LEARNING OBJECTIVE: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to differentiate between straight, angular, circular and curvy space patterns.
NATIONAL AND STATE STANDARDS ADDRESSED: (*Adapted from NDEO Standards for Learning and Teaching Dance in the Arts)
- I 3 (a) 2: Pathways: Dance through space in a straight, curved, circular, diagonal, zigzag and combination of pathways
- I 2 (c): Locomotor Movement: Demonstrate and identify locomotor movements: roll, slither, crawl, creep, walk, run, jump, march, slide, gallop, hop, skip and leap.
- I 3 (a) 5: Personal Space: Defines one’s own personal space in relation to the personal space of other dancers
- I 4 (a) 4: Focus and Awareness: Dance with awareness of movement relationships: proximity, interconnectedness, between dancers, modes of change
- III 1 (a): Use Dance Terminology: Observe or perform dance and indentify movements using dance terminology
ASSESSMENT:
- Students verbally identify pathways and locomotor movements from a variety of video clips
- Teacher or volunteer demonstrates various pathways and students draw the pathways as they are observing
- Use of Matchbox cars to demonstrate or “drive” the pathways
AGE AND DEVELOPMENTAL INFORMATION OF 3RD GRADERS: (*Adapted from Creative Dance for All Ages by Anne Green Gilbert)
- Loves to learn through exploration
- Motor coordination and endurance increases at this age
- Enjoys practicing and developing skills while improvising
- Needs action and excitement to participate and engage fully
- Loves to contribute
- Wide range of physical maturity and pre-adolescence beginning
- Needs individual praise and positive reinforcement
- Enjoys experimentation and creating
MATERIALS:
- Music
- Matchbox Cars
- Video Clips
- Large sheets of paper and crayons
- Map
WARM-UP: Create a warm-up with an “Under the Sea” theme. Emphasis on Mermaid/Sea Urchin characters to include:
- “Submarine” start of warm-up to include follow the leader (i.e. teacher) and travel around the room in different pathways before settling into beginning spot on the floor.
- Progression of “swimming” through space in different pathways
- “Floating” series will include space patterns
- All stretches will include transfer into slow, locomotor stretches through pathways
MOTIVATION:
- Students will identify pathways from short, video clips (i.e. The Road Runner running straight, ballerina performing piques turns in a circular pathway, race cars making angular sharp turns, etc.)
- Ask students, “Do all people walk in a straight line all the time?”
- Pull out map and ask students the pathway from A to B? How do we get there? What is the pathway pattern?
LESSON INTRODUCTION:
Prompt for prior knowledge: Do you walk in a straight line all the time?
Teacher’s Goal: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to differentiate between straight, angular, circular and curvy space patterns
EXPLORATION:
- Walk, run, skip, jump, march, slide, gallop, crawl, slither, hop, etc in a straight pathway
- Perform them forward, sideways and backwards
- Change tempos to slow, medium and fast
- Perform solo, then with partner, then in groups
*Repeat this with use of circular, angular and curvy space patterns
DEVELOPMENT:
- “Race Car” Follow the Leader- Students now become the race cars. Teacher calls verbal cues of the pathway to be followed (i.e. straight, angular, curvy, circular.) Begin with follow the leader as one volunteer leads that pathway to be followed. Progress into freeze dance. One person (or “race car”) travels alone while other “cars” are frozen.
- Drawing Center: Partners draw their “pathways map” together and then dance through the pattern they create.
CONCLUSION: Students reconvene in the class “Submarine” in the center of the room and slowly stretch (with no leader this time) and travel through space. Dancers wind down and decrease their tempo until they are in stillness and lined up to exit the class.
