THE SNOWMAN WALTZ with Karen Konnerth

Come Dance with Karen and Me

Save us a spot on your dance card and come waltzing with us as we chat snowmen, penguins, snow, music, time signatures, curriculum . . .we really packed this snowball full of fun tidbits, curriculum connections and lots of music! Timely, too, since Karen and I BOTH got snow this week (which is a rare occurrence for us since we are both Southern girls.) AND,  I LOVE having repeat guests because they become friends, and I especially love when the timing works out that I can teach with the book around that time. I just used this book for all my music classes last week and they loved it! What perfect timing, since snow arrived Tuesday night for us! 

THE SNOWMAN WALTZ

Written by Karen Konnerth and illustrated by Emily Neilson, this book is perfection for introducing kids to different time signatures.  While the book is going to help them become familiar with and differentiate 3/4 and 4/4 time in music, it is also a lovely story about learning to get along with people fundamentally different from yourself, and about accepting differences, forging unlikely friendships, taking turns, learning from each other. . . and if you want to stretch the curricular connections, you can expand to talk about snowmen or snow and penguins and more. This book is a treasure trove of inspiration for littles that could branch off in numerous directions.  It is sweet, rhythmic, and absolutely beautifully illustrated.  If you're in the mood for a delightful winter book, look no further than THE SNOWMAN WALTZ, published by Sleeping Bear Press!

A Little Jam. . .(The Music Kind)

If your students (or kids or whomever you're sharing this book with) are like mine, they have NO IDEA what a waltz is.  This is a lovely sample danced to My Snowman and Me by Sia so there's a bit of a double meaning there.  If this is not something you're interested in showing your students, there are lots more choices in the YouTube playlist in the links section. My students particularly also enjoyed this Freeze Dance.  It was especially appropriate because it had the snowman and the penguin. :-)

Teacher Tips, Tricks and Topics

This book is so rich and perfect for a multidisciplinary unit. In the links section, you'll find even more activities and ways to use the book. Here are some fabulous tips and topics you can share in conjunction wit this book:

• Reading/literacy
  • poetic elements
    • rhythm
    • rhyme
    • alliteration
    • repetition
    • assonance
  • Using picture clues/ text and illustration matching
  • Purpose of back matter
  • One of the things I would definitely do is pair tis with some other books.  You could do a snowman unit or a penguin unit or a winter unit.  Pair fiction and nonfiction.  There's so much you can do and many directions you could go with this book.  It's a great one to partner with your specialist teachers (Arts/Encore/etc.). This book makes a super interdisciplinary unit!
• Math
  • Creat story problems related to penguins and snowmen. (Use whatever concepts you're teaching and learning)
  •  Math problems related to time signatures.  Ie. If there are 4 beats in every measure, how many beats are in __ measures (simple mult/div problems) **Time signature is different from fractions, so don't get confused.  In music, 3/4 means 3 beats per measure and (4) the quarter note gets the beat.  4/4 means 4 beats per measure and the quarter note gets the beat.  
•  Science -- lots of great topics
  • Winter
  • Snow
  • Penguins
• Arts -- check the Pinterest board and listen to the interview for some ideas and details. Here are some general possibilities
  • Music -- see music section for more ideas and details 
    • learn the song
    • learn the waltz
    • time signatures
  • Art
    • Penguin/snowman puppets
    • Directed drawing
    • Various penguin, snowman, snow crafts (check Pinterest board)
  • Dramatic arts
    • Role plays
    • Puppet shows
    • Readers theater
• Social studies
  • Geography (penguin habitats)

Tips and Topics for Music Teachers

There is so much musical content in this book!  I've been using it this week in my own music classes (K-2).  In my classes, I've started with some fun winter/snowman/penguin rhythm play-alongs, vocal explorations, etc. I played an instrumental version of a waltz and had kids listen for the 1-beat, then we counted 1,2,3. lastly we swayed to the music.   (We haven't done much with 3/4 time.) Then we listened to the read aloud that is on the YouTube playlist, done by Mrs. Geiger.  Really excellent with musical background and a distinct difference in the time signature sections.  Then I pointed out a couple of things in my copy of the book.  Then we looked carefully at the written music and discussed that.  Then we tried the waltz steps in the book, starting slow, step-by-step and speeding up a bit until we did the steps (just by ourselves) in a nice moderate 1,2,3 beat.  Then we did a couple of penguin songs/dances for fun and we always end with a "boogie" so we used Coach Corey Martin's Winter Freeze Dance which features a snowman and a penguin, so it was a lovely fit.

