Dance

TItle  

The Ocean and Its World

Age : 3-4 yrs

Length of Lesson:  1hr

Goals of lesson:

        The goals are to create body awareness and rhythmic consciousness. Music is being used to enhance critical thinking skills and physical abilities. The fundamentals of dance mixed with educational themes helps expand self awareness, creativity and prevent fatigue.  

 

California Dance Standards:

1. Creating:

2. Performing:

3. Responding

4. Connecting:

Background Information (If applicable)

Dance Vocabulary:

Levels, Space, Force, Shapes, Timing,

Materials:

Radio, Music

ACTIVITIES

Warm up:  (5 min)

It is important that you have your students stretch their bodies so they can be more flexible. We recommend starting the lesson plan with stretch exercises. Have the kids sit on the ground. Then have them extend their legs out in front of them. Now, tell them to grab their toes with both hands and hold it for ten seconds. After that, have the kids lay on their backs and make snow angels. This will further stretch their arms and legs.  

Present:  (10 min)

Introduce what the ocean is and what are some of the animals that live in it. Go into quick detail on how the water breaks on the shore (calmly or chaotically). Explore how some of the animals in the ocean swim or move in the water. Some fish are fast and some fish are slow. Many level changes and tempos will be explored. The body shapes will vary and the energy levels will be different. Exposure to different animals and the movements of the ocean will be learned. This theme makes for great reflection discussions as well.

Main Lesson:  (30 MIN)

Explore:

1. “Sea Creatures.”  (Have your kids individually do this routine in a group)

Act like your favorite sea creature. You can suggest angles based off of the animals natural movements. You can teach rhythmic tempos based off of the movement of the animals. Teach level changes in the animal movements to help your students explain their creatures better to their audience.

2. “Motion of The Ocean''  (Have your kids individually do this routine in a group)

Explain to your students the differences of how the ocean moves. Have your kids act like the motion of the ocean. Highlight the movements that differ from the others. Suggest angles, tempos and level changes in their movements to help explain their ocean's emotion.

3. “Whale Dance''  (This routine can be done in pairs or individually in a group)

Explain how whales communicate with each other. Play an example for the class. Then, have them imagine movements to those sounds to prepare for the activity. As they glide across the floor, you can let them try and vocally mimic the whale sounds that they hear.  

4. “Boats” (This routine can be done in pairs or individually in a group)

        Show examples of the different types of boats and the sounds they make before the activity. Then, have them mimic those movements and sounds. Teach tempo and space during the activity. During the activity, you can also have them think about what purposes their boat serves on the ocean.  

· Give it form (10 min)

Get their attention and explain the activity to them. Have the kids start off at one end of the studio. Tell your students that when the music starts, they can begin the activity, ending the activity when they reach the other end of the studio. Then, have them start from that end coming back to the original point of the activity. Talk about your themes and all things associated with it during the lesson. Make sure all students leave knowing something new about sea life.

· Reflection (5 MIN)

Assessment :

Assessment:

(Come up with questions that will help you to assess the success of the class. Examples: Were students able to follow instructions?  Were they able to understand and physicalize the concepts of the class?  Were they able to explore creatively?)