My students were thrilled to do a musical! Speaking lines! Acting! Being characters — & fairy tale characters at that! Singing! Dancing! We were using the musical Character Matters, by Ron Fink & John Heath at the Bad Wolf Press. It’s a great resource: script, teacher’s guide, CD with songs & intrumental accompaniment. A fun […]
Entries Tagged as 'primary'
A musical — with dance, of course
July 2nd, 2011 · 1 Comment · dance arts integration into academic subjects
Tags:choreography·dancing·intermediate·music·performance·primary·rehearsal·thinking skills
Dance finds a place in math class
November 26th, 2010 · 6 Comments · dance arts integration into academic subjects
This email from a kindergarten teacher (when she discovered that dance found its way into her math lesson) was a real upper… “Just wanted to let you know that yesterday in math, [my class] made a bar graph of our favorite school activities. The winner was dance! 10 kids chose dance. Come see the bar […]
Whispers barely heard in the current cacophony on education
November 14th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Uncategorized
Yipes. I’ve had too much on my plate of late to blog. But this is still a place to capture & share thoughts for later.. Play is a central condition for learning. There are & have always been teachers who know that play is central to learning. When I have time, perhaps I’ll elaborate on […]
Tags:African American·dancing·intermediate·lesson plans·management·primary·why dance matters
Post-performance reflection: 2nd grade
June 25th, 2010 · Comments Off · Uncategorized
Although my space is clean & clear, I’m still processing the end of year… For many years I’ve gone directly from the close of school to teaching an intensive graduate course on “Learning through Movement.” It’s made for a grueling transition to summer vacation, but it’s always given me a chance to take a long […]
Tags:primary·reflection·students
Post-performance reflection: 1st grade
June 12th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
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 […]
Post-performance reflection: kindergarten
June 9th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Uncategorized
First, a rush of relief — the performances came off fantastically! Then, the rush of all the “to-do’s” that have been piling up… scheduling for next year, plans for end-of-year activities & events, grades for report cards, & post-performance reflections. Here are some of kindergarten responses after watching a video of their work (the writing […]
Lesson Plan: The Toy Shop
December 31st, 2009 · 1 Comment · Lesson Plans
Grades: Kindergarten-2nd grade Teaching points: Dancers use free & bound flow. Dancers tell stories through narrative dance. Targets: Explore free & bound flow; Participate in a story-telling dance. Context: This lesson takes two 30-minute sessions, one to introduce/explore the element of flow and the other to develop/enact the story (or one session of more reasonable […]
Tags:curriculum·curriculum integration·kindergarten·lesson plans·primary·teaching
Lesson Plan: Setting parameters to get started
October 13th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Lesson Plans
Grades: 1st-5th grades Teaching points: The dance classroom has standards: Make good decisions. Show respect. Solve problems. [These are school-wide standards.] Targets: Understand & practice the nitty gritty: standards, routines & procedures for dance class; Get moving! Context: Just now it’s no longer the first week of school, but the first week of school comes […]
Tags:behavior·getting started·intermediate·lesson plans·management·primary·teaching
Rehearsal: skill development for kindergarteners
June 18th, 2009 · Comments Off · Uncategorized
Performance over, there’s finally time to review the process… There’s a lot to learn in the process of rehearsal, if the dance is built for continuous learning. And although the goal of rehearsal would seem to be a more perfect performance, it’s not. It’s growth. There’s a limit to how perfectly kindergarteners are going to […]
Performance: Kids & costumes & sound, oh my!
June 7th, 2009 · 6 Comments · Uncategorized
The silence resounding on this blog since the last entry reflects in reverse the noisy mantra that took over my brain and all spare moments of my life the past few weeks, accelerating toward and recovering from performance. Like the shrill chant of “lions & tigers & bears” in The Wizard of Oz, the details […]
Tags:chaos·choreography·curriculum integration·intermediate·logistics·management·obstacles·performance·primary