to make the movement. Count the number of syllables in each word. Introduce the poetic form of senryu by reading a sample of one from the book A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms. Explain that the poem is made up of three lines with five syllables on the first line, seven syllables on the second line and five syllables on the third line and that the topic of the poem always relates to human nature. Show students another example of a senryu poem created previously by you. Explain that using words from the columns and the dictionary the class as a group will create a senryu poem about how the body moves that will be written on the easel pad or chalkboard.

Expand the Experience: Have students create their own senryu poems using words from the columns and the dictionary. *This can be done individually or in groups of two.

Another variation: have students choose any of the stories you have read about body parts, movement and/or dance and create senryu poems. Have students create a list of body movements and activities from personal experience and using that list compose a senryu poem entitled “How My Body Moves”.

Have a child take a turn leading the class by moving one body part while the class mirrors the action.

Have students imitate activities they like to do (climbing, running, kicking the soccer ball, shooting baskets, turning cartwheels, etc.). Have them notice the way the different parts of the body move.


Have students draw themselves moving. Add a sentence that describes the movement. Draw different parts of the body in various positions. Write a sentence about how it looks

and feels. Introduce alignment and balance. Ask students to stand very tall and name each part of

their body from their feet to their heads. As ach part is named, have the children feel how it aligns on top of the part underneath. Have children change position so that they are leaning in one direction and hold the pose. Direct attention: What did you do to hold your balance? How did your body change?

Play a drum beat or music (CD) and invite children to move. When the drum or music stops, ask children to “freeze” and notice the position of their bodies. Direct attention: Where are your legs? Where are your arms in relation to your legs? Where are your toes in relation to your nose? Where is your belly button?


Dear Family,During our dance activity, we read stories about different parts of our bodies and the variety of ways they can move. We identified body parts like our hands and ankles, neck and toes, torso and limbs, and moved them in different ways. We stretched and wiggled them and created a dance with them. Please talk to your child about the experience and perhaps create your own dances at home. Please select one of the books listed below from the library to read with your child or other activities to continue learning at home.

Together you might create dances by making up different movements to popular music, and notice how each part of your body moves. Collect items for our DANCE AND MOVEMENT BOX (like scarves, hats, etc.) Encourage your child to use the props and to use different parts of his or her body to create dances. You might also look in the dictionary for a word that relates to dance. Write the word on a piece of paper, if appropriate, have your child draw a picture of it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of a that relates to dance is choreography.

Our book list:


Laugh, love, learn,Your Child’s Teacher

Suggested Criteria for Assessment:


Fulfill the task Cooperate and interact with partner or group Perform with focus and clarity


Teachable Moments:



UNIT:ALL ABOUT ME

VISUAL ARTS: MY PORTRAIT


Materials needed: Art Reproductions of portraits – a variety of people of different ages, cultures, ethnic

backgrounds and abilities, from different historical periods. Mural paper in white, brown and/or other colors. Dark crayon or water-based marker for outlining. Full length mirror. Colored markers, crayons Variety of paper scraps of various colors and textures, as well as foiled paper. Pieces of yarn, ribbon, stickers Books that feature the various parts of the body: Face Talk, Hand Talk, Body Talk by

Sue Castle; Hairs=Pelitos by Sandra Cisneros, Trans. by Liliana Valenzuela; I’m Growing by Aliki; My Feet by Aliki; My Five Senses (Let’s Read and Find Out) by Aliki; My Hands by Aliki; Just Like Me by Barbara J. Neasi; New Shoes for Silvio by Johanna Hurwitz.

CD’s with songs about people: “Everyone is Differently Abled” by Tickle Tune Typhoon from All of Us Will Shine; “Nobody Else Like Me” by Cathy Fink and Mary Mercer from Help Yourself; “Seeing With Your Ears” by Ruth Pelham from Under One Sky.

The name syllable poem from the “Name Chant Poem” from the music and language arts lesson.







Access points for Students with Cognitive Disabilities: Independent: student will identify pictures and symbols that provide information;


Supported: student will identify pictures or objects that provide information; Participatory: student will respond to familiar persons and routines





Mississippi Visual Art Benchmarks

Goal 2: Students will respond to, describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate the complex characteristics of the visual arts.

Content Strand: Critical Analysis (CA)

Benchmark: Develop perceptual skills and use visual arts vocabulary while creating and studying works of art.

Learning Objectives:

Express thoughts and feelings about the experience of creating a portrait. Identify the various movements and functions of different parts of the body. Build vocabulary related to parts of the body and creating a portrait and collage. Use scissors to cut along a curved line. Create a life-size portrait that shows movement and unique features that characterize

oneself.

Preparation: Assemble all your materials on a child accessible art table. Cut mural paper into pieces about the length of children’s bodies. Arrange a space for children to trace, cut and draw: an open space for children to lie on the mural paper. Set up mirror. Arrange for helpers to assist with this lesson. Put the art reproductions of portraits on walls, doors, easels, and/or chalk or bulletin boards.*Great opportunity to invite parents/grandparents/family-extended family members to visit the classroom and participate in learning with child.

Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign language signs for the main parts of the body, and use these signs during the lesson.


For children with limited dexterity: provide self-stick colored dots or stickers, as well as large pieces of ribbon, yarn and fabric. Assist by spreading glue where they wish to add collage materials.

For children who are blind: consider providing a tape recorder for them to record an oral portrait. Allow time for them to practice what they want to record. Give suggestions: Describe your hair, your height, the way you sit, walk, dance, run, move. Are you smiling?

*Remember to provide these options to all children, not singling out children with challenges.

For children with physical disabilities: Be prepared to suggest a way they can feel successful in this activity.

Prior Knowledge: Listen to the CD’s about the body. Read one or more of the books that feature the body. Relate the songs and story to the children’s bodies. Invite children to notice different parts of their body. Direct them: notice your hands/feet/knee/leg/arm, etc. Shake them,Wave them, create a dance with them. What else can hands/body part do? Add laughter: Notice your ears/tongue/nose, etc. Shake them, wave them, create a dance with them. What can ears do?

Vocabulary: limbs, hands, feet, arms, legs, head, body, portrait, collage, trace, mirror, style, pose, art form, create

Essential Question: How can we create a portrait of ourselves?

Procedure: Plan to complete this lesson over several class periods. Introduce the lesson: portrait as an art form and provide examples by pointing out the portraits in the classroom. Ask children to describe the people in the portraits. Direct their attention: Notice how they are holding their hands. Notice their legs. Are their limbs shown in the portrait? Are the people sitting quietly or does the portrait show them moving? Describe the process for creating a portrait.. *Consider dividing a large group into several smaller groups. With the help of assistants (teacher’s aide, family members or older students) have two to three students at a time create their portrait. Invite students to select a piece of paper for their bodies. Students lie flat on the paper. Direct their attention: Select a pose. Have your arms do something. Tilt your head. Hold still while a helper outlines your pose.Students draw their face, hair, clothing and shoes on their “portrait” outline with markers or crayons and cut out the outline with the assistance of a helper. With the helpers assistance students label the body parts of their portrait with words or letters cut from construction paper and pasted onto the form. Students cut out the syllable poem and picture from the Music and Language Arts lesson and place them uniquely onto their portrait. Students show their finished “portraits”. Essential Question: How did we create a portrait of ourselves?


Interpret: Direct students attention: Tell us about your portrait. Why is your head tilted that way? What is your hand doing? Tell us about your poem. Is your portrait like any of the portrait styles we looked at earlier?. How would your portrait have been different two years ago? What do you think you will look like next year?Tell students the portrait will be used during another lesson to complete a collage. Explain that a collage is an art form created from various materials, (paper, cloth, wood, etc.). Tell students they have already begun by pasting words and pictures. Inform them that they will have the opportunity to complete the collage by adding patterns with paint and fabric at a later date..

