Music and costume materials. Supplemental information about the text selected by the students. Example: "Giraffes Can't Dance" text.
Open space, auditorium, or gym floor.
Please select narrative from the list below:
Giraffes Can"t Dance by Giles Andreas Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle Islandborn by Junot Diaz The Year We Learned to Fly by Jacqueline Woodson
Space suitable for active movement for the full class.
I can communicate meaning through dance. I can describe how dance is informed by life and learning experiences. I can recognize and appreciate the differences in my classmates.
The workshops will be built around the book selected by students. An example: "Giraffes Can"t Dance" by Giles Andreae and illustrated by Guy Parker"“Reese (1999). It is a book generally recommended for children ages 4 to 8, but has been successfully used with older children because the illustrations and the layout of the text are all about movement. The book is a simple story that serves as an excellent framework to: teach the children about dance forms in historical and cultural context; building vocabulary; to use the vocabulary of emotions and feelings to identify real life situations; and to research the animal characters and present findings in order to be guided in the creation and performance of basic choreography. They will be introduced to the music and fundamental movement patterns suggested in the book and share what they know of other dance forms. The second session will build choreography that tells the basic story, with the children assuming roles of the characters, applying movements that illustrate their roles in the story. And they will be directed to "put it all together". We apply the principles of CLOSE reading to the interpretation of text and use that approach and standards of dance pedagogy to teach across skill and grade levels.
The program can work with more than one class at a time. The number of artists will be determined by class size. The school must have adequate space available for dance. While the primary goal is for the participants to learn the basics of movement and to enjoy dancing, the program also represents a unique opportunity to expose children to diverse cultures, their music, movement and dance technique.
Spectrum in Motion encourages the involvement of whole families. Parents/caregivers are welcome to participate in the workshops! (As is the teaching staff.)
Grade K
Grade K: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #5: With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
Grade K: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.
Grade K: Dance: Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. A. a. Recognize and name an emotion that is experienced when watching, improvising, or performing dance and relate it to a personal experience. B. Observe a work of visual art. Describe and then express through movement something of interest about the artwork, and ask questions for discussion concerning the artwork.
Physical Education: Standard 1. The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.
Grade 1
Grade #1: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #5: With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
Grade #1: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because).
Grade #1: Dance: Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. A. Find an experience expressed or portrayed in a dance that relates to a familiar experience. Identify the movements that communicate this experience. B. Observe illustrations from a story. Discuss observations and identify ideas for dance movement and demonstrate the big ideas of the story.
Physical Education: Standard 1. The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.
Grade 2
Grade #2: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #5: Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
Grade # 2: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy).
Grade #2: Dance: Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. A. Describe, create, and/or perform a dance that expresses personal meaning and explain how certain movements express this personal meaning.
B. Respond to a dance work using an inquiry-based set of questions (for example, See, Think, Wonder). Create movement using ideas from responses and explain how certain movements express a specific idea.
Physical Education: Standard 1. The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.
Grade 3
Grade #3: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #5: Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
Grade #3: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).
Grade #3: Dance: Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. A. Compare the relationships expressed in a dance to relationships with others. Explain how they are the same or different. B. Ask and research a question about a key aspect of a dance that communicates a perspective about an issue or event. Explore the key aspect through movement. Share movements and describe how the movements help to remember or discover new qualities in these key aspects. Communicate the new learning in oral, written, or movement form.
Physical Education: Standard 1. The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.
Grade 4
Grade #4: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
Grade #4: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).
Grade #4: Dance: Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. A. Relate the main idea or content in a dance to other experiences. Explain how the main idea of a dance is similar to or different from one"s own experiences, relationships, ideas or perspectives. B. Develop and research a question relating to a topic of study in school using multiple sources of references. Select key aspects about the topic and choreograph movements that communicate the information. Discuss what was learned from creating the dance and describe how the topic might be communicated using another form of expression.
Physical Education: Standard 1. The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.
Grade 5
Grade #5: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 5#: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
Grade #5: Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use #6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal contrast, addition, and other logical relationships (e.g., however, although, nevertheless, similarly, moreover, in addition)
Grade #5: Dance: Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. A. Compare two dances with contrasting themes. Discuss feelings and ideas evoked by each. Describe how the themes and movements relate to points of view and experiences. B. Choose a topic, concept, or content from another discipline of study and research how other art forms have expressed the topic. Create a dance study that expresses the idea. Explain how the dance study expressed the idea and discuss how this learning process is similar to, or different from, other learning situations.
Physical Education: Standard 1. The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.
