Poetry in Motion 4-5

POETRY IN MOTION

POETRY IN MOTION

Learning Description

In this lesson, you and your students will have fun moving and dancing to create and understand sequence and patterns. Emphasizing multiple learning styles will allow students to explore concepts in the way they learn best.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify a rhyme sequence.
  • I can create choreography that matches my assigned sequence (or one I created).
  • I can identify a sequence or pattern when performed.
  • I can identify and use locomotor and non-locomotor movements.

Essential Questions

  • What are different ways we can represent sequence and patterns using movement?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

ELAGSE4RL1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

 

ELAGSE4RL2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

 

ELAGSE4RL5 Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.

 

Grade 5:

ELAGSE5RL2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

 

ELAGSE5RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

 

ELAGSE5RL5 Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

Arts Standards

Grade 4: 

ESD4.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD4.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD4.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD4.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

Grade 5:

ESD5.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD5.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD5.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD5.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

READING – Literary Text

Meaning and Context

Standard 5: Determine meaning and develop logical interpretations by making predictions, inferring, drawing conclusions, analyzing, synthesizing, providing evidence, and investigating multiple interpretations.

5.1 Ask and answer inferential questions to analyze meaning beyond the text; refer to details and examples within a text to support inferences and conclusions.

 

Language, Craft, and Structure

Standard 9: Interpret and analyze the author’s use of words, phrases, and conventions, and how their relationships shape meaning and tone in print and multimedia texts.

9.2 Explain how the author’s choice of words, illustrations, and conventions combine to create mood, contribute to meaning, and emphasize aspects of a character or setting.

 

Grade 5:

READING – Literary Text

Meaning and Context

Standard 5: Determine meaning and develop logical interpretations by making predictions, inferring, drawing conclusions, analyzing, synthesizing, providing evidence, and investigating multiple interpretations.

5.1 Quote accurately to analyze the meaning of and beyond the text to support inferences and conclusions.

 

Language, Craft, and Structure

Standard 9: Interpret and analyze the author’s use of words, phrases, and conventions, and how their relationships shape meaning and tone in print and multimedia texts.

9.2 Analyze and cite examples of how the author’s choice of words and conventions combine to create mood, shape meaning, and emphasize aspects of a character or setting.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use movement exploration to discover and create artistic ideas and works. 

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

Anchor Standard 3: I can perform movements using the dance elements.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate dance to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Sequence - A series of movements or steps performed in a specific order
  • Pattern - A repeating sequence
  • AB - A two-part sequence, the second part different from the first
  • ABA - Two contrasting themes followed by a repeat of the first
  • Rondo - A form where a sequence of contrasting themes occurs with a return to the first (ABACADA)

Arts Vocabulary

  • Movement phrase - A series of movements linked together to make a distinctive pattern
  • Non-locomotor - This refers to a movement that does not travel through space
  • Locomotor - This refers to a movement that travels through space
  • Steady beat - An unchanging, continuous pulse
  • Space - An element of movement involving direction, level, size, focus, and pathway
  • Level - One of the aspects of the movement element space; in dance, there are three basic levels: high, middle, and low
  • Choreography - The art of composing dances and planning and arranging the movements, steps, and patterns of dancers
  • Choreographer - A person who creates dances
  • Shape - This refers to an interesting and interrelated arrangement of body parts of one dance; the visual makeup or molding of the body parts of a single dancer; the overall visible appearance of a group of dancers

 

Materials

  • Sound source and music with a steady beat
  • Magna-tiles (or make your own shapes using poster board/large paper and markers)
  • Poems

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: It is best to have an open space, so moving desks and tables is advised. Remind students about rules of movement. 

