Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Locomotor Dances

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students explore and perform locomotor movements. With partners, they combine the locomotor movements into a simple dance. The partner identifies three movements they observed. Students may be grouped into dancers for a performance.
Lesson Plan
1
1
Curated OER

Dancing a Christmas Carol

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students explore dance. They analyze and outline the movements of the dance "Roger de Coverly" from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Students choose music and choreograph a dance similar to "Roger de Coverly." They perform the dance....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Vietnam-Tet Nguyen Dan; Dancing Dragon Puppets

For Teachers K - 8th
Students are shown visual examples of Dragon Dance costumes and identify cultural characteristics and ceremonial design qualities. Students listen to the teacher tell about the significance dragon dances have played throughout Vietnamese...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan for Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 (1938)

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students study the life and music of composer, Samuel Barber. In groups, representing trees, water, and stars they use interpretive dance to tell the story of the musical composition, 'Adagio for Strings, Op. 11' by Barber.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creative and Cultural Dance

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students study dance as a way to communicate and represent oneself in the world. They perform and articulate movement skills from the "dancer's toolbox". They solve problems in dance using the "dancer's toolbox" composing, witnessing,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Nutcracker

For Teachers 1st
First graders define a ballet as a story told through dance. They listen to melodies and demonstrate beat and accent through body movement. They watch the ballet.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Integrated Dance Curriculum: Snow

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students, through the leading questions, guided imagery, and dance, gain a greater comprehension of snow, weather, and the five senses.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Objects Human

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Explore poetry, personification, and multiple languages with a poetry reading and writing lesson. After the teacher reads the poem to the class, a discussion about personification follows. The class then writes a collaborative poem...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jazz Dance and Music

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders write a poem. In this jazz music lesson, 4th graders learn about the basics of jazz dance and practice basic movements. Students learn common terminology and listen to several recordings of jazz music. Students create a...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

Jazz music, Dance and Poetry

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Students view video and become familiar with the type of movement in jazz dance.  In this jazz dance lesson, students write a cinquain about jazz dance.  Students recognize the elements of jazz dance and the type of music...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dance: Personal Soundtracks

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students create a musical autobiography. For this fine arts lesson, students explore the emotions that music can express by listening to and discussing a variety of music. Students construct a personal timeline and a collection of music...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Water Cycle: States of Water

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Elementary schoolers explore states of matter by concentrating on the ways in which water moves between its solid, liquid, and gaseous states in a variety of Earth environments. Learners interpret these movements through dance. The...
Lesson Plan
Bowland

DanceStar

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Express dance moves mathematically. Scholars dissect dance routines and express them using mathematical notation, such as translations and rotations. They use video clips to investigate seven different dance genres.
Lesson Plan
Lied Center of Kansas

The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd Standards
Both The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare are great additions to an elementary language arts lesson. Young readers focus on the literary elements of each story, including characters and plot development, and apply...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Clerihew Dances I

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders demonstrate locomotor movements and define non-locomotor movement. They discuss a story and perform a "name" movement.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Just Pass It

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate a minimalist dance using two props, a chair and a pillow. They demonstrate transferring a prop from one person to the next in a task-like manner. Then they work as a group to transfer a prop with restrictive guidelines.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rain

For Teachers K
Students create a dance based on the sounds they hear during a recording of rainstorm. They learn the elements of dance and explore the environment.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Folk Dance Explorations in the Choreographic Work of Modern Dance

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders participate in a lesson guided by an essential question: in what ways does choreographer, Mark Morris' work, "The Office," reflect Eastern-European traditional folk dance? During the lesson's first sessions, students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dance

For Teachers K
Students participate in different types of dances in which they explore time, action and other elements of dancing. They dance with a group or a partner and explore how to work together.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Braiding and Weaving" Dance Lesson Plan

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders explore braiding and weaving through dance. They create their own braiding and weaving dance.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Integtrating Chinese Dance

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students investigate the concept of Chinese dance and how it developed. They practice some of the dances and conduct research the contributions of major choreographers. Students describe the history and cultural significance of each dance.
Lesson Plan
1
1
Curated OER

To Travel or Not to Travel: Locomotor andNonLocomotor Movement

For Teachers K
Students develop dances. In this movement instructional activity, students play action and stillness games and learn motif writing symbols that communicate dance moves. Students use locomotor and non-locomotor movement to create their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lessons of the Indian Epics: The Ramayana

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students read a version of Ramayana and explore the elements of the epic hero cycle. In this Ramayana analysis lesson, students retell the basic narrative of the Ramayana and identify the main characters. Students identify elements of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rock and Roll with Music and Movement

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders improvise music and dance to express their analysis of types of rocks. They discuss the three classes of rocks, list describing words, and create a short musical piece and dance to symbolize the rock they are dancing.