Lesson 4

AMERICAN SYMBOLS

This lesson was one of my favorites, and it seemed to be one of the children's favorites as well! The focus was on American Symbols, specifically the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, the Bald Eagle and the American Flag. I started by warming them up, performing locomotor movement that they were not familiar with. They were ready for the challenge.

As the children sat around me, we looked at four different pictures of these American symbols previously mentioned. We talked shortly about each one, to remind them of the background behind these symbols and what they represent. From there, we danced!

For the Statue of Liberty we made shapes, starting simple we one arm straight and one arm bent. That developed to become any body part straight and any body part bent. We also made pointy shapes, like her point crown. For the Liberty Bell, we moved in swinging and sustaining ways like a bell. In the middle of our swings, we would make crooked shapes, to represent the cracks in the bell. When dancing the Bald Eagle, we moved across the space, leaping as high as possible with our arms spread wide. Finally, for the American flag, the girls stood still and straight as the boys moved around them in wave-like movement. Then we switched.

After we explored these symbols through movement we came back to sitting. Those who were well behaved picked out of a bag both locomotor movement from the warm up and symbols from the movement exploration. We put these pictures in order, and created a dance. The dancers performed the sequence of movement their very best!

Lesson 3

SUPER STORMS

This time around, I was able to integrate Super Storms into the lesson. I was excited for this lesson because of its specificity and clarity. I was confident the students would understand the content.
I always start the class the same way, going over the rules. They have memorized them by now.
From there, we danced! The students moved in the space, guided by my directions. Each movement represented parts of a storm (but they did not know that just yet). We started by rolling and jumping, then moved to sustained, swaying, spiraling movement. We also sloshed around, with loose muscles. Next, we froze in shapes and then leapt through the space.

After moving like this, we came back to sitting and looked at a poster board with the symbols of our movement. Together as a class we deciphered what storm we had just danced. The rolling and jumping represented warm air rising to the sky in a thunderstorm. The sustained and swaying movement represented wind, while the sloshing represented rain. Finally, the frozen shapes represented hail and the leaping demonstrated lightening. All of these movements built a thunderstorm.

We continued to do this with both hurricanes and tornados. We would perform the movement and then come back to sit down and discuss why we did what we did. At the end of the class, we played a game. We decided on a movement that represented each picture of the thunderstorm, hurricane, and tornado. All the students spread out and we began to play. As I help up each picture, the students would have to perform the movement we related to the storm.

Overall, I enjoy seeing the children learn and move at the same time. They seem to remember the content much better when we add movement to it. The next time I taught, I quizzed them on the symbols and storms for continuity.

Lesson 2

HALLOWEEN

I was so excited to teach this lesson because it was a Halloween focused lesson. I started by just having some fun and warming up the dancers with Halloween themed characters. For example, we danced as ghosts - light and soft - as well as zombies, mummies, spiders, and more. During the entire class, we were able to use exciting halloween music. They had so much fun! 

From there, we moved into the bulk of the lesson. As the dancers gathered around, I read a halloween
story to them. I had printed out pictures that related to the main events in the story so that the dancers would be able to make connections. With those pictures, I mixed up the order, and the dancers were responsible for putting the story in the correct order.

As we spread out in the gym, we danced according to the story. We started walking as the boy in the story did, and then began to skip. As we progressed through dancing the story, we made tree like shapes, tall and asymmetrical, and began falling like leaves. We also played with the idea of moving like a skeleton. We focused on certain body parts as well as the body as a whole by vibrating, swinging, and exploding. We continued on, dancing the story, and moved as bats and pumpkins. The dancers played with negative space by "flying" around the other dancers holding a shape. They seemed to be engaged and having a blast!

As we gathered back together, we went through the story one last time and identified how we moved for the different main events of the story. The students overall were fully engaged. I had so much fun dancing with them and cannot wait to dance with them again!

Lesson 1

LOCOMOTOR & AXIAL

About me: My name is McKenna Hudson and I am currently studying Dance Education as Senior at Brigham Young University. More importantly, I love to dance! I grew up in Corona, California and began dancing at a very young age.  I love sharing with others the joy I feel from dance. I think everyone, no matter age, size, race, etc., should be able to move and learn through dance. This is why I am so grateful to be apart of this Arts Bridge Program.

Visit One:

I was so incredibly excited to teach the second graders of Mrs. Nielson's class. The excitement, mixed with the nerves, motivated me to created a lesson plan that would challenge them, but still allow them to have fun. So, there I stood on October 7th in the Riverview Elementary Gym. The energy filled students began to walk in and I new I would have to take command and show authority right away.

I began by clearly stating my rules, which was crucial for behavior management. From there we began to warm up, walking, skipping, and leaping in different pathways: zig zag, curved, and straight. After defining axial and locomotor, we spread out in the space, and explored these movements. This included making shapes on command and performing different axial and locomotor movement. 

Finally, we created a "dance" incorporating locomotor movements with pathways, axial movements, and shapes. The students performed for one another and enjoyed seeing how everyone moved differently. 

Overall, this first teaching experience with these students was awesome and fun! I did notice that I will need to be strict at necessary times and give out warnings when appropriate. Because they have so much energy, they tend to display that energy through chaos. It will be a positive challenge for me to discipline them in order to gain control. I am so excited to keep working and find ways to challenge and engage these wonderful second grade students.