Learning Goals

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to …

  • Engage in the Creative Process
  • Use the elements of dance to create a short dance phrase
  • Reflect on their learning
Materials
Terminology

Minds On

Whole Group > Read Aloud

Read (or show the video) of the book I Am Enough by Grace Byers. Brainstorm a list of the action words that come up in the story (e.g., grow, love, fly etc.). Leave this list posted for student reference. 

Teacher Tip: If you do not have your own classroom space, take a photo of the chart paper to project later OR create a digital record (like a slide in a digital presentation) that can be projected later.

Action

Individual > Bodystorming

Invite students to spread out in the room and find a space where they can move without touching each other. Lead students through a guided movement exploration of the elements of dance (see Appendix 3 Bodystorming Script for sample teacher script). 

Optional: you may wish to add a variety of instrumental songs of various tempi to guide student exploration.

Individual > Three Shape Dance

Revisit the brainstorming of actions words that you did after the read aloud. Ask students to select one word from the list. Invite students to create a movement to represent their chosen word. Remind students to draw on their bodystorming ideas to help them in creating their movement. This movement does not have to be frozen, but it does need to be a non-locomotor movement. Explain that this will be Movement #1. 

Repeat this process for a second and third word from the brainstorming list, so that students have three movements in total. Coach students to experiment with the elements of dance (e.g., try different levels, make your movement bigger or smaller, make your movement facing a different direction etc.) so that their three movements are different from one another. Give students time to practice their three movements to ensure they remember them. 

Next, ask students to create transitions between each movement. If needed, you could brainstorm a list of potential ways to transition from one movement to the next. See Appendix 4 Anchor Chart: Transition Ideas for examples. Their dance phrase should be sequenced as follows:

  • Movement #1
  • Transition
  • Movement #2
  • Transition
  • Movement #3

Coach students to practice their dance phrase for a few minutes until they are comfortable doing it without prompting.

Extension: Put students into pairs. Invite students to share their dance pieces with each other and work together to combine both dance pieces. They can choose to use their six combined movements in any order. 

Whole Class > Sharing Dance Phrases

Invite half the class to share their dance phrases while half the class watches, then switch roles.

Assessment for Learning (AfL)
  • Circulate and sidecoach, as needed
  • Observe students to determine if further exploration of the elements of dance is needed before moving on to the subsequent lessons