Curated OER
Telling Stories Through Dance
Examine the movement of characters in the story, Caps for Sale. Using the text, pupils invent gestures and movements for some of the actions and major events. They practice retelling a story by using the movements they developed. They...
Curated OER
Swiss Ball Square Dance
Combine square dancing and a Swiss ball. There are quite a few square dance moves and how to do them while sitting on, or carrying a Swiss ball. Teach these square dance moves to the class. Then have them work together in small groups to...
Curated OER
Jarabe Tapatio (Mexican Hat Dance)
Oh, what a fun dance to learn! In this version of the Jarabe Tapatio (Mexican Hat Dance) which comes from Missouri State University, there are a lot of steps to learn along with finger snapping and hand clapping. While this is not the...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Making Dances From Stories
After reading a short story, learners will create dances that show homophones and verbs. Their dance sequences involve three verbs and transition movements in between each verb. Tip: Have the class dance out the sequence of events from...
Curated OER
Dancing in 3's
This dance makes me want to just get up and start moving right now. This dance is done to the song "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins. The lesson includes not only step-by-dance step instructions but also a video. There is a lot of movement in...
Curated OER
Performance of routine movements
Students explore movement in dance routines. They observe movements and transform everyday gestures into choregraphy. Through activities, students develop improvisational skills. They evaluate and critique work.
Curated OER
March Madness
Get those boys dancing! Here's a dance activity that is choreographed around the use of a basketball. Teach them this line dance and see how they do. Watch the provided video yourself, or better yet, use the video to teach this dance....
Curated OER
Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with Dance
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by teaching your class how to do an Irish jig. This type of dance is very fast. Break it all down and teach each section of the dance thoroughly. There are plenty of hops, kicks, toe touches, and stomps in...
Curated OER
Zoom-In: colonial Dance
Students become familiar with dance steps of colonial dances through pictures. In this colonial dance step activity, students view photographs in a multimedia presentation and describe the dance steps.
Curated OER
La Marcha Dance
Fourth graders are presented with a wedding song and dance of another culture. They also make a connection between the beat of a song with various dance movements.
Curated OER
Ribbon Wand Dancing
Learners construct a ribbon wand which, through the use of line, color, contrast and shape can be used to better express a given emotion. They create a dance using the ribbon wand.
Curated OER
Weather Dance
Fourth graders discuss the many elements of weather. They research an aspect of weather they find most interesting. They create movements to go along with the element they have chosen.
Curated OER
Raise the Roof
There are only four different dance moves to teach in this activity. Each move is done for eight-counts. First is pushing the hands above the head, second is a combination of moving the arms and shrugging the shoulders. Third is doing a...
Curated OER
Character Traits in Fables
Combining art, music, dance, and reading comprehension, this lesson is geared to reach all ability levels. After reading a variety of fables and discussing story elements and character traits, class members select a moral to use as the...
Curated OER
Chance Dance Compositions
Fourth graders create dances through a randomly generated process (such as throwing a dice) and perform their dances for the class. Class work is based on Merce Cunningham's "Chance Dance" and includes walking, skipping hopping, and...
Curated OER
Celebrating Halloween With the Purple People Eaters
Get youngsters moving by teaching them some basic dance moves. This dance can be done in a circle, a line, or scattered around the gym. There are four movement combinations that are taught to the song "Purple People Eater" by Sheb...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Symmetrical Objects
In order to better understand how to locate a plane of symmetry in 3-dimensional objects, learners create a dance. The class reviews dance and math symmetry, then they practice making symmetrical shapes and movements with a partner. They...
Curated OER
Using Rhythm to Teach Patterns and Directions
Introduce young learners to line dancing. Here are some simple movement patterns to teach them. First teach, repeat, and repeat again without music. Then when they have a pretty good grasp of the movement patterns, add music and practice...
Curated OER
Great Balls of Fire - I Got Locomotor Skills
Teach and review elementary locomotor skills. Use "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis to get youngsters up and grooving to the beat! The dance steps are described in rich detail and you will have the class jumping, skipping,...
Curated OER
Celebrate Oktoberfest with the Polka
Here's a pretty comprehensive activity on the polka. There is information on the origins of the polka and the history of Oktoberfest. There is even a list of how to count to ten in Polish, Czech, and German. Include or skip whatever you...
Curated OER
Yellow Bird and Me
Upper elementary artists create works which demonstrate an understanding of the many elements of theater and the visual arts. This four-day plan combines many wonderful aspects of visual, musical, and theatrical arts into one very...
Curated OER
Locomotor Dances
Students explore and perform locomotor movements. With partners, they combine the locomotor movements into a simple dance. The partner identifies three movements they observed. Students may be grouped into dancers for a performance.
Curated OER
Geometric Shape Dances
Students use movement and dance in order to strengthen mathematical understanding of different geometric shapes. The movements are imitating the drawing of shapes and they pick one to make into a dance. Upon beginning the dance music can...
Curated OER
The Chicken Dance
Third graders identify and perform the five main dance movements of the "Chicken Dance" to accordion music.