Book of Bones: On the Move

Lesson Key Facts

• Grade(s): K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• Subject(s): Dance, Math, Science
• Duration of lesson: Multiple lesson segments ranging from 15-45 minutes
• Author(s): BYU region BTS Dance Educators: Cherisa Jones, Miriam Bowen, Diana Brewster, Angee Tanner, Chris Roberts, Rachel Marie Kimball, Melanie Fillmore, Jana Shumway, Heather Wilson, formatted by Yvette May

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Note to Teachers: This is a compilation of nine stand-alone lessons, each prepared for different grade levels, and connected to different core standards, with focus on movement, dance, creating, and performing. You and your students will thoroughly enjoy exploring the wonderful “Book of Bones”, while on the move. 

Before teaching any of these lessons, you will want to prepare appropriate movement space in your classroom. 

Establish clear behavior expectations. Such as, encourage students to practice and maintain respectful awareness of personal and group movement space. Provide and practice a clear signal for students to respond to when starting/stopping a movement experience (i.e. drum, clap, etc.) 

You may want to demonstrate and practice application of the “I CAN” statements found 
below. 

Behavior I CAN Statements: 

1. I can explore movement without talking.
2. I can follow my own pathways and ideas.
3. I can listen to and follow instructions.
    

Lessons:

This lesson plan and procedure outline is only meant to give a brief overview of individual lessons that are written and shared within this slide presentation: Book of Bones: On the Move! Please open the link to see more. 

Using the Main Menu, Slide 3, you can review and choose a lesson that will work best for you and your students. 
 

Most of all, have a delightful time moving and dancing together using the wonderful Science content found in the “Book of Bones”.

Students will move, dance, create, and perform using the Science text, “Book of Bones,”
by Gabrielle Balkan, and illustrated by Sam Brewster.

These lessons can be used to meet standards in many grades and subject areas. We
will highlight one grade’s standards to give an example of application.

SEEd-Kindergarten

• Standard K.2.1: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to describe patterns of what living things (plants and animals, including humans) need to survive. Emphasize the similarities and differences between the survival needs of all living things. Examples could include that plants depend on air, water, minerals, and light to survive, or animals depend on plants or other animals to survive.
• Standard K.2.2: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about patterns in the relationships between the needs of different living things (plants and animals, including humans) and the places they live. Emphasize that living things need water, air, and resources and that they live in places that have the things they need. Examples could include investigating plants grown in various locations and comparing the results or comparing animals with the places they live.
• Standard K.2.3: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how living things (plants and animals, including humans) affect their surroundings to survive. Examples could include squirrels digging in the ground to hide their food, plant roots breaking concrete, or humans building shelters.
• Standards K.2.4: Design and communicate a solution to address the effects that living things (plants and animals, including humans) experience while trying to survive in their surroundings. Define the problem by asking questions and gathering information, convey designs through sketches, drawings, or physical models, and compare designs. Emphasize students working from a plant, animal, or human perspective. Examples could include a plant growing to get more sunlight, a beaver building a dam, or humans caring for the Earth by reusing and recycling natural resources.

Kindergarten Dance

• Strand: CREATE
  • Standard K.D.CR.2: Explore movement inspired by a variety of stimuli.
• Strand: PERFORM 
  • Standard K.D.P.3: Move body parts one at a time and in a variety of combinations

• One or more copies: Balkan, Gabrielle, and Sam Brewster, Book of Bones: 10
• Record-Breaking Animals, Phaidon Press, 2017
• Optional: drum or chime
• Look at individual lessons for additional needed materials.
• Suggested Music Selections from Miriam Bowen, Diana Brewster, and Jana
  Shumway.pdf

Learning the Elements of Dance is B.E.S.T. pdf
Dance Teaching Resources and Strategies. pdf
Moving body parts cards. pdf
Brain Dance Ways to Move .pdf
Resources/dance

From the “Book of Bones”, BYU Arts Partnership slide presentation by Yvette May.

• Children dancing, public domain image
• Book of Bones cover page on Amazon
• Slide 3, Main Menu, from Book of Bones slideshow