Snowdance
Suggested Activities for Parents and Teachers
Snowdance is a calendar album with one song representing each month of the year.

This Year (January)
PreK – 2nd Grade
Write Something New: Make a list of New Year’s Resolutions.  What are some things that you would like to do that you’ve never done before?  What are some things that you did this year that you now know to never do again?

2nd - 5th Grade                      
Do Something New: The Narrator suggests that some rather bad things happened last year. Have your students act out scenes that are described in the song - when the Narrator shampooed her brother’s hamster, buried the car keys, blamed her messy room on an elf.  Then have your students continue the scenes by acting out what happened when her family discovered what she had done.

Snowdance (February)
PreK – 2nd Grade
Do Something New:  Dance! Have your students dance and act out each verse of the song.  Pay careful attention to the similarities and differences of how each thing in the song might move.  How might a snowflake move?  A snowman?  An ice skater (ice hockey, figure skater, speed skater, etc.)  You can also make up your own dance moves for the chorus – play will all sorts of silly and exuberant kinds of movements that your students think might help it snow!

2nd - 5th Grade
Talk About Something New: In this song, the narrator branches out from the traditional Rainmaker figure and becomes a Snowmaker, doing a festive dance in order to make it snow. Have your students research Rainmakers in various cultures.  Use this information to facilitate a class discussion about what they’ve learned.  Why do cultures call on Rainmakers to bring rain and why they might need them.  What other variations on Rainmakers can your class come up with?

A View From the Backseat (March)
PreK-2nd and 2–5th Grade
Learn Something New: The family in this song is taking a car trip that they take every weekend.  Talk to your students about places that they go and how they get there.  Then look at a map of your community, state or part of the country and have your students map out a trip they’ve taken or would like to take.  How are the routes different if you take a train rather than a car?  What if you walk?

2nd - 5th Grade
Talk About Something New: Problems arise for the family in the song when the car they are driving runs out of gas.  Use this story-song as a lead-in to a discussion.  Ask your students what they know about gasoline.  Why do cars need gas? What technological changes are being made to move cars beyond their reliance on gas?  Are these changes necessary?  Why or why not?

Mud Music (April)
PreK – 2nd Grade
Draw Something New:  Have your students make pictures of mud puddles as if they were people.  What kinds of faces would they have?  How would their hands and feet be different from human hands and feet?  What kinds of clothes would they wear?  Try doing the same project using various art mediums like paints, crayons, clay or by gluing fabric to paper.  

2nd - 5th Grade
Write Something New:  In this song, a child cannot resist jumping in mud puddles because they sing to her and coax her to “Jump on in!” Talk to your students about personification and then have them brainstorm a list of things that might be more fun if they could talk (mud puddles that want to be jumped in, a tree that wants to be climbed, toys that can clean themselves up after play, etc.) Then have each student write a short story which includes the personification of an inanimate object.
             

Waiting for it to Grow (May)
PreK – 2nd Grade
Do Something New:  Grow a classroom garden either inside or outside.  Small kits for growing herbs or seed packets for small plants and flowers are available at most gardening stores.  Allow each student to be responsible for his or her own plant, or rotate who waters them, checks the soil or keeps track of how much sunlight is needed.  Have each student keep a written or illustrated record of how fast (or slowly!) the plants are growing.

2nd - 5th Grade
Make Something New: This song can be used as a fun enhancement to a curriculum unit on gardens or planting – it can also be a nice add-on to the project above.  The narrator in this song learns about planting but then mistakenly thinks that he can plant broken toys in order to grow new ones.  Ask your students what silly things they would plant.  Then have each student draw a picture of their tree (or bush or shrub!)  What would a skateboard tree look like?  A video game tree?  Have them pay careful attention to the root structure, the trunk, the leaves or the animals that might inhabit it.  Compare and contrast the silly trees to real trees.

My Treehouse (June)
PreK – 2nd Grade
Make Something New: This song is all about making a place for yourself. People aren't the only things that need their own special places - animals do too! Have your students each pick their favorite animal. Using magazines and other pictures, have them each make a collage illustrating the habitat of the animal of their choice.