 

    • Have students form a circle.
  • Begin the lesson by engaging students in movement that introduces students to the locomotor and non-locomotor movement.
  • Have students arrange themselves in a circle with enough personal space to move freely without touching a neighbor.
    • Turn on instrumental music with a steady beat.
  • First, have students bring awareness to their bodies by leading them through gentle stretches starting from the head and moving to the toes (e.g., head circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, etc.).
  • Introduce non-locomotor movements to students by directing them in the following movements.
    • Bending and Stretching: Bend the knees and stretch up high.
    • Twisting: Twist the torso to the left and right.
    • Swinging: Swing the arms gently from side to side.
    • Swaying: Sway the body from side to side with feet planted.
    • Turning: Spin in place, both directions.
    • Invite students to create their own movement.
  • Introduce non-locomotor movements to students by directing them in the following movements.
    • Walking: Walk around the room with different styles (tiptoeing, heel walking, big steps, small steps).
    • Jumping: Jump in place, then move forward and backward.
    • Invite students to create their own movement.
  • Tell students that they will be playing the Name Game.
    • Demonstrate the Name Game by stating your name while making a movement or gesture to accompany your name.
    • The circle then collectively repeats your name and gesture. Continue with the next person stating his/her name and making a gesture. The circle repeats the new person's name and gesture. Then, starting with the person of origin, repeat all the names and gestures shared to that point. Continue until everyone in the circle is included.

 

Work Session

  • Divide students into partners or small groups.
  • Have each group select four Magna-tiles or shapes.
    • Using the tiles, have each group create a sequence. Have students create a movement sequence to match Magna-tiles (groups may use movements from the activator to assist in this creation) and perform it for the class or for a partner group if time is limited.
    • Have audience members identify the sequence using shapes, words (locomotor and nonlocomotor), and letters to describe the pattern (ABAB, ABBA, etc.).
  • Give each group a poem.
    • Tell students to identify the rhyme sequence in the poem (AB, ABA, etc.).
    • Using Magna-tiles, have students create the same sequence.
    • Next, have students analyze the meaning of each line of the poem.
    • Challenge students to create a movement sequence to match the Magna-tile sequence and also to convey the meaning of each line of the poem.
    • Allow time for students to practice their choreography with music.
    • Once prepared, students will perform their choreography for the class.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • Each group will perform their choreography twice.
    • First, groups perform only the movement phrase, and the audience will identify the sequence. This may need to be repeated to help audience members.
    • Second, groups will recite the poem while performing the dance. This activity will aid verbal learners. Have audience members identify the sequence with shapes, words (locomotor and nonlocomotor) and letters (ABAB, ABBA, etc.).
  • After performances, discuss the similarities and differences between groups’ dances, especially if groups had the same sequence. Discuss the difference between a sequence and a pattern. ABAB is a pattern, but ABBA is a sequence. How can ABBA become a pattern?

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, ability to create a sequence, ability to identify a rhyme sequence in a poem, ability to interpret the meaning of a poem, ability to identify and use non-locomotor and locomotor movements, and ability to work collaboratively to create choreography that follows a sequence.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can identify a rhyme sequence.
  • Students can create choreography that matches the assigned sequence (or the one they created).
  • Students can identify a sequence or pattern when performed.
  • Students can identify and use locomotor and non-locomotor movements.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Discuss how creating dance is like writing a story in that both must contain a beginning, middle, and end. This extension would mean that students’ phrases would be more complex. Groups use the sequences from the poems to elaborate on the movement phrasing. Each part (A, B, etc.) must have a minimum of three parts.
  • Students can write their own poem using the rhyme scheme of their dance phrase.
  • Technology Extension - Record performances of the final dance or students while they are planning or preparing for the dance and combine them in a Thinglink (https://www.thinglink.com/) with an image that matches the theme. Other ideas to include in the Thinglink: Upload images of samples of the sequence students create using available drawing software to show work of choreography.

Remediation: 

  • Work together as a class to identify the rhyme sequence of the same poem. Then, allow students to create choreography for the pattern or sequence in their groups. Discuss how different groups used different movements to choreograph the same sequence.
  • Provide simpler poems with clear rhyme schemes.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

  • Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems, Greenfield
  • Sing a Song of Popcorn, DeRegniers, Moore, White and Carr (Eds.)
  • Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein
  • Brown Honey and Broomwheat Tea, Thomas

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Melissa Dittmar-Joy. Technology by Ramsey Ray. Updated by Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Problem Solving with Movement 2-3

PROBLEM SOLVING WITH MOVEMENT

PROBLEM SOLVING WITH MOVEMENT

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore problem solving through creating dances and discover why problem solving skills are so important for choreographers.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2-3
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & MATH
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify and perform the Elements of Dance.

  • I can decipher a given word problem.

  • I can solve a given word problem.

  • I can create and perform choreography that demonstrates the solution to a given word problem.

