CONNIE'S BLOG:
Moving Is Learning!
Connie has been blogging since 2011. Her posts range from tips for teachers, the benefits of dance, playful class plans, to how to choose a creative dance class for your child, and much, much more! All of her posts are below, starting with the most recently-published ones.
Guest Blog Post for Free Spirit Publishing: Make Physical Distancing Fun with this SEL and Movement Activity!
March 1, 2021
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Halloween Poem and Dance Activity
October 24, 2020
Hello, Halloween!
Here is a lively poem, SHAKE, RATTLE, AND ROLL, that I wrote in honor of Halloween. It accompanies the dance activity below. Have fun grooving at the
Skeleton Jamboree and Monster Ball!
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Here I go, clackety, clop,
I'm gettin' ready for the skeleton hop.
.
I'll be gleaming from head to toe.
Shining my bones 'til they sparkle and glow.
Cranium, maxillae, mandible bones,
Humerus, radius, trapezoid bones,
Pectoral girdle, scapula bones,
Tarsus, talus, cuneiform bones.
Waxing my skull to shine like new,
Wearing my mask and top hat too.
Look at my pale, unearthly gleam,
Under the moon, I grin and beam.
Shake those sacrums and ischiums now,
Rattle and roll, curtsy and bow.
Clavicle, vomer, and palatine bones.
Pelvis, ribs and ischium bones,
Femur, patella, tibia bones.
Phalanges, ulna, cuboid bones
Shake and shimmy and strut and swing,
Rock and rattle and do our thing.
Jam and jitterbug, jive and jig.
Move and groove at our jamboree gig!
Halloween Dance Activity
Here is your invitation to dance like a monster, a skeleton, or a witch with a broomstick!
Imagine you are invited to a monster ball. What monster would you want to be? What would you look like? What would you be wearing? Show how you would walk, how you would run, and how you would dance.
Now think about all of the other characters at the ball. Let's try moving and dancing like each one. Here are some ideas, and you will have a chance to think of your own and explore those movements too.
(Call out the Halloween characters on the list one by one, and give children plenty of time to explore their movement ideas before moving on to the next prompt. Play any of these musical selections while children dance about the different characters).
Witch with a broomstick
Zombie
Frankenstein
Skeleton
Ghost
Black cat
Bat
Jack O'Lantern
Spider
Robot
What else?
Which was your favorite? Let's do one final dance, so everyone can dance about their very favorite Halloween character!
Music suggestions:
Monster Mash, (Bobby Pickett, 1962)
Monster Boogie (Laurie Berkner Band, from the 1998 Album Buzz Buzz)
Night on Bald Mountain, Mussorgsky, from Pictures at an Exhibition (any rendition)
For very young children: Halloween Shark (Pink Fong Halloween Special) Apple Music
Keep on Dancing!
Connie
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Connie Leads a Thirty-Minute Romp Through the Alphabet!
June 22, 2020
Hello!
I was invited by Kids & Company, of Toronto, Canada, to lead a thirty-minute video movement session for young children in May. Kids & Company requested a presentation that would get children up and moving while spending more time indoors during the Covid quarantine.
I thought it would be fun to create a short activity for each letter of the alphabet. I devised 26 movement prompts that children and families can do together. This creative movement session will definitely use a lot of that great kid energy!
Read Post Here: DANCE THE ALPHABET!
For more ideas about movement, the alphabet, and early literacy, check out my picture book
From A to Z with Energy! 26 Ways to Move and Play
Keep on Dancing, Everyone!
Connie
Playful Movement Activities to Start the School Year
August 1, 2019