Expand the experience: Create additional portraits – drawings of family, friends and/or pets. Create a class book about parts of the body. Each child writes and illustrates a page. The sentence on the page could start with a body part and end in a verb. Ex. “ Hands can wave.” The illustration would feature that body part.


Dear Family,During our visual art activity, we created a life-size portrait! We also read books about different body parts and saw pictures of other portraits. Please ask your child about the experience and select one of the books listed below from the library to read with your child or other activities to continue learning at home.

Together you might look at family pictures and photo albums, or look at pictures of children of different ages in magazines. Create a “THEN” and “NOW” LIST.

THEN NOWI crawled. I walkI had to be Fed. I eat by myself.I talked Baby Talk. I talk like a big kid.

Visit an art museum or art gallery. Look for portraits; talk about who the portraits are of and what the person might be like. Collect old magazines that can be cut up for the ART BOX.

Our vocabulary word this week is “Portrait”. It has two syllables. Help your child look through the dictionary and choose another two syllable word. If appropriate, have your child draw a picture of it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of a two syllable word “picture”.

Our book list:

Come and visit us at school anytime!Laugh, love, learn,

Your Child’s Teacher




Teachable Moments:



UNIT:ALL ABOUT ME

THEATRE: MY FEELINGS


Materials needed: Easel Pad and Markers. Colored pencils, erasers, crayons and paper.

Books about feelings or characters expressing particular feelings: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst; ; Sing, Pierrot, Sing: A Picture Book in Mime by Tomie dePaola; Scared Silly! A Halloween Book for the Brave by Marc Brown; Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods by Jamie Lee Curtis; Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak; How are you Peeling? Foods with Moods by Saxton Freyman and Joost Elfers;.Lon Po Po: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young; Corduroy by Don Freeman; DW’s Lost Blankie by Marc Brown; Feelings by Joanne B. Murphy; Let’s Be Friends Again! By Hans Wilhelm; Sad Day, Glad Day by Vivian L. Thompson; A Kick in the Head, An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms by Paul B. Janeszko, and a Children’s Dictionary.

CD’s of songs about feelings: “You’ve Got to Sing When the Spirit Says Sing” by Raffi from Corner Grocery Store; “I Cried” by Ruth Pelham from Under One Sky; “Sing a Happy Day” by Rosenshontz from Rosenchontz Tickles You.








2. The student will express, communicate, evaluate, or exchange ideas effectively. a. The student will compose a description of a person, place, or thing.


Access points for Students with Cognitive Disabilities: Independent: student will prewrite by identifying familiar persons, objects, or events to

generate ideas for pictures that tell a story. Supported: student will prewrite by selecting familiar persons or objects to generate

ideas for a picture that tells a story. Participatory: student will associate wants and needs with a familiar person or object

(e.g. indicate awareness of familiar person, objects, or routines).

Access Points for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities:Independent: Make predictions about a story using text features Supported: Use strategies to repair comprehension, including but not limited to connecting characters and settings in read-aloud stories to life experiencesParticipatory: Respond to characters or objects and sound effects in read-aloud stories

Mississippi Theatre Benchmarks

Goal 1: Students will communicate ideas and feelings by creating and performing works of art through theatre.

Benchmark: Demonstrate ability to understand improvisations based on personal experience, heritage, imagination, literature and history.


Learning Objectives: Express thoughts about experiences that evoke a particular feeling. Recognize feelings related to given events and/or experiences. Build vocabulary about different kinds of feelings. Demonstrate facial expressions, gestures and body movements that indicate different

feelings. Express a particular feeling through pantomime. Develop and use theatre vocabulary. Compose an acrostic poem about a particular feeling/emotion

Preparation: Label columns or sections of easel pad with feelings, like happy, sad, scared, angry, etc. Add a photograph or magazine cutout showing a person with that expression.

Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign language for “happy”, “sad”, “scared” and “angry” and use them throughout the lesson.Carefully consider children in the class that may have emotional or behavioral challenges when planning and conducting theatre lessons. Theatre activities can sometimes trigger strong emotions. Be aware of traumatic events in children’s lives and take care not to cause them distress during the pantomime.

For Children with Physical Challenges: make sure they are fully included in the drama experience. Try not to isolate them with “special rules” and environments. Ask the same of


them as you would any child.For children with visual challenges: talk with their families to get ideas about how to make the pantomime activity meaningful. Would the child feel comfortable feeling the mime’s face to identify various emotions.

Prior Knowledge: Read books about feelings and characters expressing feelings. Listen to songs about feelings. Direct student attention: Have you ever felt the feelings that the song/character is showing? Have you ever seen someone else with those feelings?

Vocabulary: feelings, happy, sad, angry, scared, pantomime, mime, actor, theatre, situation, acrostic poem,

Procedure: Plan to complete this lesson over several class periods. Repeat the theatre activity several times, each time with a different twist to it. One time encourage children to generate expressions of feelings from their own experiences; another time have students generate the feelings from the selected reading(s). Part AEssential Question: How can we portray feelings from a story without using words?

Encourage students to talk about what makes them feel happy, sad, angry and scared; record students responses on the easel pad.

Introduce pantomime as telling a story and expressing feelings without words or sounds. The actor or mime uses facial expression and body movements to convey the message.

Invite children to pantomime different feelings, Encourage children to use their hands, arms, shoulders along with their facial expressions. Demonstrate an example of someone who is sad or tired. Have children as a group pantomime their version. Direct student attention: How would you look if you felt very unhappy, happy, surprised, scared, shy, etc. Once students feel comfortable, ask for volunteers to pantomime for the class. Ask the class to guess the feeling portrayed. Give every child a chance to do a pantomime. Then have the entire class pantomime that feeling. If a child is struggling with the activity ask her or him to name a feeling to pantomime, then have the entire class pantomime that feeling.Interpret: Direct student attention. What was it like being a mime? What did you find difficult?What was easy to do?

Part BHave students pantomime a situation that might evoke a particular feeling. Direct student attention: How would you feel if someone gave you an ice cream cone? Pantomime receiving the ice cream. What would you do with the ice cream? Show how you feel about it. What if you took one lick and the ice cream fell to the ground? Pantomime this situation.

Pick a situation and character from one of the stories and have the children pantomime it.

Essential Question: How did we create feelings from a story without using words?


Interpret the experience: Discuss the activity. Direct student attention: What was it like creating a particular scene while being a mime? Was it hard not to talk? What did you like about it? What feeling do you think you portrayed the best? Discuss how different events caused different emotions and reactions.

Part CWith the children’s help list the feelings of the characters in the story on the easel pad in one column and the corresponding situations in another column. Introduce an acrostic poem by reading a sample of one from the book A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms. Show students a visual example of an acrostic poem. Using words from the columns and the dictionary model/create an acrostic poem about the story on the board or easel pad. (Teacher might previously have created the poem). Students create one of their own as a group with the teacher on the easel pad.

Expand the Experience: Have students create their own acrostic poems using words from the columns and the dictionary.*This can be done individually or in groups of two.* Another variation: have students choose any of the stories you have read about feelings and create acrostic poems. Have students create a list of feelings and situations from personal experience and using that list compose an acrostic poem entitled “This Makes Me Feel”.Create masks from paper plates to portray different feelings.Listen to a variety of music that evokes a happy, sad or scared feeling. Try pantomiming as the music plays.Generate a list of things that evoke one type of feeling (ex., happy school activities and events). Add pictures to help students read list. Repeat with other feelings.Watch a videotape about the late Marcel Marceau, the famous mime, or The Red Shoes, a story without words.


