Curated OER
Telling Stories Through Dance
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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Telling a Story Through Dance
Students explore how to tell a story through dance. In this dance lesson, students watch Swan Lake and choose a story of their own to show through dance.
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Retell A Story Through Dance
Students tell stories through dance. In this ballet lesson, students learn pantomime dance skills and examine "The Nutcracker" ballet performances as they examine ballet as storytelling.
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Dance Integration With Social Studies
Have your class learn through movement. Learners study patriotic symbols through dance. They listen to spoken words and portray the story. They practice using space, and arm and leg movements to tell the story. What a creative way to...
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Every Puppet Tells a Story
Students make homemade puppet characters that have faces that tell it all. In this early childhood dramatic play activity, students create stick puppet characters that encourage language and story development, creative-thinking and...
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The Rumpelstiltskin Story
Why didn't Rapunzel's hair stop growing? Why did it take the fairy godmother so long to intervene in Cinderella's affairs? Young writers consider unanswered questions like these and compose news articles investigating the true...
Education Closet
West Side Shifts
Combine math, language arts, music, and dance with an activity focused on "America" from West Side Story. After listening to the song, learners compare the film to Romeo and Juliet, analyze the song's meter, design choreography, plan...
Curated OER
Our Side of the Story: African Americans Share Their Experiences of Slavery
Seventh graders listen to a variety of folktales sharing experiences of slavery. As a class, they compare and contrast reading a story and telling a story. They participate in a role play activity to discover the journey of a slave and...
Curated OER
Drama and Dance
Students create a dance that tells a story then they use the dance for inspiration and write their own. In this drama and dance lesson plan, students discover how the May and Aztec would dance to covey a concept or story. Students work...
Curated OER
Interpreting Mythology Through Dance
Students use abstract movement to tell the story of Re's journey. In this ancient Egypt lesson plan, students choreograph locomotor and non-locomotor movements to describe ancient Egyptian journeys to the afterlife as described in...
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Analyzing Two Dances and Making a Dance Map: The Nutcracker
Young scholars discuss dance elements and create a dance map. They choose a dance theme and incorporate movement into their dance maps and choreography. They also experiment with different types of music.
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Storytelling: Performance and Art Learning Center
Tenth graders explore the process of telling stories without words. In this literature lesson, 10th graders watch a music video performance made by Alaska Native students, and then examine art objects that may be used to tell a...
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Story Starters
Students orally tell different types of stories using the assistance of props. For more advanced students, stories may be told according to a specific genre, or the story may have to include a given condition, setting, situation or theme.
Curated OER
Telling Our Own Stories
Explore online profiles and social media with your middle and high school classes. Use blogs to inspire your class to craft a well-written, thoughtful response to a prompt you give. A few example prompts are given.
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Introduce Vocabulary: Rap a Tap Tap (Dillon)
Explore the dancing prodigy and Depression-era African-American icon Bill Robinson as scholars learn new vocabulary words in context. As you read Leo Dillon's Rap a Tap Tap they listen for six new words: clatter, greet,...
Curated OER
Chinese New Year Song and Dance
Young scholars identify phrases within a song. In this Chinese New Year lesson students listen to a story about Chinese New Year and "Song of the Dragon". Young scholars each write a phrase from the song on a slip of paper and as a class...
Curated OER
"Creating Movement through Literature" Dance Lesson Plan
Students listen to a story and then use the words from the book to generate dance movements.
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Moccasins Are Made for Dancing
Students explore two Native American legends. For this cultural traditions lesson, students read "The Legend of Blue Bonnet," and "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush." Students then study basic Native American dance movements prior to...
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Thrilling Information: Music and Reading
Here’s a cross-curricular program music activity that uses Peer Gynt to engage class members. Groups take one section of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” choreograph their section of the tune to represent the story as they imagine it,...
Curated OER
Going on a Bear Hunt
Young scholars investigate pantomiming by going on a fictitious bear hunt. In this performing arts lesson, students collaborate in groups to sing songs and perform pantomimes based on a hunting trip. Young scholars create...
Curated OER
Combining with Participial Phrases
Combine participial phrases and creative writing with this instructional activity, which is equally helpful for writing skills and conventions. After a mini-instructional activity on participial phrases and reading the picture book...
Curated OER
Dancing through Poetry
Get your class up and moving as they explore how to express movement and dance through words. Designed around two poems by Lillian Morrison about break dancing, the activity truly captures the creative and multi-sensory aspects of...
Curated OER
Island Breezes: Exploring Hula Dance
Students explore Hawaii and the art of hula dance. In this art lesson, students research the art of hula dance and Hawaii. Students create their own unique hula dance.
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Dance Around the World
Students gather information about traditional dances. In this folk dance lesson, students work in small groups to research a type of folk dance, then present information and perform the dance for the class.