dancepulse

The 1st grade dance was based on number sense, in 3 parts:

I.  Groups of students grew from low to high, counting from 1-10 in various languages, including Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Somali, Cambodian, Arabic, Laotian, Tagalog, Cham, Korean, and English.  It was usually their home language, but a few had a language from martial arts, and by the end of rehearsals, almost everyone joined in on the Spanish.  One boy didn’t know which language he belonged with until he heard the numbers; several students went home & asked their grandmas to teach them.

II.  Each student wore a shirt with a big number from 1-100.  They performed a 16-count dance sequence alternating with an improvisational interlude of finding a partner, comparing their numbers & making low or high shapes to show the greater than/less than relationship.  Music: Eric Chappelle, Dancing Digits, Music for Creative Dance, v. 3.

III.  Singing CountBounce from Greg & Steve’s Kids in Action CD, students danced a 16-count pattern for the chorus & made number shapes with a partner & solo, ending in multi-place numbers in small groups.

Here are some of their reflective responses after watching a video of their work (the writing is first-draft, with best-guess spelling!):*

* Ethnic background, as identified by the family, shows if your cursor hovers over the sample.

We have fun on stage! I was danceing with the music! I was happy when I was danceing with joy!

I felt nervous because there was a lot of student and I am making number 7 and my number was 30 I was awsome.

I was number 56 and I work hard to complete my dance I dida good job

It was awsome because I got to spin my leg around my two hands and my other feet. and I saw my baby couziz was crying. I was number forty-eight. I saw alot of student at the performance. The audieance gave us a great aplause for us and the performance was really fun I saw my mom my sister and my baby couzin.

I felt nurvese before and then when we started to dance I felt better and how I can do better is I can not be nervese and scared.

I feel happy when I shine on the stage with my best 95 shirt. My best part was comparing number with the partner.

My nuber is 10 when we have to make small shape we crall very small and when we need to make big shap we stcrech are feet and hand and I feell very happy for parent to look at me