Dear Family,During our theatre activity today, we read stories about feelings and talked about what makes us happy, sad, scared, angry. We had three new vocabulary words: feelings, mime and pantomime. Pantomime is a way to tell a story without words or sound. The actor called a “mime” uses facial expression or movement to deliver the message. We had opportunities to pantomime our feelings and tell a story. Please talk to your child about the experience and select one of the books listed below from the library to read with your child or other activities to continue learning at home.

Ask your child to show how he/she looks when they feel happy, sad, scared or angry, and ask them what makes them feel those feelings. Together you might watch a movie or television program and discuss what parts were happy, sad, etc. Together find another emotion word in the dictionary. Write the word on a piece of paper, if appropriate, have your child draw a picture of or about it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of an emotion word is “surprise”.


Our book list:





Teachable Moments:


UNIT:ALL ABOUT ME

DANCE: BEING MOVED BY FEELINGS



Materials needed: Large (at least 8” x 10”) pictures of children and adults showing different emotions, easel pad and markers, paper, colored pencils and erasers.Record, tape or CD player. A variety of instrumental musical selections that create different moods (jazz or classical music, film or Broadway scores).

Books featuring different feelings/emotion: Abuela by Arthur Dorros; Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michelle Maria Surat; Feelings by Aliki; I Feel: A Picture Book of Emotions by George Ancona; Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss; I’ll Fix Anthony by Judith Viorst; Shy Charles by Rosemary Wells; Somebody Called Me A Retard Today…and My Heart Felt Sad by Ellen O’Shaughnessy; Sometimes I Like to Be Alone by Heidi Goennel; The Dance by Richard Paul Evans; The Jester Has Lost His Jingle by David Saltzman.Poetry book: A Kick in the Head by Paul B. JaneczkoCD’s that have songs about feelings: “The Body Roc” by Greg and Steve from Kidding Around or Kids in Motion; “Shake My Sillies Out” by Raffi from Singable Songs for the Very Young; “I’m in the Mood” by Raffi from Rise and Shine.













Access Points for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities:Independent: The student will listen to familiar read aloud stories and answer literal yes/no questions about persons, objects, and actions in pictures.Supported: The student will communicate effectively when relating familiar experiences.Participatory: The student will listen for informative purposes (e.g., following prompts, cues).

Mississippi Dance Benchmarks

Goal 1: Students will communicate ideas and feelings by creating and performing dance.



Learning Objectives: Recognize the alignment, position and movement of one’s body for a given emotion. Perceive the emotions of others. Communicate feelings using body language. Build vocabulary about feelings and emotions. Demonstrate various gestures and body movements that express emotion. Create movements to depict a particular emotion. Compose a couplet poem portraying a particular emotion

Preparation: Display pictures of children and adults portraying different emotions. Create a list of phrases that connect movement to emotion. Compose and display a couplet poem about a particular feeling. Create open space for movement.

Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign language signs for “happy”, “sad”, “angry”, “scared” and use them throughout activity. Explain that all children and adults have feelings and that sometimes they show them in similar ways. Don’t force a child to participate in this activity. Refer to Theatre lesson “My Feelings”.

For children with emotional challenges: be aware of any traumatic events in their lives. Plan and/or adapt the lesson so children do not experience distress.

For children with physical disabilities: fully include them in all dance activities. Don’t avoid words, topics or ideas because you think a child can not do the activity. For instance a child can “kick” a soccer ball using the footrest on her or his wheelchair; a child using a walker may be able to jump rope. A person in a wheelchair can climb a mountain with the proper equipment and assistance. Try not to isolate the children with disabilities by giving them “special scenarios”.


Prior Knowledge: Read books that feature characters working through a variety of emotions. Discuss the stories: how do you think the character is feeling? What is communicating that feeling? How does the character react to other characters because of that emotion? Define emotion and communicating. Listen to music that evokes different emotions; discuss how each one makes you feel.

Vocabulary: emotions, communicating, feelings, happy, unhappy, sad, mad, glad, excited, scared, angry, joyful, confused, nervous, shy, proud, lonely, grumpy, mean, cranky, frustrated, discouraged, encouraged, tired, energized, dance, creative movement, couplet poem

Procedure: Plan to complete this lesson over several class periods

Part AEssential Question: How could we show our emotions with dance? Direct attention to the pictures of children and adults feeling emotions. How do you think this person is feeling? Look at the person’s body. What is communicating that emotion? Make a list of emotions on the easel pad that the children identify. What part of the body could move to show that emotion? How would it move?

Invite children to dance and create movements for each of the identified emotions. Tell them music will be played to help them feel the emotion. Present one emotion at a time: When the music starts, show us through your body movement and facial expression that you are happy. When the music stops, hold your position and show the shape of that emotion. Point out the different movements you observe. Repeat the experience with a different emotion.Point out the different movements of each child and invite the children to imitate them. Direct student attention: Look how Michael’s shoulders are drooped. Can you do that? See how Tonya is dragging her feet? Notice Malik’s arm outstretched. Try to do that.

Expand the lesson to include phrases that relate movement to emotion (continue to use music):Jump for joy.Shake with laughter.Droop with sadness.Shiver in Fright.Stomp with Fear

Expand the lesson to include one of the stories you have read selecting phrases that relate movement to emotion and have children dance the phrases. Be sure to include music.

Essential Question: How did we show our emotions through dance? Interpret the experience: Show the pictures again. For each picture, ask children how they moved to show this feeling.

Part B


Introduce a couplet poem by reading one from the book A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms by Paul B. Janeczko. Invite students to create a couplet poem using one of the phrases that relate movement to emotion.

Extend the experience: Watch television or videotape without sound. Have children identify emotions by the body movements. Invite children to draw themselves expressing a certain emotion that resulted from a particular event, such as a birthday party, picnic, falling off a bike.Invite them to write or dictate a sentence, poem, or story about one of the pictures used in the lesson. Invite children to create a dance for the story.


Dear Family,During our dance activity, we read stories about different situations that made people feel a certain way. We talked about how facial expressions, gestures and body movement can show how a person feels without words. Your child used dance and creative movement to show different feelings like happy, sad, and angry. Please talk to your child about the experience and select one of the books listed below from the library to read with your child or other activities to continue learning at home.

Ask your child to show you the dance movement he or she created for happy, sad and angry. Together you might observe people around you. You could take a walk to an area with a lot of people, like a shopping center. Notice the way they are moving and try to guess how they might be feeling. Talk about the clues you gathered to make your guess. You might look in the dictionary to find a word that describes emotion with movement. Write the word on a piece of paper, if appropriate, have your child draw a picture of it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of an emotion movement word is stealthy.

Our book list:




Assessment: Student work


Teacher Observation Performance

Teachable Moments:


UNIT:ALL ABOUT ME

VISUAL ART: PRINTING PATTERNS



Materials needed: fabric, old clothes with variety of repeated shapes, lines, colors; containers of print making tools: empty spools, corks, small pieces scrap wood; blocks,

pieces of sponge, film and other small containers; halved fruits and vegetables; aluminum pie tins/sturdy paper plates; tempera paint: red, yellow and blue; tissue paper, various paper types, weights and colors; paper towels; Raffia, yarn, ribbon, string; Scissors, tape Glue, *hot glue guns and sticks; *Stapler and staples, hole puncher, ruler; the life-size portraits from the lesson “My Portrait” the senryu poem from the lesson “My Body Is Me” the acrostic poem from the lesson “My Feelings” Books with repeated patterns or with illustrations showing patterns in clothing :

Thumbprint Circus by Rodney Pepe, I See Patterns by John and Linda Benton, Little Blue and Little Yellow: A Story for Pippo and Other Children by Leo Lionni, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault.

