The more than 70 dance activities included in this handbook give educators the tools to use dance in their classrooms, gyms, and playgrounds. Combining theory with practice, this introduction to dance history and terminology provides a foundation for the lesson plans tailored for physical education, kinesthetic learning, and arts education contexts. Although complete on their own, each lesson plan can be customized to fit into any curriculum. Appendices on equipment and dance-education networking resources are included, along with a specialized index categorized into age-appropriate dance activities, sample lesson plans, and group dances.
The dancing dinos are back, and this time they are taking over the classroom in this fun, rhyming Step 1 reader that is perfect for back to school! Dinos dancing in a book. Dinos leaping, look, look, look! Dinos pasting red and blue. Dinos wasting paint and glue! When the dancing dino's book turns up in a school library, they leap out and bring their musical mayhem to a kid’s classroom! Step 1 Readers feature big type and easy words for children who know the alphabet and are eager to begin reading. Rhyme and rhythmic text paired picture clues help children decode the story.
Jean Little's poignant novel about an abandoned girl, and the dog who helps teach her how to trust again. Ten-year-old Min has had a long history of foster care since she was abandoned at age three. Now, let go by yet another foster family, Min continues to build a protective wall around herself. Her newest caregiver, a former Children's Aid doctor, sees past Min's hardened shell and tries to find a way to reach her...and does, finally, by taking in a sick, neglected dog that has escaped from a puppy mill. While watching the dog recover and open its heart to its new owners, Min comes out of her own shell. Readers will rejoice as Min opens her heart and allows herself to be a part of a loving family, to make friends and to finally stand up to the taunts of a bully, whose hurtful words have contributed to her lack of self-esteem.
“A glimpse into the fragile psyche of a dancer.” —The Washington Post Jenifer Ringer, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, was thrust into the headlines after her weight was commented on by a New York Times critic, and her response ignited a public dialogue about dance and weight. Ballet aficionados and aspiring performers of all ages will want to join Ringer behind the scenes as she shares her journey from student to star and candidly discusses both her struggle with an eating disorder and the media storm that erupted after the Times review. An unusually upbeat account of life on the stage, Dancing Through It is also a coming-of-age story and an inspiring memoir of faith and of triumph over the body issues that torment all too many women and men.
The television actress recounts her experiences as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars," a program in which she participated in part as a way to showcase her Christian faith, and describes the lessons she learned facing its challenges.
Vocation is more than a job. It is our relationships and responsibilities woven into the work of God. In following our calling to seek the welfare of our world, we find that it flourishes and so do we. Garber offers here a book for parents, artists, students, public servants and businesspeople—for all who want to discover the virtue of vocation.
This acclaimed graphic memoir that Kirkus calls “cathartic and uplifting” is the tale of losing a parent and what it feels like to grieve and to move forward. “I can’t recommend this kind, funny, and poignant memoir enough. It’s an intimate, life-affirming story of resilience that feels like a good friend.” —Mari Andrew, author of Am I There Yet? Tyler Feder had just white-knuckled her way through her first year of college when her super cool mom was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Now, with a decade of grief and nervous laughter under her belt, Tyler shares the story of that gut-wrenching, heart-pounding, extremely awkward time in her life—from her mom’s first oncology appointment to her funeral through the beginning of facing reality as a motherless daughter. She shares the sting of loss that never goes away, the uncomfortable post-death firsts, and the deep-down, hard-to-talk-about feelings of the grieving process. Dancing at the Pity Party is a frank and refreshingly funny look at what it’s like to grieve—for anyone struggling with loss who just wants someone to get it.
This is the story of Barbara's journey with her mother through her mother's battle with Alzheimer's. While it is a devastating and debilitating disease, they found moments of joy and laughter along the way. It also tells the story of Barbara's journey from childhood family dysfunction to forgiveness. Both journeys converge when Barbara and her three sisters unite as adults to give their mother loving care during the final years of her life. Barbara's love of dance weaves in and out of both journeys, culminating in a surprising interaction between Barbara and her mother during her mother's advanced stage of Alzheimer's. Barbara Rudnicki is retired after teaching high school English for 40 years. Now, she works part-time at Danson Feet Dance Studio, where she clogs once a week with fun women of all ages. For over 25 years, she has enjoyed summer trips exploring Minnesota with a group of teacher friends and finds that no matter how small the town, it always has fun surprises. She loves spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. While this is Barbara's first adventure in publishing, she has read her work at places such as The Loft, Patrick's Cabaret, and the Blue Moon Café. Barbara Rudnicki's Dancing Through the Storm is a memoir about a woman who forgets and the women around her-her daughters-who refuse to forget. The slow, then quick, then slow presentation of Barb's mother's descent into Alzheimer's disease is carefully woven into Dancing Through the Storm, making the book feel like a dance between the author and the reader. Indeed, the dancing motif, used as an extended metaphor throughout, provides moments of joy in a book that is deeply sad but necessary reading for anyone whose life has been touched by dementia or Alzheimer's disease. - Nicole Helget, Minnesota Book Award Author, The End of the Wild
In Meg Medina's follow-up to her Newbery Medal-winning novel, Merci takes on seventh grade, with all its travails of friendship, family, love--and finding your rhythm.
They said only men could paint powerful pictures, but Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) splashed her way through the modern art world. Channeling deep emotion, Helen poured paint onto her canvas and danced with the colors to make art unlike anything anyone had ever seen. She used unique tools like mops and squeegees to push the paint around, to dazzling effects. Frankenthaler became an originator of the influential “Color Field” style of abstract expressionist painting with her “soak stain” technique, and her artwork continues to electrify new generations of artists today. Dancing Through Fields of Color discusses Frankenthaler’s early life, how she used colors to express emotion, and how she overcame the male-dominated art world of the 1950s.
