Dance in School Idea Brainstorm

I know everybody likes a good lesson plan, but sometimes, by the time you change someone’s lesson plan enough to fit your own classroom, you might as well have made your own from scratch!  So, here are a few ideas to get you going on bridging the gap between core curriculum and dance.  And if you’d like to see a few of my lesson plans, head over here.

Literacy

• Make shapes based on prepositions
• Write a poem then create a dance to perform as it is read
• Create a dance based on the characteristics of a book character
• Recreate scenes from a novel or short story in a dance
• Assign movements to each part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) and create movement “sentences”
• Write acrostic poems then use them to create a series of partner shapes

Math

• Add and subtract movements from a dance sequence
• Divide the class in half for a movement problem, then thirds, quarters, etc.
• Repeat patterns in movement sequences and have students identify them
• Create two- and three-dimensional shapes with the body
• Explain division of beats in music in terms of fractions

Social Studies

• Learn to respect differences through watching peer-created dances and giving positive feedback
• Share dances from the students’ cultures
• Learn folk dances from countries around the world
• Practice group work through group movement problems and composition assignments
• Create a dance inspired by an event in history (i.e. major battle, political movement, exploration, etc.)

Science

• Use energy qualities in dance to explore the water cycle.  And while you’re at it, check out this delightfully dance-y book about the water cycle!
• Identify how the five senses affect dance and try to dance with eyes closed or with ears covered
• Create the solar system using students instead of planets and replicate the movements of the planets
• Explore how using different amounts of force affects dancing
• Learn bones, muscle groups, or organ systems through a body part dance; explore how each body part can move.

Have fun, and let me know in the comments what else you are dancing about today!