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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Dimension Dances

For Teachers 4th
Use dance to help learners conceptualize line segments, rays, lines, and planes. They choreograph dances that show dimensional space. Dancers start by pondering space, point, and lines as the teacher draws them in the air. Each movement...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Machines

For Teachers 3rd
What do science and dance have in common? Simple machines, work, and force! First, children discuss machines, wheels, inclined planes, and wedges. They create inclined planes with their bodies and make up dances about wheels and wedges....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hot, Hot, Hot, Cold

For Teachers 2nd
Learners dance the image of falling snow. They move, swing, fall, and rise to music working to depict snow falling, the sun, and high/low movements. This is a well-thought out lesson that aids them in seeing movement as a form of...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Dance Challenge: Calculate and Compare Speed by Measuring a Series of Dance Movements

For Students 6th - 8th
Really neat! Kids choreograph a dance phrase and then measure the distance and speed of the phrase using a timer and a meter stick. They collect the data on a table which they use to determine an average. A series of observation and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Art and Sole

For Teachers 1st
A series of four lessons encourages learners to engage in all sorts of artistic activities. They participate in creative movement, serve food, sing songs, recite poems, and create a bust of themselves. What a fun and exciting series of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Telling Stories Through Dance

For Teachers K - 2nd
Examine the movement of characters in the story, Caps for Sale. Using the text, pupils invent gestures and movements for some of the actions and major events. They practice retelling a story by using the movements they developed. They...
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App
Addicted2Salsa

Pocket Salsa

For Students 7th - 12th
Master the art of salsa dancing in the comfort of your own home (or classroom) with a high-quality and easy-to-follow series of videos. An instructor and his partner demonstrate all the basic steps, and a whole rhythm section gives...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Poems That Dance

For Teachers 5th
Combine the elements of dance with the actions in a poem. Learners review basic grammar, write an action-packed cinquain poem, and then choreograph a dance based on their cinquains. After the dances are done, they'll discuss the elements...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Revelations

For Teachers 5th
They say art often imitates life. Learners research and write an expository paper on modern dance choreographer, Alvin Ailey. They focus on describing how his life and background has influenced his dance creations. This is a great way to...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Symmetrical Objects

For Teachers 4th
In order to better understand how to locate a plane of symmetry in 3-dimensional objects, learners create a dance. The class reviews dance and math symmetry, then they practice making symmetrical shapes and movements with a partner. They...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Making Dances From Stories

For Teachers 4th
After reading a short story, learners will create dances that show homophones and verbs. Their dance sequences involve three verbs and transition movements in between each verb. Tip: Have the class dance out the sequence of events from...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Dance in Hawai`i

For Teachers 4th
Nearly every people group has some type of dance, and those dances usually reflect history and culture. Little researchers write an essay on the cultural significance of the Hawaiian hula dance. They research the role of the hula dancer...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Push and Pull

For Teachers 1st
I love mixing arts lessons with core content! Here, the class will discuss energy, motion, and force (push/pull) as they review dance vocabulary and movements. They preview vocabulary for force and dance. Then they pair-up to dance a...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Cloud Sculpting

For Teachers 1st
Dance is a fantastic way to communicate thoughts, feelings, and even science concepts. Make this activity a part of your next unit on weather and clouds. Kids will discuss types of clouds, how they look, and what they do. Then, they will...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Pilobolus

For Teachers 3rd
After reviewing dance-specific terminology and watching a clip from the dance troupe Pilobolus, learners create dances of their own. They pair up and use the teacher's cues to create creature dances that exemplify mood and shape. Any...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

What’s My Vocabulary Word?

For Teachers 3rd
The elements of dance can be used to communicate thoughts and, in this case, words. In small groups, the class first creates a set of movements to show a single word. Then, they extend their movements to show a three-word phrase....
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Comparing Cultural Dances

For Teachers 2nd
All cultures express similar thoughts, feelings, and ideas. But, often times those things are expressed differently. Learners compare and contrast traditional dances from two cultures. They watch videos of each performance, stop to...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Theme and Variation

For Teachers 5th
The dance elements of body, energy, space, and time are the focus of a lesson on movement and theme. The class follows along as the teacher shows them a new dance that has a theme. They practice the dance, and then change one element in...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Dance Critic

For Teachers 5th
What do writing and dance have in common? They both have a six-trait rubric for assessment. Just like a good story, a good dance must have a hook, beginning, middle, end,  logical sequence, and a climax. Learners use a structured...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Follow The Leader - Soca Style

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Here's a great warm-up activity to get your dancers up and moving. There are some very basic moves like hopping, sliding, marching, and bouncing in place. Add some hand and arm movements. Some days you could have slower music and some...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lollipop

For Teachers 4th - 9th
This line dance incorporates the grapevine, step-claps, the Twist, and the Lindy step. It's a great way to introduce the Lindy step in a line dance before teaching them to dance the Lindy with a partner. The directions are well written...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Flip and Flop: An Adaptation Through Dancing Echoes with Shapes and Locomotor Movement

For Teachers K - 2nd
Dancers practice echoing through dance. They listen to a story "Flip and Flop" and then are put into pairs. One partner is Flip, while the other is Flop. Flip creates a shape by dancing, and Flop, the other student, echoes that shape by...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Macarena

For Teachers 1st - 12th
Hey Macarena! Just a few moves to learn. It's only a 16-count dance that keeps repeating.  Hands in front, palms down, then palms up, hands to upper arms, hands to arms, hands to hips, hands to cheeks, and wiggle. Yes! That's all there...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dance Cards

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Let little dancers choreograph a dance using steps they have learned in the unit. Write the names of the dance steps that have been taught on sets of index cards. Make sure that each set of cards you create has a mix of the dance steps....