A Dance A Day Keeps the Scaries Away!

Educators can use this activity to bring their students' stories of times they were scared to life. Then, the class will do a happy dance to chase the fright away!

1. 1. Begin by inviting students to come together in a seated circle and ask them: What are different ways to tell a captivating story? Then, write down their suggestions on chart paper for future reference. Note: Suggestions may include: fun characters and character voices, moments of suspense, music, comedy, etc.
   2. Tell students, “It’s storytime! But, today you’re not just going to listen to a story, you’re going to tell your own stories and explore all of the emotions in those stories.”
   3. To begin, tell them that you’re going to each tell a story of a time when they felt scared. Explain to students that they’re simply telling stories from memory and that there is nothing to be afraid of. Exploring different emotions can be fun!
   4. To set the tone, model what it means to tell a story of a time when you were scared. Then go back through the story, highlighting vocabulary (scared, frightened, nervous), characters (who’s in the story), settings (the places visited) and other elements of the story using the following questions:
      • What emotions did I feel in the story?
      • How did hearing my story make you feel?
      • What people, sounds, objects or places were in the story?
      • How did the characters feel throughout the story? Note: As you’re going through each of these prompts, have students embody the emotions and recreate the sounds they imagined when hearing the story in real time.
   5. At the very end of this story exploration, tell students to stand up and do the one thing that you know will chase the scary story away: a happy dance!
   6. Put all of these ideas into practice by having each student tell their own story of a time in which they felt scared, exploring all of the emotions in the story as a class and ending each story with a happy dance. Note: Some students may not feel comfortable sharing their story and that’s okay. Allow volunteers to share their stories and invite other students to join you in the happy dances to help their classmates chase the scary-waries away.

   Reflection Questions:

   •  What emotions did I feel in the story?
   • How did hearing my story make you feel?
   • What people, sounds, objects or places were in the story?
   • How did the characters feel throughout the story?