Music: songs with distinct patterns about body parts: “Put Your Finger in the Air” by Woody Guthrie from Woody’s 20 GROW BIG SONGS; “Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes” by Joanie Bartels from Bathtime Magic (also found on recordings by Raffi,, Nancy Cassidy, Patti Dallas, et al); “Sharing Song” by Raffi from Singable Songs for the Very Young

CD or tape player







Access points for Students with Cognitive Disabilities: Independent: student will identify pictures and symbols that provide information; Supported: student will identify pictures or objects that provide information;


Participatory: student will respond to familiar persons and routines





Mississippi Math Competencies and Objectives:

2. Identify, describe, and reproduce patterns using concrete objects. Describe a rule for sorting objects. (DOK 2) Identify, reproduce, and extend repeating patterns in visual, auditory, and physical

contexts. (DOK 2) Identify and describe qualitative changes (DOK 1)

Mississippi Visual Arts Benchmarks

Goal 1: Students will communicate ideas and feelings by creating and performing works of art through the visual arts.


Benchmark: Know that the use of various media, techniques, and processes results in different effects in works of art.

Objective: Express thoughts and feelings about the experience of printmaking. Identify pattern in sound, movement, clothing, the environment. Build vocabulary about pattern, color and printmaking. Demonstrate various stamping techniques. Recognize that mixing primary colors creates secondary colors. Create a unique pattern of shape and color. Create clothing for the life-sized portraits created in the lesson “My Portrait”.

Preparation:Access to water and electricity; *arrange for helpers to assist with the lesson, set up group work tables, cover work area with newspaper; pour small amounts of paint into tins/plates and place on work tables; assemble material table with fabric, etc; assemble printmaking tools in large containers and place on group work tables, halve fruit, assemble paper table and glue station,


assemble life-size portraits and senryu and acrostic poems from previous lessons, set-up book and music table with CD player.

*Great opportunity to invite parents/grandparents/family-extended family members to visit the classroom and participate in learning with child.

Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign language signs for “red”, “blue” and “yellow” and use the signs throughout the activity.

For children with physical challenges: adapt printmaking tools by adding knobs or handles to them. Stabilize pie pans of paint by taping the pans to the table with a strip of heavy-duty tape.

For children with visual challenges: use bold colors that are easy to differentiate. Add sand to the paint. Some children may find this activity easier to do if they use their fingers or hands to make the print, rather than the tool. Prior Knowledge: Introduce patterns by reading the stories “I See Patterns” and “Chick Chicka Boom Boom” and singing and dancing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”. Have children clap hands or use other body movements to indicate pattern of sound. clap, clap, clap, CLAP. Have children create a pattern of movement: turn right, face front, turn left, face front, turn left, face front, turn right, face front. Have children chant a familiar line: Clean your room, Harvey Moon! Clean your room, Harvey Moon!. Have Children observe the repeated designs on their clothing.Circle, squiggle, square. Circle, squiggle, square.

Vocabulary: printmaking, stamping, cloth, pattern, red, yellow, blue, green, purple, orange, clothing, portrait, designer, paint, texture, collage, overlap, art, acrostic. senryu

Procedure: Plan to complete this lesson over several class periods

Essential Question: How can patterns be used to design clothes for the life-size portrait?Organize the area for creating patterns. Introduce the concept of creating patterns by showing examples found in books and the children’s clothing. Have students describe the patterns. Explain to students that they are going to design clothing for their portraits with unique and specific patterns using the printmaking tools, fabric and materials, and the two poems from previous lessons. Tell students when they finish clothing their portraits they will have also created a collage. Remind them that a collage is an art form created from various materials, (paper, cloth, wood, etc.). Display the cloth patterns and printing tools available for use.Model the activity of stamping patterns.

Demonstrate by dipping the stamping object in the paint. Remove excess paint by pressing first on paper towels.

Press onto paper. Emphasize the up-and-down-motion of stamping. Show how one dip into the paint provides enough paint for several presses onto the paper, but the image becomes lighter the more times it is printed.

Repeat with another object. Emphasize the repetition of the patternInvite children to experiment by creating their own patterns on different types of paper. Encourage them to discover what happens when you overlap in shape and in color. Direct


student attention. What happens when red and yellow mix together? What about blue and yellow? What about blue and red?Invite students to spread their portraits out on the floor or long tables. Encourage students to choose materials for their designs and begin to create and stamp directly onto their portraits.Encourage them to decide where the poems should go on the portrait.

Essential Question: How did we use patterns in the clothing designs for our life-size portraits?

Interpret: Direct student attention. How did you make a pattern? What shape did you use? What happened if your color overlapped? Did you create new colors from the three colors you began with? What two colors make orange? Green? Purple? What did you like best about printmaking?

Expand the experience: Create necklaces with a repeated pattern of color and shape by using beads, looped strips

of paper or macaroni. To color macaroni: mix food coloring with alcohol in a sealable bag. Add macaroni and shake. Dry on paper towels.*

Look for patterns in the environment: windowpanes in the classroom, floor or ceiling tile, wall bricks, leaf patterns outside the windows, see and feel patterns in clothing.

Dance, move and sing songs in patterns. Clap a pattern of beats. Use colorfast paint and print patterns on T-shirts. Play games involving memory and word chains. Suggest a word chain of three to four

words (dog, red, bird, run); use vocabulary words . The first child says the first word, the second child says the first and second words, and on. The fifth child starts the chain again with the first word and on. Encourage children to create their own word chains. Vary the difficulty by limiting or increasing the number of words and/or using words with a common theme, i.e., names of colors, seasons, animals.

Using a stamp pad, have children create a border pattern of fingerprints and draw a portrait of themselves in the center.

Have children draw a picture with crayons and then stamp a frame around it using the printmaking tools.

Write a triolet: an eight line poem in which line 1 repeats as lines 4 and 7, and line 2 repeats as line 8. Done as a rhyme the rhyme scheme is abaabab. (Example can be found on page 26 – A Kick in the Head… by Paul C. Janeczko). Put the triolet on construction paper and stamp a frame around it using paint and the printmaking tool.


Dear Family,Patterns are everywhere! During our visual art activity, we clapped patterns, moved in repeated ways and found patterns of shape and color in our clothing. The stories we read were about patterns, too, or were illustrated with a repeated design. We also created our own patterns in a clothing design for our life-size portraits using paint and found objects. Please talk to your child about the experience and consider making your own patterns at


home. We hope you select one of the books listed below from the library to read with your child or other activities to continue learning at home.

Together you might explore your environment for repeated patterns in wallpaper, wrapping paper, borders of dish towels, clothing, rugs, curtains and dishes. Repat the lesson at home by collecting objects (ex., empty spools, blocks, small wood scraps, pieces of sponge, etc) tempera paint and paper. Pour the paint in a shallow dish, like a pie pan or sturdy paper plate. Have your child show you the stamping process:

1. Dip the object in paint.2. Stamp once on a paper towel to remove excess paint.3. Stamp with an up and down motion onto the paper.4. Repeat.

Consider making your note cards and wrapping paper.Look in the dictionary and find an art word. Write the word on a piece of paper, if appropriate, have your child draw a picture of it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of an art word is “illustrate”.

Our book list:


Laugh, love, learn,Your Child’s Teacher---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Suggested Criteria for Assessment:



Teachable Moments:Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making

Meaning

UNIT:THE WORLD AROUND MEDANCE: MAKING WAVES



Materials needed: The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow or Hop Jump by Ellen Still Walsh or other

story and picture books about oceans, waves and waterways.

