Picture Storybook – Giraffe’s Can’t Dance

Using picture story books in the classroom increases engagement with a subject. The students are able to immerse themselves in the story and you are able to teach to a certain subject with the support of the pictures and storyline.

I use children’s story books a lot in my teaching. The story allows the students to become engaged with subjects and creates interest, dialogue, and breathing space in a busy classroom. I have a final lesson in mind when choosing a book title, but I am open to the lesson taking a different direction if students want to explore something else related to the story.

Giraffe’s Can’t Dance is an excellent story for exploring verbs. Lots of actions are described throughout the book and another character’s actions directly impact how the giraffe discovers he can dance. This story gives your students opportunities to explore verbs, act out verbs, and think about how their actions can change others.

Giraffe’s Can’t Dance follows the story of a giraffe making his way through the jungle feeling like he’s clumsy and unable to take part in the annual dance competition. He later discovers, with encouragement, he’s actually a very good dancer.

I use the verb word labels to explore different activities with my students. This is a participatory activity with reading and comprehension and the freedom to move and explore the different actions on the labels.

In this activity you explore different music and how it affects the way we dance and move, and your students explore the different verbs through charades, classification, and interpretation.