National Dance Day is September 16, 2023!

• Enjoy the video book trailer for Danza!: Amalia Hernandez and El Ballet Folklórico de México, then share videos of actual folklorico performances from the internet.

• Make your own wrist bands like Josephine’s with these activity sheets for Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker. You could also show students how to dance the “Charleston”, a dance popular in her time.

• Share these complete video book readings with readers and invite them to complete book cover jigsaw puzzles.

  • Amy Wu and the Ribbon Dance
  • Josie Dances
  • Finding My Dance

• Tune in to this audio excerpt for I’ll be the One by Lyla Lee and then invite students to get up and dance K-Pop style with this tutorial.

• Listen to the co-author of Firebird talk about the discipline of artists and dancers in this Meet-the-Illustrator Recording. Encourage students to think about other things that require discipline and dedication. Consider using the prompt on page 5 in this discussion guide to help students to write a short essay about someone who inspires them.

• Research differently-abled dancers and world dance traditions using prompts in this discussion guide for A Time to Dance, after watching the video book trailer.

• Learn about a dance that broke barriers in this Meet-the-Author Recording for ¡Mambo Mucho Mambo!: The Dance That Crossed Color Lines, then find fun questions and activity prompts to learn about dance and music in this activity guide.