Welcome to the April Read & Romp Roundup, where we're celebrating National Dance Week (which ends today) and National Poetry Month. I've always thought of poetry as a great platform for movement. Poems provide a variety of rhythms and patterns that children can move to, and their length is usually appropriate for the short attention span of many young movers. Hope you enjoy all the poetry--as well as the poetic picture books--in this month's roundup!
Jodie at Growing Book by Book shares a list of her 10 favorite poetry books for children, including classics like Where the Sidewalk Ends and themed books of poetry about science, pigs, baseball, and more. Jodie says that "many of them would be great for dance." Just the title of the first book on her list--Sing a Song of Popcorn--makes me want to start jumping up and down! 
Natalie from Wading Through Words wrote a charming poem this month about why you might think twice before dancing with a lion. Accompanying the poem "Don't Dance with a Lion" is an equally charming illustration by Julie Rowan-Zock...but you'll have to go to Natalie's blog to see it!
In honor of National Poetry Month, Renee LaTulippe has been featuring a poet a day on her blog No Water River. One of her guests is children's author Deborah Diesen, who wrote the brilliant poem "The Daffodil Dance." Head over to No Water River to hear Deborah read the whole poem and to find some extension activities to go along with it...
Early one spring,
purely by chance,
I happened to witness
the daffodils dance...
At By Word of Beth, Beth Stilborn has been sticking to her letter-of-the-day theme this month. "F" is for First Ballet, a rhyming picture book about a five-year-old's first trip to the ballet. But just in case you can't find this out-of-print book, Beth also explores My First Ballet Class, which uses photographs and text to show children what a first ballet class might be like. Fun!
At Nic's Barefoot Books Edinburgh, Nicola reviews the popular picture book The Animal Boogie, which comes with an enhanced sing-along CD. You'll have to check out the post to see what an "enhanced" CD is...and to learn about the activity kit that can be purchased with the book.
At OMazing Kids, Angela shares some indoor yoga activities inspired by the picture book Urban Animals. From creating animal picture cards to making binoculars out of cardboard tubes, she goes all out to prepare her little yogis for a very creative class!
Great stuff, as usual, Kerry! (And I'm not saying that just because one of my posts is featured!)
ReplyDeleteI've really been enjoying other people's focus on poetry this month -- it's almost like having a month of music.
Animal Boogie sounds like such fun!
Hi, Beth. That's sweet of you! I've also enjoyed the focus on poetry month during April. So many talented bloggers out there! Here's a YouTube video of The Animal Boogie so you can get a better feel for the song and book. It really is a fun one!
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25_u1GzruQM
I actually enjoyed reading through this posting.Many thanks.
ReplyDeletePicture Flipbook