Pictures that feature waves, ripples and water movement of oceans, lakes, rivers, and/or ponds.

A parachute, a large blue or green sheet or cloth, or a number of large scarves or pieces of filmy cloth (remnants from fabric stores),

Audio tapes or CD’s of waves or music suggesting water.

Dictionary, vocabulary words

Optional: large bowl of water. Optional: set of dominos












Access Points for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities:


Independent: The student will listen to familiar read aloud stories and answer literal yes/no questions about persons, objects, and actions in pictures.Supported: The student will communicate effectively when relating familiar experiences.Participatory: The student will listen for informative purposes (e.g., following prompts, cues).

Mississippi Science Framework

Earth and Space Science Competencies and Objectives1. Develop an understanding of physical and chemical properties of water and aquatic

environments.a. Explain the causes and characteristics of tides. (DOK 1)

Mississippi Dance BenchmarksGoal 1: Students will communicate ideas and feelings by creating and performing dance.



Learning Objectives: Express thoughts and feelings about experiences with the ocean and waves Recognize how our arms and torsos can move like waves Build vocabulary related to water and directional movement Demonstrate up/down, side to side movements Create imaginary waves of different velocities Simulate swimming and floating on waves

Including all Children:Teach children the American Sign Language signs for “water” and “waves,” and use these signs throughout the activities. For children with physical disabilities, sew grip hooks onto the parachute or cloth to assist in holding or put Velcro on the parachute and make Velcro wrist bands for the children

Preparation: Prepare the wave area, it should be an open space that allows the forming of a circle by all the children. Assemble dance materials: parachute, sheet or pieces of fabric (if using individual pieces of filmy fabric have one piece per child), if necessary sew grip hooks or Velcro to the fabric prior to the activity, tape or CD of wave/water sounds or music that is suggestive of the ocean, and a copy of the storybook(s) for reading and discussion. If using a bowl of water to simulate waves or dominoes to demonstrate how waves move in succession assemble them in the wave area. For this you need a large glass bowl or pan filled halfway with water and a set of dominoes lined up on a flat surface. Invite the assistance of parents, an assistant and/or older student(s).

Prior Knowledge: Discuss stories you have read about the ocean and waves. Encourage children to talk about their experiences with waves. Help children interpret and expand their experiences: Have you ever been by the ocean or a large body of water? Did you sit in the sand


by the water? What did the waves do? How did they move on your feet? Have you ever been in a boat? Did you ever make waves in the bathtub or swimming pool?

Vocabulary: wave, ocean, seashore, sand, up, down, top, bottom, over, under, torso, arms, undulating, movement, dance, motion, succession

Essential Question: How can we create a wave dance with our arms and torso?

Procedure: Demonstrate how waves move by slightly shaking the water in a clear bowl or line up a set of dominoes on a flat surface and gently tap the first one and watch the wave effect. Invite the children to describe it. Introduce vocabulary words. Invite children to imitate the undulating movement of the waves with their arms and then with their torsos. Have children notice how the motion travels through their arms and their torsos with a succession of movement.Invite children to make waves using a parachute or a large sheet. Optional: Organize the class into small groups with an adult helper at each group. Give each group a large scarf or pieces of scarf like material.

Either in small groups or as one large group place the parachute or pieces of cloth on the ground. Start the audio tape or CD of wave sounds. Have children surround the parachute and hold it in both hands, or pick up their individual cloth with both hands, and create waves with the movement of their bodies. Invite the children to dance the waves by:

Stretching Crouching down Swaying from side to side Crossing one hand over the other Peeking under the parachute or cloth and watching the waves Creating small waves Creating choppy waves Creating a storm Create a calm sea, gentle waves, barely moving

Essential question: How did we create a wave dance with our arms and torso?Interpret the activity: Have students sit in a circle around the parachute or cloth and discuss the activity. Direct student attention. How do waves move? How did you make the waves move? How did you move your body with the waves? What kind of wave movement did you like best?Invite student helpers to assist in putting away the “ocean” of cloth.Extending the Experience:Create waves and invite small groups of students to take turns under the parachute rolling like a wave, crawling like a crab, jumping like a frog, swimming like a fish. Demonstrate how to make a human wave, like those made at a sporting event. Have children sit or stand in a circle. The first child stretches up from the waist, extends both arms in the air and then brings her or his arm down. As the first child’s arm is being lowered, the next child performs the same movement. Children continue the wave movement around the circle several times. Extend this experience to include any movement. Have a leader start a movement and pass it on. Each child repeats the movement until the circle is complete.Have students create an acrostic or triolet poem about waves and the ocean.



Dear Family,During our dance and movement activity, we read stories about waves and the ocean and talked about the beach, ocean and being on a boat. We pretended to make waves with fabric by moving the fabric up and down and side to side to simulate the movement of the waves. We danced and moved like fish and crabs. Please talk to your child about the experience and select some of the books below from the library to read with your child or other activities to continue learning at home.

Together you might look through magazines and have your child identify things that livre in the water and things that live on land. Make waves with a small sheet or lightweight towel. Make waves in the bathtub! Look in the dictionary and find an ocean word. Write the word on a piece of paper, if appropriate, have your child draw a picture of it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of an ocean word is “marine life.”

Our book list:


Laugh, love, learn,Your Child’s Teacher---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Suggested Criteria for Assessment:



Teachable Moment:Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making

Meaning

UNIT:THE WORLD AROUND ME

VISUAL ART: UNDERWATER WORLD



Materials needed: The books Swimmy by Leo Lionni or Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, trans. by Alison

James or other story or picture books about the ocean and ocean life and “A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms by Paul C. Janeczko.

Songs about water like “I Wish I Were a Whale” by Sarah Pirtle from Two Hands Hold

the Earth or “The Wheel of Water” by Tom Chapin from Mother Earth.

Audiotape or CD player

Pictures of underwater sea life, pictures of murals (if available),

large strip of blue mural paper, tissue paper (various colors), scrap paper box,

glue, objects for stamping (spools, Styrofoam pieces, strips of corrugated cardboard), tracing patterns for ocean life,

small shells and rocks (optional),

thick tempera paint, aluminum pie tins or heavy duty paper plates for the paint, white drawing paper, crayons, markers, scissors.

Easel pad and writing paper and pencils








2. The student will express, communicate, evaluate, or exchange ideas effectively. a. The student will compose a description of a person, place, or thing.


Access points for Students with Cognitive Disabilities:




Mississippi Science FrameworkContent Strands: Inquiry, Life Science, Earth and Space Science

Life Science Competencies and Objectives:1. Understand characteristics, structures, life cycles, and environments of organisms.

a. Group animals and plants by their physical features (e.g., size, appearance, color). (DOK 2)

b. Identify offspring that resemble their parents. (DOK 1)c. Recognize and compare the differences between living organisms and non-living

materials. (DOK 2)

Marine and Aquatic ScienceContent Strands: Inquiry, Life Science, Earth and Space Science

Earth and Space Science Competencies and Objectives:1. Develop an understanding of physical and chemical properties of water and aquatic

environments.a. Compare and contrast the unique abiotic and biotic characteristics of selected

aquatic ecosystems. (DOK 2)Life Science Competencies and Objectives:

1. Apply an understanding of the diverse organisms found in aquatic environments.a. Analyze and explain the diversity and interactions among aquatic life. (DOK 3)

Mississippi Visual Arts BenchmarkGoal 1: Students will communicate ideas and feelings by creating and performing works of art through the visual arts.


Benchmark: Know that the use of various media, techniques, and processes results in different effects in works of art.