Essential Questions

  • How can math be used to inspire choreography?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

*This lesson can be used with any math standard that lends itself to being expressed as a word problem.

Arts Standards

Grade 2: 

ESD2.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD2.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD2.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD2.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

Grade 3:

ESD3.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD3.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD3.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD3.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

*This lesson can be used with any math standard that lends itself to being expressed as a word problem.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use movement exploration to discover and create artistic ideas and works.

 

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

 

Anchor Standard 3: I can perform movements using the dance elements.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate dance to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

*Specific content vocabulary will depend on the math concept students are learning.

Arts Vocabulary

  • Choreography - The art of composing dances and planning and arranging the movements, steps, and patterns of dancers

  • Choreographer - A person who creates dances
  • Non-locomotor - This refers to a movement that does not travel through space
  • Locomotor - This refers to a movement that travels through space
  • Steady beat - An unchanging, continuous pulse
  • Elements of Dance - Body, action, space, time and energy

 

Materials

  • Sound source and music with a steady beat
  • Paper and pencils
  • Written word problems on cards

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Allow for some open space to create and perform. Review audience etiquette expectations before students perform for their peers.

 

  • Tell students that they will be playing the Name Game.
    • Have students stand in a circle. 
    • Demonstrate the Name Game by stating your name while making a movement or gesture to accompany your name. 
    • The circle then collectively repeats your name and gesture. Continue with the next person stating his/her name and making a gesture. The circle repeats the new person's name and gesture. Then, starting with the person of origin, repeat all the names and gestures shared to that point. Continue until everyone in the circle is included.

 

Work Session

    • Tell students that they will be using the Elements of Dance to enact the solution to a word problem.
  • Begin by engaging students in movement that introduces students to the Elements of Dance: Body, action, space, time and energy.
    • Have students arrange themselves in the classroom with enough personal space to move freely without touching a neighbor.
    • Turn on instrumental music with a steady beat.
    • Element of Body: First, have students bring awareness to their bodies by leading them through gentle stretches starting from the head and moving to the toes (e.g., head circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, etc.). Then, ask them to make different shapes with their bodies.
    • Element of Time: Next, bring students’ awareness to the rhythm of the music by having them march in place to the beat, gently swinging their arms by their sides. 
    • Element of Energy: Now, direct students to explore energy variations with different movement qualities such as sharp movements–quick, precise actions like punches or snaps, and smooth movements–slow, flowing actions like waves or circles with arms.
    • Element of Space - Levels: Bring students’ attention to levels (high, middle, low) with movements such as stretching up high and moving on tiptoes, crouching in a small ball close to the floor, and bouncing in place at a middle level.
    • Element of Action - Locomotor/non-locomotor: Tell students that these movements they just performed were non-locomotor, meaning that they didn’t move to a new location. Direct students to perform a movement that requires moving from one place to another, such as step-together, step-together moving side to side.
    • Have students practice what they just learned by saying words such as “locomotor” and have students create a spontaneous locomotor movement.
    • Have students return to their seats.
  • Next, divide the class into small groups. Assign each group a word problem (it can be the same word problem or different word problems depending on students’ levels).
    • For example, “You must choreograph a dance combination that is 4 counts of 8 in length. The dance must have an equal number of locomotor and non-locomotor movements.”
    • Students should solve the word problem mathematically. For example, “What is the total number of counts in the dance (32)? How many locomotor movements will you have (16)? How many non-locomotor movements will you have (16)?”
    • Next, students will create choreography to answer the word problems. Students can arrange their choreography as they would like as long as it meets the criteria of the word problem.
      • Example 1: First 4 counts - locomotor movement, second 4 counts - non-locomotor, third 4 counts - locomotor, fourth 4 counts - non-locomotor, fifth 4 counts - locomotor movement, sixth 4 counts - non-locomotor, seventh 4 counts - locomotor, eighth 4 counts - non-locomotor.
      • Example 2: First 4 counts - non-locomotor, second 4 counts - locomotor, third 4 counts - locomotor, fourth 4 counts - non-locomotor, fifth 4 counts - locomotor, sixth 4 counts - locomotor, seventh 4 counts - non-locomotor, eighth 4 counts - non-locomotor.
      • Both dances have 32 counts total, 16 of which are locomotor and 16 of which are non-locomotor.

