Are these puppets doing?
They are using gestures, movements or actions
that tell us something.
You'll watch Taffy and see if you can understand
what these actions mean, what she's trying to tell you.
Can you guess what that action means?
It means come here, that's right.
And what about this gesture?
It means I don't want to listen.
And what does this gesture mean?
Do you think it means hello?
Or maybe it could mean goodbye.
That's one gesture that has more than one meaning.
Now let's see if you can use some gestures.
What gesture would you use to say I don't want to look at it?
Is that what you do?
Put your hands over your eyes?
Yes, probably.
And what kind of a gesture would you use to say goodbye?
Aren't you do that?
Yes. And what about if you wanted
someone to be very quiet?
What kind of a gesture would you use?
It means be quiet, doesn't it?
And what gesture would you use if you were very
sick to your stomach?
Did you have a stomach ache?
Might you hold your stomach like the half you're doing?
I think so.
Have you ever seen people use a gesture like this
and they shake their fist?
That usually means they're angry, doesn't it?
And what about when people scratch their heads and
they're kind of puzzled?
Things they're trying to remember, try to think
of something, isn't it?
Do you think gestures are important?
Yes, they are.
We do a lot of talking with them.
And what do you like to learn a gesture song?
First time I'll just sing it for you.
You listen to the words and then I'll ask you
to sing it with me.
Yes, no, maybe.
No, yes, I'm not.
Come here, say, there, sit down, get up.
What will I do?
I don't want to be with you.
All right, this time I'll sing just a part of it and
ask you to repeat it after me.
You listen to this first part.
Yes, no, maybe.
No, yes, I'm not.
You sing that with me.
Yes, no, maybe.
No, yes, I'm not.
Now listen to this next part.
Come here, say, there, sit down, get up.
I think you sing that.
Come here, say, there, sit down, get up.
Good. The last part, listen to this.
What will I do?
I don't know.
Do you sing that?
What will I do?
I don't know.
All right, this time let's sing it and add some gestures to it.
Are you ready?
Yes, no, maybe.
No, yes, I'm not.
Come here, say, there, sit down, get up.
What will I do?
I don't want to be with you.
Good. This time I'm going to just
sing it and not do the gestures.
Are you ready?
Yes, no, maybe.
No, yes, I'm not.
Come here, say, there, sit down, get up.
What will I do?
I don't know.
Now, this last time I'm going to have you sing it and I'm
going to do the gestures.
Ready, sing.
[Music]
Do you know what kind of a gesture that is?
That's a gesture of surprise and it means that I almost
forgot something very important.
Today is the day that we're celebrating the birthdays
of all the children who have had birthdays this month,
of February.
So all of you children who have had birthdays this month
come and sit very close in front of the television set.
Come up very quietly, remember this is a very important
occasion and only the children with birthdays this month.
That before I light your birthday cake and before we
sing your song, let's look at our February calendar
line and see what else we're celebrating this month.
[Music]
Someone has a birthday on February 3rd.
I wonder if it's one of your boys who are sitting
up very close to the front.
And here's another one cake on February 10th.
I think that belongs to one of your girls who
are sitting up in front.
On February 12th, we celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday.
You know who he is, don't you?
One of our presidents.
And everyone knows what we celebrate on February 14th.
Valentine's Day, that's right.
On February 21st, we celebrated, do you think it could be one
of your teachers' birthdays?
Perhaps. And on February 22nd, we
celebrate George Washington's birthday, that's right,
our first president.
And did you notice there was another cake
here on February 18th?
This is a cake of someone that my mother thinks
is very important.
It says on it, Mrs.
Mark. Yes, February, I celebrate
my birthday too.
So this month, I get to help
blow off the candles.
Oh, Charlie, what are you doing with your hands in the frosting?
Shame on you.
Now, while I light the candles, we will sing your birthday song.
And then we'll ask you to stand up.
All the children with birthdays this month.
And I'll ask you to blow out the candles.
You all ready, all of you birthday children?
Sitting up in front.