Objective: To create a mixed media mural

Learning Objectives: Express thoughts and ideas about life underwater. Recognizes the plant and sea life that exists underwater.


Build vocabulary related to murals and life underwater. Use markers, glue, paint, collage materials, stamping techniques. Create an underwater scene.

Preparation: Assemble helpers (parents or family members, teacher assistant or older child) Hang blue mural paper on wall, or spread it on floor or long table. Set up a stamping area: cover a table with newspaper pour a small amount of thick tempera paint into pie pans. Set up spools, styrofoam pieces, strips of corrugated cardboard, small shells/rocks on a

tray or in a shallow box Have brushes and paper towels handy Assemble tracing patterns and cut outs of fish and underwater sea creatures Have storybooks available for reading and discussion Write “Underwater Life” on the top page of the easel pad as a title Books about the ocean and the poetry book “A Kick in the Head CD player and CD’s for music about the ocean while assembling the mural and

composing the poem

Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign Language signs for “fish” and “water,” and use these signs during the activity. For children with cognitive disabilities and visual disabilities, use art materials and methods that give the mural a relief textured surface. Instead of mural paper, use foam core or heavy cardboard from the side of a large cardboard box. Have children incorporate a variety of found objects, such as grass, leaves, small stones, gravel or sand, crumpled and/or folded paper, into their murals.Create an auditory tape to accompany the mural lesson. Invite children to describe how they made the mural or to tell a story about life underwater.For children with cognitive disabilities, emphasize the concepts of big/little, plants/animals when describing the mural.Essential Question: How can we create a mixed-media mural showing the underwater world of the ocean?Prior Knowledge: Discuss the storybooks you have read and songs you have listened to or sung about undersea life. Encourage children to talk about their experiences with life underwater. Some children will have firsthand knowledge, and others will know about underwater life from books and the media. Direct student attention. What do you think it is like underwater? How do fish live, get food? Do they sleep? Do they communicate? How do they breathe? What other kinds of life can be found underwater? What about plants? Do you think there will be sand, rocks, or shells underwater? Show pictures of underwater sea life. Have students identify the life-forms and list them on an easel pad.

Vocabulary: Underwater, ocean, fish, plants, rocks, shells, mural, collage, art, dolphin, whale, shark, octopus, seaweed, stingray, seahorse, jellyfish, sand

Procedure:Part A Plan to complete this lesson over several class periods.


Introduce the poetic form of Haiku by reading an example from the book A Kick in the Head…by Paul C. Janeczko and explain that it has seventeen syllables and the words are always about something in nature. With the student’s help compose a haiku using the marine-life-forms the students identified and other vocabulary words. Explain that the poem must have seventeeen syllables in three lines with five syllables on the first line, seven syllables on the second line, and five syllables on the third line. Compose the poem on the easel pad or chalkboard. Tell students the poem will be placed on the mural of underwater life after it is complete. (Option: each child can create their own haiku to place on the mural.)Part B Introduce a mural as a large work of art, usually painted on the walls of buildings, both inside and outside. Show pictures of murals if available. Ask if any students have ever seen one. Display a large sheet of blue mural paper and tell students this will be the ocean. Encourage student ideas for creating an underwater world scene. Brainstorm about the types of fish and other creatures and plants students can create. Provide fish cut-outs and tracing patterns and help students draw and cut them out. Color them with markers and crayons and glue them to the mural. Create plants for the ocean floor by tearing paper of various colors and gluing to the mural. Remind students that fish will swim in and around the plants as they are placing their fish and plants on the mural. Use stamping technique by selecting a stamping tool: spools, Styrofoam, etc. and dipping it into the paint or brushing on the paint. Press it one or two times on a paper towel to get rid of excess paint. Stamp the “inked” object onto the background of the mural (ocean floor and in water). Help students attach their haiku poems of underwater life to the mural. Invite children to help clean up and then have a class discussion about the experience.Essential Question: How did we create a mixed-media mural showing the underwater world of the ocean?Interpret the experience: What was the best part about creating an underwater mural? How are the fish similar? How are they different? What is special about the fish you made? Create other questions to help students process the experienceExtending the experience: Have students draw or write about their experience creating the mural. Turn classroom into an underwater world, expand children’s concept of space: hang fish and plants from the ceiling and display mural on the wall. Create an underwater dictionary by having children copy labels from the mural into a book, adding illustrations. Document the process: take photographs or videotape the mural making experience. Create acrostic and triolet poems about the ocean and underwater life. Plan a field trip to aquarium, a fish hatchery, the ocean, river or a pond invite parents or other family members.


Dear Family,During our visual art activity, we read stories and talked about plant and animal life underwater. We created a mural depicting life underwater. A mural is a large work of art, sometimes created by one artist, but in our classroom everyone contributed to its creation. Please talk to your child about the experience and consider visiting our classroom to see it.


We hope you select one of the books listed below from the library to read with your child or other activities to continue learning at home. Together you might visit a pet store or tropical fish store or area in one of the “Super-Marts” to observe the different kinds of fish and plant life. Look in the dictionary and find a word that relates to the ocean. Write the word on a piece of paper, and if appropriate, have your child draw a picture of it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of an ocean word is “aquarium”.

Our book list:

Come and visit us at school anytime!Laugh, love, learn,Your Child’s Teacher



Teachable Moments:


UNIT:THE WORLD AROUND ME

THEATRE: FRIENDS ARE SPECIAL


Materials needed:

Books about friends and friendships:A Friend is Someone Who Likes You by Joan Walsh; Extraordinary Friends by Fred Rogers;


Friends at School by Rochelle Bunnett; Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber; The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister; We are Best Friends by Aliki, Yo Yes! by Chris Raschka.

CD’s that have songs about friends:“Make New Friends” by Sweet Honey in the Rock from All for Freedom; “A Good Friend” by Rosenschantz from It’s the Truth; “Be My Friend” by Red Grammer from Touch a Hand, Make A Friend; “Share It” by Rosenschantz from It’s the Truth.

DVD’s about animal friendships:Stuart Little

Face paints, brushes, animal noses and/or ears, beaks, feathers (optional)







c .The student will recognize or generate an appropriate summary or paraphrase of the

events or ideas in text. (DOK 2)


Access Points for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities:Independent: Make predictions about a story using text features Supported: Use strategies to repair comprehension, including but not limited to connecting characters and settings in read-aloud stories to life experiencesParticipatory: Respond to characters or objects and sound effects in read-aloud stories

Access Points for Students with Significant Cognitive DisabilitiesIndependent: Student will identify cause and effect relationships in pictures, identify author’s purposeSupported: Student will identify similarities in elements, characters, and actions in read-aloud stories and informational text.Participatory: Student will recognize referent objects, pictures, gestures/signs or symbols used in daily classroom activities.


Mississippi Science Framework Competencies and ObjectivesLife Science Competencies and Objectives

1. Understand characteristics, structures, life cycles, and environments of organisms.a. Group animals and plants by their physical features (e.g., size, appearance, color).

(DOK 2)

Mississippi Pre-Kindergarten BenchmarksPlays by self and in small groups of two to five (Collaborative Play)53) O – Uses acceptable ways of joining in an ongoing activity or group56) O – Respects other’s feelings in the context of group play

Develops Listening Skills60) O - Follows simple (one-step) directions62) O - Listens attentively to adults when interacting with them

Develops problem-solving skills for resolving conflicts65) O - Develops an awareness of the feelings of others

Assumes age-appropriate responsibilities in the classroom73) O – Makes relevant contributions to group time activities

Develops a positive self-concept78) O – Takes initiative in problem-solving

Develops imagination and creativity83) O - Use descriptive language in role playing84) O – Uses the arts to express thoughts and feelings about the world in which the student lives85) O – Uses words and pictures to create stories that describe feelings

Mississippi Theatre BenchmarksGoal 1: Students will communicate ideas and feelings by creating and performing works of art through theatre.

