ChristiH

Down By the Cool of the Pool, by Tony Milton, tells the story of a frog who dances beside a pool.  One by one, other animals some to see him dance. They can dance, too, but not like him, so they show him their moves. Before long, a whole multitude of animals is dancing around the pool, right up until the moment they all fall into the cool pool! That doesn't stop them, though, they just dance in the pool until their dance is done.  Then, as the sun goes down, one by one, they go home.

Down By the Cool of the Pool is a beautifully illustrated book that preschoolers through first graders would love.  There is rhyming, repetition, and onomatopoeia. It would be a great variant for a brain break: while the teacher reads, the students can act out the actions of the animals. The need to repeat the actions means the students must pay close attention to the story and remember the sequence.  While students who are older might not think the story line is particularly interesting, they would surely enjoy the out of seat activity as well.