 

Closing Reflection

  • The students will perform their movement phrases for their classmates. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • After students perform, groups will read their word problem to the class, show their solution and how it went with their performed choreography.
  • If all groups used the same word problem, discuss how different groups created different choreography based on the same criteria.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, ability to make different types of movements using the Elements of Dance, ability to understand and correctly solve the word problem, and collaboration in group choreography.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can identify and perform the Elements of Dance.
  • Students can decipher the given word problem.
  • Students can solve the given word problem.
  • Students can create and perform choreography that correctly demonstrates the solution to the given word problem.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: Raise the challenge of the word problem by including more steps, such as a minimum of four different types of movements that students will select and perform. 

Remediation: 

  • Scaffold the lesson by solving a word problem as a class and creating choreography as a class before individual group choreography.
  • Differentiate the level of word problems depending on student ability.

 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Melissa Dittmar-Joy. Updated by Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Sequence Your Steps K-1

SEQUENCE YOUR STEPS

SEQUENCE YOUR STEPS

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will investigate sequences and patterns through movement. They will use their bodies to form a sequence of shapes, transforming these sequences into patterns to create unique dances. These dances will then be performed for their peers, who will identify the patterns and shapes within them.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: K-1
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & MATH
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify and differentiate between a sequence and a pattern.

  • I can create a sequence and a pattern that demonstrates geometric concepts.

Essential Questions

  • How can movement be used to create patterns?

  • How can movement be used to express geometric concepts?

  • What is the difference between a pattern and a sequence?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.PAR.6.1 Create, extend, and describe repeating patterns with numbers and shapes, and explain the rationale for the pattern.

 

K.GSR.8.1 Identify, sort, classify, analyze, and compare two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures, in different sizes and orientations, using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, number of sides and vertices, and other attributes.

 

Grade 1: 

1.PAR.3.1 Investigate, create, and make predictions about repeating patterns with a core of up to 3 elements resulting from repeating an operation, as a series of shapes, or a number string.

 

1.GSR.4.1 Identify common two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures, sort and classify them by their attributes and build and draw shapes that possess defining attributes.

Arts Standards

Kindergarten:

ESDK.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESDK.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESDK.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESDK.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

Grade 1:

ESD1.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD1.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD1.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD1.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten: 

K.ATO.6 Describe simple repeating patterns using AB, AAB, ABB, and ABC type patterns.

 

K.G.2 Identify and describe a given shape and shapes of objects in everyday situations to include two-dimensional shapes (i.e., triangle, square, rectangle, hexagon, and circle) and three-dimensional shapes (i.e., cone, cube, cylinder, and sphere). 

 

K.G.5 Draw two-dimensional shapes (i.e., square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, and circle) and create models of three-dimensional shapes (i.e., cone, cube, cylinder, and sphere).

 

Grade 1:

1.ATO.9 Create, extend and explain using pictures and words for: a. repeating patterns (e.g., AB, AAB, ABB, and ABC type patterns); b. growing patterns (between 2 and 4 terms/figures).

 

1.G.4 Identify and name two-dimensional shapes (i.e., square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, rhombus, trapezoid, and circle).

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use movement exploration to discover and create artistic ideas and works.

 

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

 

Anchor Standard 3: I can perform movements using the dance elements.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate dance to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Sequence - An ordered list of items that follows a specific rule

  • Pattern - A repeating sequence

Arts Vocabulary

  • Choreography - The art of composing dances and planning and arranging the movements, steps, and patterns of dancers

  • Choreographer - A person who creates dances
  • Shape - This refers to an interesting and interrelated arrangement of body parts of one dance; the visual makeup or molding of the body parts of a single dancer; the overall visible appearance of a group of dancers

 

Materials

  • Sound source and music with a steady beat
  • Four-section chart (each pair will need three)
  • Pencils

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Begin by engaging students in movement that introduces students to the Elements of Dance: Body, action, space, time and energy.
      • Have students arrange themselves in the classroom with enough personal space to move freely without touching a neighbor.
      • Turn on instrumental music with a steady beat.
  • First, have students bring awareness to their bodies by leading them through gentle stretches starting from the head and moving to the toes (e.g., head circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, etc.).  
  • Next, lead students in a simple warm-up incorporating sequencing concepts (Examples: Arms high, arms low, arms to the right and arms to the left).  
  • Allow students to explore other simple dance movements (Examples: Clap, jump, walk and turn).  
  • After incorporating these simple dance movements, demonstrate a movement sequence. Have students immediately follow and perform teacher led movement sequences.