Benchmark: Act by assuming roles and interacting in improvisation


Learning Objectives: Express feelings about friends and friendship. Recognize one’s responsibility in a friendship. Build vocabulary about friendship and role-plays. Assume a character in a role-play and follow the director’s signal. Create an impromptu role play about conflict situations and harmonious situations.


Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign Language sign for “friend,” and use the sign throughout the lesson.

For children with visual challenges, make sure other children identify themselves before speaking.

For children with physical challenges, incorporate their challenges into the role-play by having some dogs in wheelchairs and some cats who are deaf or blind.

Preparation: assemble table with books and music about friendship found on material listOptional: create a make believe table with dog and cat noses, ears, hats, bird beaks, feathers, scraps of fur, etc. or face paints.

Prior Knowledge: Read stories and listen to songs about friendships. Encourage students to talk about friends and friendship. Direct student attention. What makes a good friend? What makes you a good friend to others? What do you enjoy doing with your friend? What’s the most fun you ever had with your friends?

Vocabulary: friend, responsibility, agree, disagree, harmony, conflict, role-play, director, characters, cat, dog, bird, actor

Essential Question: How can we create a role-play about friendship?

Procedure: Consider conducting this lesson outdoors. Plan to present this lesson in several sessions.

Encourage children to talk about disagreements friends sometimes have. Direct student attention.Do you and your friends ever disagree? How do you solve your disagreements? Relate the discussion to current movies, cartoons or books where friends have a disagreement. Sometimes animal characters cannot get along: use Stuart Little as an example. The Snowbell, the cat and Stuart Little, the mouse, couldn’t be friends because Snowbell wanted to eat or hurt Stuart Little. Good friend don’t want to hurt their friends. Emphasize that friendship means sharing and caring for each other.Invite children to role-play situations that sometimes happen between friends. Explain a role-play as pretending to be someone else: an actor plays a role on television or in the movies. Name actors children might know: (Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana and Jaden Smith as “Dre” The Karate Kid or Mike Myers(voice) as Shrek or Tom Hanks (voice) as Woodie and Tim Allen (voice) as Buzz Lightyear.Introduce and define the role of the director. Tell the class that you, as the director, will present the situation and then they will role-play, or act it out. Review and demonstrate the director’s signals for “Stop,” “Action,” and “Cut.” Have students practice responding to the signals.

Explain that the first role-play will be a conflict situation among animals. Assign characters, organizing the class into dogs, cats, and birds. Give the director’s signal for the animals to disagree. Explain the dogs will chase the

cats, the cats will chase the birds, and the birds will “dive-bomb” the cats.


Control the action by calling “Stop.” Children freeze-frame their characters. Start the action again by calling “Action.” Children resume the chase. Repeat this again a number of times before calling “Cut.”

Discuss the role-play. Were the animal characters enjoying each other or were they bothering each other?

Transition to the harmonious situation. Ask children if they know of any dogs, cats and/or birds. Either their own pets, or their neighbors pets, or characters from movies or books, that are friends. What do the animal friends do, besides chase each other? How do they behave so that they are not bothering each other?

Explain that the next role-play will be a harmonious situation among animal characters.Have children return to their animal characters.Give the director’s signal for the characters to play together:

Playing in a field together. Jumping from rock to rock to cross a stream with the assistance of the birds flying

overhead. Rolling down a hill together. Sharing toasted marshmallows by a campfire.

Essential question: How did we create a role-play about friendship?Interpret the experience: What character did you play? How did the different role-plays make you feel? How did you like pretending to be animal characters? What other characters would you like to play? What did you learn about conflict? What did you learn about harmony? What did you learn about friendship?

Extending the Experience: Create drawings of the dogs, cats and birds playing in harmony. Create stick puppets of the dog, cat, bird and other animals. Put together a puppet stage

using a long table covered with cloth. Have children retell one or more of the stories you have read about animal friends. Make

masks that are worn as hats and restage the performance with storytellers who rotate and share the telling of the story. Invite an audience: the principal, parents, another class, grandparents, kitchen staff, secretary, etc.

Learn a song about Friendship. Watch a popular children’s videotape or DVD that shows conflict and resolution among

animal friends, i.e., Stuart Little or Homeward Bound. Create a Class Book about friendship. Each page starts with, A good friend is someone

who_______. Have children complete the sentence and add illustrations. Create different poems: syllable, acrostic, senryu, haiku, triolet with the themes of

friendship.


Dear Family,


During our theatre activity, we read stories about friends and friendship. We talked about the qualities of a good friend, and we recognized that sometimes friends get along and sometimes they disagree. We also talked about books and movies where animal friends had difficulty being friends. We became animal characters and participated in role-plays about friendship and getting along with each other. Please talk to your child about the experience and together read a book about friendship to continue learning at home. Look in the dictionary and find a friendship word. Write the word on a piece of paper, if appropriate, have your child draw a picture of it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of a friendship word is “compassionate.”

Our book list:





Teachable Moment:Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making Meaning

Presented by Deborah Adero Fergusonat the

Mississippi Arts Commission2010 Whole Schools Summer Institute

“Bringing Heritage Home”Mississippi State University

Meridian, MississippiJuly 18 – 22, 2010

©2010

Bibliography

Curriculum Resources2010 Mississippi Science Framework2007 Mississippi Math Framework 2006 Mississippi Language Arts Framework-Revised


2004 Mississippi Pre-Kindergarten Benchmarks2003 Mississippi Visual and Performing Arts FrameworkVSA arts Early Childhood Education Program: Start with the Arts The Kennedy Center: ARTSEDGE. Standards.Florida Sunshine State Standards Content Strand and Benchmark

Book and Music ResourcesInclusiveAmerican Sign Language Learning System (DVD) featuring Dr. Ellen Costello, Ph. D. & Dr. Martin L.A. Sternberg, Ed. D.Baby, Toddler and Pre-School Sign Language (DVD) by Louise Sattler and FriendsHand Talk Zoo by George Ancona and Mary BethJoy of Signing by Lottie L. RiekehofThe American Sign Language Phrase Book by Lou Fant

Books About Different AbilitiesNick Joins In by Joe LaskerNow One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaolaOdd Velvet by Mary Whitcomb

Language ArtsPoetryA Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms by Paul C. Janeczko, Illus. by Chris RaschkaScholastic Children’s DictionaryScholastic Children’s EncyclopediaScholastic Children’s Thesaurus

Visual Arts Unit Stories about the ocean and underwater life: A House for Hermit Crab by Eric CarleA Picture Book of Underwater Life by Teresa Grace, Illus. by Roseanna PistolesiBaby Beluga by Raffi, Illus. by Ashley WolfDolphin by Robert A. MorrisDown at the Bottom of the Deep Dark Sea by Rebecca C. Jones, Illus. by Virginia Wright-FriersonFish is Fish by Leo LeonniFish, Fish, Fish by Georgie Adams, Illus. by Brigitte WillgossFlotsam by David WiesnerIn a Small, Small Pond by Denise FlemingMagic Spring: A Korean Folktale by Nami RheeMister Seahorse by Eric CarleMy Visit to the Aquarium by AlikiScreen of Frogs: An Old Tale by Sheila HamanakaSwimmy by Leo Lionni


The Magic Fish by Freya Littledale, Illus. by Winslow Pinney PelsThe Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, Trans. by Alison JamesThe Very Last First Time by Jan AndrewsThe Whale’s Song by Dyan SheldonTracks in the Sand by Loreen Leedy

