We are excited to share our August Children’s Book of the Month selections for both early and late elementary: Dinosaur Rap and Pictures at an Exhibition.

Early Elementary: Dinosaur Rap

Dinosaur Rap 
Written by John Foster
Illustrated by Debbie Harter

The Barefoot Sing-a-long Series is a collection of catchy tunes with recordings and videos for each that enhance each song. We’ve got several of these titles in our catalog from this series.  However, the Dinosaur Rap deserves special attention, since it introduces lessons on a number of musical and cross-curricular concepts!

• Movement – Dinosaur Rap is all about dancing moves! It features seven dinosaurs, and each has its own “move,” such as tapping, flapping, twisting, swishing, stomping, swooping, and clicking.  Not to mention asking kids to bellow, roar, jump, thump, and tap in the chorus!  Each student or group could take the part of one of the dinosaurs and create a movement for that dinosaur that corresponds with the song.  They could teach their move to the class, and they could perform it all together!  A great song to get kids up and moving!
• Rhythm – this is a rap, after all! The words rhyme and have their own rhythm, and kids can’t help but rap in time!  Add some non-pitched percussion to keep the beat in the chorus. Have each group pick a specific instrument to represent their dinosaur. Here is an idea in addition or in place of the move for each dinosaur in Dinosaur Rap. Students can play an instrument when that dinosaur’s verse comes up. This can create a sound story!
• Cross-Curricular – learn about the dinosaurs with informative pages in the back of the book including “Who’s Who?”. This introduces each dinosaur and what it was known for. Also, the Age of Dinosaurs describes the dinosaur eras: Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quarternary and how the dinosaurs were involved with each. This could be an excellent opportunity to work with the classroom teacher and library media specialist on a social studies lesson or research project on dinosaurs using Dinosaur Rap!

Bonus Material!

The Dinosaur Rap CD-ROM also includes videos with and without the vocals, plus audio tracks with or without the vocals for performances. A complete package! Take a look at this video from Barefoot Books for a preview of what you’ll receive on the enhanced CD included with the book:

West Music has a variety of finger puppets available that could enhance the presentation of Dinosaur Rap. These include Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Tyrannosaurus Rex!

Late Elementary / Middle School: Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition
Author: Anna Harwell Celenza, 2016 Edition
Illustrated by JoAnn E. Kitchel

For older elementary students learning about composers, the story of the creation of Pictures at an Exhibition should definitely be on the list. Anna Celenza tells the true story of three friends, and how the death of one (an artist) inspires another (a composer) to create an exhibition of his friend’s artwork. This is done through music composed for each image by the composer as a tribute. The artwork in the book features intricate borders inspired by Russian folk designs. There is a note at the end of the book from the author talking about how she researched the story of the three friends.

Some ideas for classroom use:

• Introduce a study of Pictures at an Exhibition. A recording is available via a link included in the book.
• This book could be an excellent way to introduce a Russian folk song or folk dance.
  • Korobushka (Rhythmically Moving CD 8)
  • Troika (Rhythmically Moving CD 2)
  • Kalinka (It’s a Musical World)
• This book could introduce a cross-curricular study of Russian artwork of the period.
• For a larger project, students could select a piece of art from a specific period and create music to accompany the artwork, like what Mussorgsky did with Pictures.

NOTE: This book is part of a larger “Once Upon a Masterpiece” series by Anna Harwell Celenza. We also stock Haydn’s Farewell Symphony and will be adding more soon.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on how you could use either of these books in your classrooms. Thanks in advance for being part of our West Music community of teachers!

Andrea Pelloquin

Andrea Pelloquin is the Education Consultant specializing in print materials, recorders, Nuvo instruments, and puppets at West Music. She is a former public school music teacher and has spent the last 15 years in the world of music publishing and retail. She has also maintained a private flute and piano studio for over 20 years.  She welcomes suggestions and recommendations from our community of teachers.