2nd - 5th Grade
Do Something New:  The narrators in this song use things that are in their homes and pretend that they are other things (a bunk bed becomes a pirate ship, etc.)  Bring in some common household items, or using objects from your classroom, play this simple game with your students.  Split the kids into two or more groups.  Pick an object (a book, a ruler, a ball, etc.) and have each group come up with something else that it could be used as (a book could be a hat, a stepladder or a seat cushion, etc.)  Go back and forth between groups until all ideas have been exhausted.  Switch objects.  For some added excitement set a timer for two minutes and see how many things the groups can come up with before time runs out.

Elm Avenue Waltz (July)
PreK - 2nd Grade
Write Something New: This song is about courage. The narrator, after breaking a neighbor's window with a baseball, must confront his fears and admit what he's done. Talk with your students about things that they've done that required great amounts of courage. Have each student write (or for younger students, illustrate) a paragraph or more describing their experience.

2nd - 5th Grade
Do Something New: This story song has a lot of specific actions in it - working in small groups, and using the recording as a guide, have your students act out what happens between Frankie, Teddy and the Narrator. Develop other scenes that happen right before the song starts or right after it ends. Do the kids remain friends? Does the narrator get angry or upset with Teddy and Frankie for leaving? Do Teddy and Frankie believe what happened with Ms. McPhee? What happens the next time they're all playing baseball?

All Wet (August)
PreK - 2nd Grade
Make Something New: This song is a celebration of playing in water! Swimming pools, bathtubs, boats, fishing or just splashing around - the song's narrator loves them all. Make a collage to match the lyrics of this song. Then think about your favorite activites during the other three seasons and make a collage for each of them.

2nd - 5th Grade
Write Something New: This joyful tribute to summer is all about getting wet and playing in the water. But each season comes with it's own activities and joys. What do you like to do in the winter? What about in the fall or spring? Using the song as a guide, write new verses about the other seasons like "I like to ski down the mountains" or "I like to plant in the garden."

September March (September)
PreK-2nd and 2nd – 5th Grade
Write Something New:  The narrator in this song has first-day-of-school jitters.  Brainstorm with your students what might happen to the narrator once they arrive at school that day.  For older students, have them each write a first-person narrative paragraph telling what happens once they arrive at school.

PreK-2nd and 2nd – 5th Grade
Do Something New:  New situations can be scary.  Talk with your students about times when they have been nervous about a new situation.  What could you do to make yourself feel better when you are nervous?   What could you do to make things easier for someone else who’s scared of a new situation?  After discussing these ideas, have your students act out scenes based on what you’ve discussed.  For example, a child who’s nervous about coming to a new school can be approached by another student who is friendly and welcoming or a parent can comfort a child who is scared of sleeping in their new house.

The Moonlight Wolfbite Batjuice Jamboree (October)
PreK-2nd and 2nd – 5th Grade
Do Something New: The chorus of this song mentions numerous creatures like werewolves and vampires that all move in very different ways – some spin, some jump, etc.  For very young students, simply have them dance and move their bodies to follow the choreography of the chorus.  For older students split the kids into groups – one group for each kind of monster - and have them explore how each creature might hold their bodies – werewolves might hunch over, skeletons might wobble when they walk.  Now dance along with the chorus noticing the differences in the kinds of movement each group uses.  Switch groups, change tempos or even act out the whole song!

2nd - 5th Grade
Write Something New: What would the Narrators see if they went back in the morning?

Thanksgiving With Aunt Pearl (November)
PreK – 2nd Grade
Talk About Something New: Holiday rituals are different in every family.  Talk with your students about how Thanksgiving rituals have changed over the years – Thanksgiving today is very different than it was in the 1600s!  How do your students celebrate Thanksgiving?  How did you celebrate when you were a child?  How do you celebrate now?  Have each student draw a picture of a holiday at their house.
 

2nd - 5th Grade
Do Something New: Have your students use their bodies to make a “photo album” of the narrators Thanksgiving. Taking turns, a few students at a time, have them freeze in poses that illustrate parts of the song.  One “picture” could be the drive to Aunt Pearl’s house, another could be Aunt Pearl greeting guests at her door, the kids at the kiddie table or the narrator at the grown-up table with all of the adults.  Add your own scenes – what happens after dinner?  What about on the drive home?

Next Year (December)
Coming Soon!