CD’s and Tapes Songs about Water:“I Wish I Were a Whale” by Sarah Pirtle from Two Hands Hold the Earth (CD)“The Wheel of Water” by Tom Chapin from Mother Earth (CD)

Stories about Portraits.Face Talk, Hand Talk, Body Talk by Sue Castle, Photos b Francis Mclaughlin-GillHairs = Pelitos by Sandra Cisneros, Trans. by Liliana Valenzuela, Illus. by Terry YbanezHand Talk by Remy CharlipI’m Growing by AlikiJust Like Me by Barbara J. Neasi, Illus. by Lois AxemanMy Feet by AlikiMy Five Senses (Let’s Read and Find Out Books) by AlikiMy Hands by AlikiNew Shoes for Silvia by Johanna Hurwitz, Illus. by Jerry PinkneySomeone Special, Just Like You by Tricia Brown, Illus. by Fran OrtizThumbs Up, Rico! By Maria Testa, Illus. by Diana PatersonWhose Shoe? By Margaret Miller

Stories about PatternsChicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, Illus. by Lois EhlertI See Patterns by John and Linda Benton, Illus. by John PeckLittle Blue and Little Yellow: A Story for Pippo and other Children by Leo LionniMouse Paint by Ellen Stoll WalshTen Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman, Illus. by Sylvia LongThe Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson, Trans. by Naomi Lewis, Illus. by Sylvia LongThumbprint Circus by Rodney Pepe

CD’s and TapesSongs about people“Everyone is Differently Abled” by Tickle Tune Typhoon from All of Us Will Shine“Nobody Else Like Me” by Marcy Mercer from Help Yourself“Seeing With Your Ears” by Ruth Pelham from Under One Sky

Songs about body parts with distinct patterns.“Put Your Finger in the Air” by Woodie Guthrie from Woodie’s 20 Grow Big Songs“Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” by Joanie Bartels from Bathtime Magic (song can also be found on recordings by Raffi, Nancy Cassidy, Patti Dallas, and Laura Baron)“Sharing Song” by Raffi from Singable Songs for the Very Young


Music UnitBooks about rhythm, beats and uniqueness in names .A, My Name is Alice by Jane Bayer, Illus. by Steven KelloggDawn by Molly Garret BangI See Rhythm by Toyomi Igus, Illus. by Michele WoodIt’s Just Me, Emily by Anna Grossnickle HinesOdd Velvet by Mary E. Whitcomb, Illus. by Tara Calahan KingSay Hello, Vanessa by Marjorie Winman SharmatThere’s an Ant in Anthony by Bernard MostWhere is Ben by Marisabina RussoYou Can Call Me Willy: A Story for Children About AIDS by Joan C. Verneiro

CD’s and tapes:Songs about names and making music:“Say Hi” by Red Grammer from Teaching Peace“Mary Wore a Red Dress by Raffi from Rise and Shine“You Sing a Song and I’ll Sing a Song” by Ella Jenkins from the recording of the same name “Play Your Instruments and Make a Pretty Sound” by Ella Jenkins from the recording of the same name

Drama UnitBooks about feelings and friendship:Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day by by Judith ViorstCorduroy by Don Freeman DW’s Lost Blankie by Marc BrownFeelings by Joanne B. MurphyHow are you Peeling? Foods with Moods by Saxton Freyman and Joost ElfersLet’s Be Friends Again! By Hans WilhelmLon Po Po: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed YoungMama Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. JoosseSad Day, Glad Day by Vivian L. ThompsonSing, Pierrot, Sing: A Picture Book in Mime by Tomie dePaola Scared Silly! A Halloween Book for the Brave by Marc BrownThe Jester has Lost His Jingle by David Saltzman Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods by Jamie Lee Curtis Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

CD’s and TapesSongs about feelings and friendship:“You’ve Got to Sing When the Spirit Says Sing” by Raffi from Corner Grocery Store“Sing A Happy Day” by Rosenshontz from Rosenshontz Tickles You“I Cried” by Ruth Pelham from Under One Sky“Make New Friends” by Sweet Honey in the Rock from All for Freedom“Share It” by Rosenshantz from Uh Oh“A Good Friend” by Rosenshantz from It’s The Truth


“Be My Friend” by Red Grammer from Touch a Hand, Make a Friend

Dance UnitBooks featuring the ocean, waterways and water creatures:Does Anyone Know Where a Hermit Goes? By Micheal GlaserHop Jump by Ellen Still WalshHumphrey the Lost Whale: A True Story by Wendy Tokuda and Richard Hall, Illus. by Hanako WakiyamaIsland Boy by Barbara CooneyMermaid Janine by Iolette Thomas, Illus. by Jennifer NorthwayMy Life with the Wave by Catherine CowanOur Home is the Sea by Riki LevinsonThe Little Mermaid by Freya Littledale, Illus. by Daniel San SouciThe Seashell Song by Susie Jenkin-Pearce and Claire FletcherThe Seashore Book by Charlotte ZolotowWaiting for the Whales by Sheryl Mc Farlane

CD’s and TapesSongs about sea creatures:“Octopus” by Charlotte Diamond from 10 Carrot Diamond“Fish Are Orderly” by Tom Paxton from Balloon-Alloon-Alloon

Books featuring different feelings/emotion: Abuela by Arthur Dorros, Illus, by Elisa KlevenAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, Illus. by Ray Cruz Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michelle Maria Surat, Illus. by Vo-Dinh Mai Feelings by AlikiHow Do I Feel by Norma Simon, Illus. Joe Lasker I Feel: A Picture Book of Emotions by George Ancona I’ll Fix Anthony by Judith Viorst, Illus. by Arnold LoebelKind of Blue by Ann GrifalconiOh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. SeussScared Silly, A Book for the Brave by Marc Tolon BrownShake My Sillies Out by Raffi, Illus, by David Allender Shy Charles by Rosemary WellsSilent Lotus by Jeanne M. Lee Somebody Called Me A Retard Today…and My Heart Felt Sad by Ellen O’Shaughnessy, Illus. by David Garner Sometimes I Like to Be Alone by Heidi Goennel The Dance by Richard Paul Evans, Illus. by Jonathan Linton The Jester Has Lost His Jingle by David Saltzman.Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice SendakWilliam’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow, Illus. by William Pene Du Bois

CD’s that have songs about feelings:


“The Body Roc” by Greg and Steve from Kidding Around or Kids in Motion “Shake My Sillies Out” by Raffi from Singable Songs for the Very Young“I’m in the Mood” by Raffi from Rise and Shine.

Books that highlight different parts of the body:Angelina Ballerina by Katherine Holabird Bones: Our Skeletal System by Seymour SimonDance Tanya By Patricia Lee Gauch, Illus. by Satomi Ichikawa Face Talk, Hand Talk, Body Talk by Sue Castle From Head to Toe by Eric Carle Jonathan and His Mommy by Irene Smalls-Hector, Illus. by Michael Hayes Muscles, Our Muscular System by Seymour Simon My Feet by Aliki Nick Joins In by Joe Lasker Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaola The Five Senses Series: Touch, Taste, Smell, Feel, Hear by J.M. Parramon and J.J. Puig, Illus. by Maria Rius The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. SeussWe Can Do It! By Laura Dwight

CD’s that feature songs about the body: “Bean Bag Boogie” by Greg and Steve from Kids in Motion “ Í’m Not Small” by either Bill Harley from Monsters in the Bathroom or Sharon, Lois and Bram from One Elephant, Deux Elephants “The One and Only Me” by Lisa Atkinson from The One and Only Me.

Some parts of bibliography adapted from VSA Start With the Arts Syllabus


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