 

Work Session

  • Divide students into partners. Pass out a four-section chart and pencil to each student.
    • Students should select four different movements from the warm-up and draw or write the movement in their sequence chart.  
    • Have students practice their created movement sequences.  
    • Students will perform their movement sequences for their classmates. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
      • Challenge audience members to correctly identify the movements in the created sequence.  
  • Next, discuss and demonstrate how a sequence can be turned into a pattern.
    • Have students repeat their movement sequence three times in a row to create a pattern.
  • Review the types of shapes and attributes of shapes that students are learning about.
    • Ask students to think creatively about how they can create shapes with their bodies. Allow students to share ideas with the class or demonstrate a few for students to help scaffold the activity.
    • Pass out a new sequence chart to each student. 
    • Students should work with their partner to draw shapes on their sequence chart. 
    • Allow students time to practice their sequence. 
    • Now, tell students that they will turn their sequence into a pattern by repeating their sequence three times.
    • Allow students time to practice.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Students will perform their dance for their classmates. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • After each performance, the audience will determine the pattern of the dance and the shapes the dancers made with their bodies.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, ability to collaborate with their partners to create a sequence, turn a sequence into a pattern, and create shapes with their bodies.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can identify and differentiate between a sequence and a pattern.
  • Students can create a sequence and a pattern that demonstrates geometric concepts.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: Challenge students to create their own pattern and turn it into a dance.

Remediation: Simplify the pattern to an ABAB pattern.

 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Melissa Dittmar-Joy. Updated by Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

States of Matter 2-3

STATES OF MATTER

STATES OF MATTER

Learning Description

In this lesson, you and your students will have fun moving and generating choreography to understand different states of matter. Emphasizing multiple learning styles will allow students to explore concepts in the way they learn most effectively.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2-3
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can choreograph a movement phrase that uses movement qualities, body shapes, and locomotor/non-locomotor movements to communicate the characteristics of atoms in the different states of matter.
  • I can describe the three states of matter.
  • I can explain the correlation between heat and states of matter.

Essential Questions

  • How can movement enhance comprehension of various states of matter?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

S2P1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the properties of matter and changes that occur in objects.

Arts Standards

Grade 2: 

ESD2.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD2.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD2.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD2.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

2-PS1-4. Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use movement exploration to discover and create artistic ideas and works.

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

Anchor Standard 3: I can perform movements using the dance elements.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate dance to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • States of matter - The distinct forms that different phases of matter take on
  • Liquid - Particles are close together but can move past one another, allowing liquids to flow and take the shape of their container while maintaining a constant volume
  • Solid - Particles are closely packed together in a fixed arrangement; solids have a definite shape and volume
  • Gas - Particles are far apart and move freely; gasses have no definite shape or volume and will expand to fill their container
  • Heat energy - Also known as thermal energy, is the energy that comes from the movement of particles within a substance; it is a form of kinetic energy due to the vibration and movement of atoms and molecules; the more these particles move, the higher the temperature and the more heat energy is present

Arts Vocabulary

  • Movement phrase - A series of movements linked together to make a distinctive pattern
  • Non-locomotor - This refers to a movement that does not travel through space
  • Locomotor - This refers to a movement that travels through space
  • Sustained - A quality of movement that is smooth and unaccented; there is no apparent start or stop, only a continuity of energy
  • Percussive - A quality of movement characterized by sharp starts and stops; staccato jabs of energy
  • Vibratory - A quality of movement characterized by rapidly repeated bursts of percussive movements; like a jitter
  • Swinging - A quality of movement established by a fall with gravity, a gain in momentum, a loss of momentum, and the repeated cycle of fall and recovery, like that of a pendulum
  • Suspended - A quality of movement that occurs in a moment of resistance to gravity, such as the instant in which a dancer hangs in space at the top of a leap
  • Tempo - The pace or speed of movement
  • Choreography - The art of composing dances and planning and arranging the movements, steps, and patterns of dancers
  • Choreographer - A person who creates dances
  • Shape - This refers to an interesting and interrelated arrangement of body parts of one dance; the visual makeup or molding of the body parts of a single dancer; the overall visible appearance of a group of dancers

 

Materials

  • Sound source and music with a steady beat
  • States of matter written on cards

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips - You will need open space, so push desks/chairs to the side or go outside if that is an option. 

