Read Aloud: Giraffes Can't Dance
Whole group
I chose Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae for my read aloud because it addresses a lot of the emotional pitfalls people encounter when dancing (my body isn’t “right” for dance, I don’t have enough skill, I’m not good at it, I’ll just embarrassed myself, I shouldn’t even try) and counters them with the idea that dancing is for everyone. It emphasizes that there is no one “right” way to dance, showcases many different styles of dance, and demonstrates how they are all beautiful in their own ways. My principal objective for the lesson was to drive home the idea that there's no one right way to dance and that dancing is for everyone. Additionally, I liked how the book contained lots of rhyming words, featured colorful, engaging pictures, displayed an range of emotions, and was an appropriate length for circle time.
I decided to include three activities after reading the book that I hoped would introduce the students to new forms of movement and provide them with a window into the immense variety of dance styles. First, I talked a bit about ballet, the style that I dance, played some classical music, and passed around my pointe shoes for the preschoolers to observe. Afterwards, we had a dance party. I played parts of six different songs representing six styles of dance and had the preschoolers show me how they would dance to those songs. Finally, I called the students back to the rug and dismissed them for recess by playing the six songs again and having them dance out of the room when they heard their favorite one.
Learning Domains
Physical domain
Social / emotional domain
Cognitive Domain
Language / Communic-ation Domain
The preschoolers will work on their gross motor skills and awareness of their bodies in space during the dance party (balancing, spinning, keeping a safe body, etc.).
The preschoolers will work on recognizing and relating to the characters' emotions, recognizing kind vs unkind words, having a calm body, regulating their emotions if they don't get to answer a question, and transitioning between activities.
The preschoolers will work on connecting the characters' experiences to the real world, making observations about the book, interpreting the tone of a song, and modifying their dancing to fit that tone.
The preschoolers will work on interpreting the story, asking questions, and answering questions, and they will learn what the word "styles" means as it relates to dance.
Methodology
Creative Curriculum Goals
Strategies to Implement
Materials needed
Follows classroom routines + rules
Demonstrates basic locomotor skills
Answers questions
Asks questions
Comprehends and interprets meaning from books and other texts
Understands the purpose of writing
Recognizes own feelings and manages them appropriately
Shows awareness of position in space
Affect + tone modulation
Observing the cover + giving them something to wonder about / a reason to keep listening
Observing illustrations + wondering what’s happening
Pointing out rhymes
Asking for connections
Asking how the preschoolers think a character feels
Book: Giraffes Can’t Dance
2 pairs of pointe shoes
Bluetooth speaker
Phone with a playlist of pre-selected music
Outline of Read Aloud
Talk about the cover: What do you think is happening here? What kind of animal is that? What is he doing?
Hmm, I wonder why the title says giraffes can’t dance if we can see a giraffe dancing right there on the cover!
Define the word “prance”
What do we notice about the words sad and bad? That’s right, they rhyme!
What are all these animals doing? The warthogs are waltzing, the lions are doing the tango, the chimps are doing the cha-cha, but what are they all doing? That’s right, dancing! There are so many ways to dance!
When Gerald is being bullied: Are these animals being kind to Gerald? Noooooo.
Next page: How do you think Gerald is feeling here? Why do you think he feels that way? I wonder what he’s going to do next.
How do you think Gerald is feeling here? Has dancing ever made you happy?
Focus on the last two lines and introduce the pointe shoes: we all can dance when we find music that we love. Connect back to different styles of dancing from earlier. Different styles of dance have different music and different outfits. The style I like to dance is called ballet. Does anyone else dance ballet? When I dance ballet, I wear pointe shoes and listen to classical music.
Play some classical music and pass around the pointe shoes. What do you notice? Connect to the 5 senses.
But there are lots of different styles, ballet isn’t the only one. Ask if any of them take dance classes.
Now, I am going to play lots of different types of music that you can dance to in lots of different ways. In a minute, I’m going to have you stand up and find a starfish space. Once you’re in your starfish space, I’m going to start the music and you show me how you would dance to the song I’m playing. During the ballet song, I’m going to be dancing on my pointe shoes, so my starfish space is going to be the big rug.
Call them back to their dot spots.
I’m going to play each of these songs again. If it was your favorite, you can get up and dance to the line.
Reflection
When I was planning my read aloud, my main objective was to introduce the preschoolers to the idea that there are lots of different styles of dance and that there is no one right way to dance. When I named some examples of different dance styles and asked if any of the students took dance lessons, many of them chimed in with connections and excitement. It was nice that the preschoolers got to see how many different styles of dance are represented just within their own classroom.
The intro was the most difficult part of circle time. As soon as I sat down, hands flew up and many of the preschoolers started shouting out questions and comments. I called on a few quiet hands to start, but I realized that the questions would go on forever if I didn’t stop them and I needed to just start the book. Once I started reading, they were able to make the mental shift to circle time. Throughout the book, I often had to remind students to raise quiet hands and praise students who had listening bodies, but that’s developmentally appropriate for preschoolers. Sometimes, I even appreciated the calling out. I was pleasantly surprised that, at a certain page, a number of kids called out that the characters weren’t using kind words. I loved that they were making observations about the book and that they were recognizing kind vs unkind words.
When I introduced the dance party, one student immediately cried out that she didn’t want to dance. This particular student has a pattern of putting her foot down and refusing to participate at certain times, so I just told her that it was okay, she didn’t have to dance, and I moved on. I was surprised to see that two students who had been engaged in the lesson and who typically love dancing followed her lead and sat out as well. Aside from those three students, the rest of the class was excited to get moving. It was interesting to see which students gravitated toward which songs.
Overall, I think the read aloud went really well! The preschoolers were invested in the story and the activity, we had a great conversation about dance classes and different styles of dance, and we finished with a super fun dance party that left all the participants laughing and smiling.