Next week, we'll delve into penguins a bit more and I have the beautiful waltz video from Strictly Dancing to show them what a beautiful waltz can look like. I don't think I'm up for trying the waltz with partners in K-2, but maybe some of you are braver or better :-)

Here are some of the topics I'm teaching with this book and some others that you could teach, depending on the ages of your kids, your schedule and other variables.

• 3/4 time -- time signature How to count in 3
• 4/4 time review
• Comparison of 3/4 and 4/4 time
• Waltz tempo
• Waltz steps/following step diagram
• Writing down music
• characteristics of written music

If you want to expand a bit or work with a classroom teacher or another arts/specialist/encore teacher, you could explore more of the subjects above -- delve into penguins and their geography and life cycles or dig into the seasons and characteristics of winter or do a big snow/snowman unit.

Writing Prompts from Tonnye

1. Write a list of 5 (or 10 or more) pieces of advice from a snowman.
2. Write a joke featuring a snowman and a penguin.
3. Write winter riddles. Give 2 clues and ask a question. (Don't tell us the answer! Make us guess.)
4. Write a letter from the little snowman to the little penguin (or from the penguin to the snowman).
5. Write an acrostic poem for SNOWMAN (or SNOW or PENGUIN or WALTZ or DANCE or WINTER.)
6. Write a "How-to" guide for marching -- or for waltzing -- or for getting along with people different than you, or for making a snowman.
7. Make a Venn diagram with Penguins and Snowmen. (two overlapping circles: how are they alike and how are they different.  Use your Venn diagram to write a comparison.
8. Would you rather be a snowman or a penguin?  Why?
9. Would you rather learn to waltz or march? Why?
10. "If I were a Snowman. . . " or "If I were a Penguin."
11. Write a report about penguins -- find out at least 5 new facts and work them into what you already know about penguins.
12. Write your own story about a penguin and a snowman.
13. If you could teach the snowmen and penguins any dance move, what would you teach them?  Include the how-to for your dance move in the writing and in a picture.
14. Draw a picture of a penguin and snowman. Look at your picture carefully and think of their story. Now write that story.
15. Write a cinquain or diamante poem based on the book. Go from Snowman to Penguin or Penguin to Snowman. Or go from March to Waltz or Waltz to March.
16. Write a story titled PENGUINS HATCH BUT SNOWMEN ARE BUILT.
17. Write some math problems with snowmen and penguins.

Writing Tips from Karen

1. READ as much as possible in the genre you want to write.
I particularly love to find authors and illustrators from other countries to observe the differing approaches, sensibilities, design concepts, and use of illustration media.


2. FIND INSPIRATION in the immediate world around you. Think out of the box. There are many stories about celebrating diversity, but The Snowman Waltz uses rhythm as the difference between the two cultures.



3. BE AWARE of the age child you are writing for and write for that child - in word count, in concept, in page turn suspense, in potential connection to their life.

Links, More Fun, Extensions for Families and Everyone!

Instrumental version of Karen's music for THE SNOWMAN WALTZ. (Arranged and played by Leslie Martin. a full time pianist playing around New Orleans, and also a member of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, a very cool national band.
https://www.snzippers.com/  
Here is a reading of THE SNOWMAN WALTZ (by the author) with the instrumental version played as the intro and outro.


YouTube playlist full of read-alouds, music, dances, snowman, penguins , , , .

Pinterest board that is overstuffed with craft ideas, additional books to pair, dance info, nonfiction info about penguins, reading and writing activities, science, music and more!

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Guest Links and Giveaways

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Karen is offering a free copy of THE SNOWMAN WALTZ to one lucky winner!  All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment below.  Tell us your favorite part of the book, or share how you've used it, or how it's inspired your own writing. Give us a fun writing prompt, or anything you want to share.  Leave your comment by Wednesday, Feb 5 at 11:59 PM EST to be eligible for the giveaway.