Just Dance by Patricia MacLachlan in Sonlight’s HBL K Program
More videos and activities for Just Dance from Sonlight’s HBL K Program. Arranged by chapter. There are a lot of country and opera songs in this book, so I tried to link them to songs for your child who might want to hear them.
There are two WARNINGS for this book, marked in red.
Intro: Just Dance
Chapter 1: Sweet Songs and Stinkbugs
- Watch a female soprano singing Un Bel Di by Puccini.
- Stinkbug Devotional Lesson (might want to pre-watch, they use the word “nasty” which I don’t like to use, when talking about how stinkbugs smell, plus they talk about the book of Job, including the deaths of his family and his friends suggesting he might die, but the lesson is on how to not have a stinky attitude).
Chapter 2: A Perfect Day
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- Create a Family Log of your own. Take a minute or two to talk about what happened that day that others might be interested in. Help your child write them down, and send them off to family members who will be interested in hearing about their day.
- Caro Nome by Rigoletto
- The book doesn’t specify a song, so I chose Violetta’s Aria from La Traviata by Verdi.
Chapter 3: Jack ‘n’ Jack
- I’ve Loved You All Over the World by Willie Nelson.
- An Exaltation of Larks is a real book you can get today for any children who love animals and words, or loves to know what groups of animals are called.
- If you have a young writer on your hands, or a word-lover, try writing a poem together. Go outside, describe something you see, and encourage your child to describe it as well. Write it down and help them arrange it in a poetic way. If your child’s artistic talents lean in other directions, you might try having them draw what they see, write a song about it, or express it in other ways
Chapter 4: Great Joy
- Again, no specific song is listed, so I choose Pa- pa- pa- Pageno from The Magic Flute by Mozart. It’s a little more kid-friendly and a little less dark than some of the more famous songs.
Chapter 5: Buds
- You might wish to go for a drive and have them describe what they see as you go, practicing using descriptive words such as color words, words that describe condition (new, shiny, old, worn out, etc.), or words that describe distinctive details. You can discuss adjectives if you want, but at this point, just practicing using adjectives is enough.
Chapter 6: Haiku
- Try writing a Haiku with your child about something unique that happened to them or something they see around them, whether inside or outside. They might want to use some adjectives or descriptive words to help get the right number of syllables.
Chapter 7: Blue Eyes, Yellow Eyes
- WARNING: In this chapter, a dog almost dies from being locked in a car. If you have sensitive children or are sensitive to this issue, you might wish to preread or skip this chapter, or part of the chapter.
- Sylvie does two small actions that make a difference to others in her world. She helps rescue a dog, and she hugged someone who never got hugs. Those small things impacted others around her. Help your child brainstorm ways they can make an impact, no matter how small. Choose one you can help your child achieve.
Chapter 8: A Sweet Thing
- WARNING: In this chapter, a donkey almost chokes on a carrot. You might wish to pre-read or skip this portion if this might upset your child.
- Have your child draw a picture of all the things they might want to be when they grow up.
Chapter 9: Past and Present
- Enjoy a bowl of soup together.
- Buy a newspaper and read together an article from the arts and music sections. You might wish to take the articles, poems, and/or drawings your child created in this chapter and make a “concert” or “show” of your own. Display their items and either invite people to join (you can write invitations even if it’s only for the people in your house), or have a virtual tour with more distant relatives.
Chapter 10: Time to Say Goodbye
Chapter 11: The Secret Lives of Crows
- Have your child put on their “Concert” or “Show.” Display their items, read their poems or have them do a reading, and show off their art, from anywhere throughout the year. After the show, sit down with them, and talk about the memories they created when they made their pieces, and talk about how you will treasure the pieces because you will love the memories you made together. Make a video or take pictures to upload to the cloud or print for the memories, and then you can clean up together.