All right.
Who has a birthday?
Who is a lucky boy?
Or is it who can be?
Stand up and let us see.
All right, birthday boys and birthday girls,
blow out your cake.
And you know, when we have a birthday cake,
this usually means that we have a birthday guest.
And we better not let any more time go by before
we sing our birthday.
Our guests will be here before we're ready.
Are you ready?
Our range, your clothing, smooth your hair.
Sit tall and straight on the floor or chair.
We have a visitor to a claim.
How do you do?
We're very glad you came.
Today our visitor is a dancer.
[Music]
What a delightful dance, Jan.
Children, this is Jan Strader, a dancer from the university.
Jan, we've been talking about gestures and we
learned a gesture song.
I wonder if we sang it to you if you could add movement to
it and make a gesture dance.
Should we sing it for our children?
All right.
Yes. No.
Maybe. No.
Yes.
[Music]
Now do you think you could add movement to
that and make a dance?
All right.
We'll sing it for you again.
Yes. No.
Maybe. No.
Yes.
[Music]
You see, she added movement to our gesture
song and had a dance.
Didn't she?
Were you able to understand her dance?
Were you able to understand the gestures?
Good. You watch her and see if you
can understand what she's trying to tell you now.
[Music]
She was pulling something, wasn't she?
A wagon perhaps?
And was it heavy?
Yes, I can.
So, do you think the music helped tell her?
Probably it did.
Now, I'm going to ask you to push these heavy
wagons across the floor.
But first of all, you listen to the music and I think that
will tell you it'll help you.
[Music]
All right.
Are you already?
Stand up and push those heavy wagons across the floor.
Push.
[Music]
Oh, do you have them over there with the belong?
Why are they so heavy?
Are they filled with blocks or rocks or stones or what?
Well, whatever they are, I think we should unload them.
But now, don't unload them by just tipping over
the wagon and dumping everything over the floor.
You might break something.
We'll take them out one thing at a time.
But before you start, you listen to the music
and it'll help you.
[Music]
All right.
Are you ready to unload your wagons?
Everyone begin to unload yours.
One thing at a time.
No, remember.
[Music]
Oh, finally.
Do you have them unloaded?
Good. Now let's pick our wagons
back where they belong.
Do you think they're going to be as heavy as they were before?
Do you listen to the music?
I think it'll tell you.
[Music]
Take your wagons back and everyone sit down.
Jan, would you like to have me help you pull your wagon back?
All right.
I'll take the handle.
[Music]
Did you know you were dancing?
Yes, you were.
That's a kind of dancing that nearly anyone can
do in any way they want.
I think a good name for it is imaginative dance.
You used your imaginations, didn't you?
And you used movement.
And do you know that this is a kind of dance that you can
do in any way they'd like to?
You can dance by yourself or if you'd like, you
can dance with a friend.
Or you can dance to tell a story or you can just
dance because you want to move this way and that way.
Or you can dance with music or without music or you could
even dance indoors or outdoors.
I'm going to pantomine something that I do.
I want you to see if you can guess what it is you watch me.
I will tell you this much.
It's something that I do after the children have
gone home from school.
You watch me and see if you can guess what it is.
[Music]
Good you guess what I was doing?
Well let me tell you, first of all, I raised the blackboard
and then I got some of the children's paper I saw in
order and put them on my desk.
And then I was pouring pictures of Jews getting ready
for the afternoon children.
Why don't you pantomine what you do on the way home
from school and see if your teacher can guess what it is?
After the broadcast, why don't you do that?
Will you all be doing the same things on the
way home?
No, you won't.
And perhaps your teacher would like to pantomine for you
what she does.
She perhaps doesn't do the same things I do.
Movements are interesting aren't they?
The puppets did movements and the dancer
did and you did and I did.
And you found out that you could dance just as the dancer did,
didn't you?
Were you surprised?
[Music]
Of course you can dance just like anyone else can.
You weigh better than if you think he can dance as
well as you do.
Goodbye.
[Music]