 

    • Have students form a circle.
  • Begin the lesson by engaging students in movement that introduces students to the locomotor and non-locomotor movement.
  • Have students arrange themselves in a circle with enough personal space to move freely without touching a neighbor.
    • Turn on instrumental music with a steady beat.
  • First, have students bring awareness to their bodies by leading them through gentle stretches starting from the head and moving to the toes (e.g., head circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, etc.).
  • Introduce non-locomotor movements to students by directing them in the following movements.
    • Bending and Stretching: Bend the knees and stretch up high.
    • Twisting: Twist the torso to the left and right.
    • Swinging: Swing the arms gently from side to side.
    • Swaying: Sway the body from side to side with feet planted.
    • Turning: Spin in place, both directions.
    • Invite students to create their own movement.
  • Introduce non-locomotor movements to students by directing them in the following movements.
    • Walking: Walk around the room with different styles (tiptoeing, heel walking, big steps, small steps).
    • Jumping: Jump in place, then move forward and backward.
    • Invite students to create their own movement.
  • Tell students that they will be playing the Name Game.
    • Demonstrate the Name Game by stating your name while making a movement or gesture to accompany your name.
    • The circle then collectively repeats your name and gesture. Continue with the next person stating his/her name and making a gesture. The circle repeats the new person's name and gesture. Then, starting with the person of origin, repeat all the names and gestures shared to that point. Continue until everyone in the circle is included.
    • Debrief by asking students to identify examples of movements from the name game that were locomotor and non-locomotor.
    • Discuss movements in terms of movement qualities such as sustained, percussive, vibratory, swinging, and suspended.

 

Work Session

  • Divide students into small groups, assigning locomotor or non-locomotor movements to each group.
  • Tell students to create a movement phrase using two movements. Students will perform for a partner group.
    • Ask students to identify the movement type (locomotor/non-locomotor) of their partner group.
  • Discuss the three states of matter (solid, liquid and gas) and the effect that heat energy has on them.
    • Identify the speed (tempo) of atoms in each state and how the atoms move (locomotor/non-locomotor) in each state.
    • As you discuss each state of matter, ask students for ideas for how they could use movement to represent the atoms in each state.
  • Assign each group two different states of matter (solid, liquid or gas).
  • Tell students that they will create a brief movement phrase that will represent how atoms move in one state and then to the other state demonstrating understanding of both states of matter. Students should use tempo (fast, medium or slow) and locomotor/non-locomotor movements to demonstrate how atoms move.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Students will perform their movement phrases for their classmates. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • After each performance, have audience members identify the group’s two states, offering rationale for their identification.
  • Discuss the correlation between heat and states of matter.
    • Discuss with students whether these changes can be reversed. Why or why not?

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, ability to identify the characteristics of the states of matter, and ability to work collaboratively to use movement to accurately and meaningfully represent the states of matter.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can choreograph a movement phrase that uses movement qualities, body shapes, and locomotor/non-locomotor movements to communicate the characteristics of atoms in the different states of matter.
  • Students can describe the three states of matter.
  • Students can explain the correlation between heat and states of matter.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Provide more guidelines for choreography (i.e., must have eight movements, must have multiple level and spatial pattern changes, must select a particular dance style for choreography, etc.).
  • Have students choose one of the five movement qualities of dance to explore in greater depth: Sustained, swinging, suspended, vibratory, or percussive. Explore how these qualities aid in expression of the changes in states of matter.
  • Create a Thinglink (via app or website) on the states of matter as individuals or in groups.

Remediation: Provide a graphic organizer with each state of matter in the first column, a section to write or draw characteristics of atoms in a second column, and a section to write or draw types of movements that could be used to represent the state in the third column. Students can use the graphic organizer to assist them in their choreography.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Melissa Dittmar-Joy. Technology by Ramsey Ray. Updated by Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules