Let’s DANCE! – K-5th – Week of 2/15/18

February is turning out to be a very creative month in the dance room. The fourth and fifth graders continue to uncover world cultural folk dances. Some of our classes have finished their analysis of Latin, Indian and Israeli Folk, and are now creating their own group folk dances. They continue to experience new and old collaborative group work strategies.

Third grade is finishing up their language arts exploration with an activity focused on punctuation and text. Using lines from the book,  Just Juice by Karen Hesse , third graders are making movement connections to literacy content and punctuation. Next up, they will dive into science by looking at the parts of a plant.

Second grade learned about using the choreographic tool of canon when creating group dances. They had so much fun trying on different “our country” shapes in a circular formation. Next they will be talking about world peace among nations and how building a bridge using dance can reflect this idea.

Our first graders are continue to explore the shaping of the body. This week, they took a quick look at curved and rounded shapes. More to come after the break, including twisted and alphabet shapes.

The youngest dancers took a look at all the different directions in space that we can move our bodies. They learned how one part of the body can initiate or begin a movement. They also talked about and explored  a useful strategy to move backwards. It is always a good idea to turn your head and look over your shoulder as you move in the backward direction. Next up for these little dancers is the idea of using focus.

Wishing all of my students a restful and fun February break!

Ms. Diane