Elementary Dance Education: Nature-Themed Creative Movement and Collaborative Learning
- Author: Pomer, Janice
Elementary Dance Education: Nature-Themed Creative Movement and Collaborative Learning
- Author: Pomer, Janice
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About
Children love to observe, explore, learn, and create.
Elementary Dance Education helps them do all four. And it does so in a unique way, shaping its movement activities around nature themes. In fact, all of the learning experiences are based on different aspects of nature, as the text intertwines children’s innate curiosity and observation skills with the processes of scientific inquiry and artistic creation.
Elementary Dance Education helps teachers develop the instructional skills they need to incorporate dance into their curricula, providing over 70 movement activities and exercises for students in grades K-6. The activities, which stimulate children’s minds and bodies through the process of collaborative dance creation, include variations for younger and older students. Ideas are offered for partner or small-group explorations, making the activities more inclusive and appropriate for each age group.
Another unique feature of this book is the original music accompanying it. Teachers have access to 90 minutes of dynamic sounds, rhythmic percussion, captivating electro-acoustic compositions, and gentle atmospheric selections, delivered through HKPropel, to accompany the learning experiences. The compositions support students’ movement explorations, conveying a range of images and emotions and inspiring a variety of responses.
In addition, Elementary Dance Education offers the following:
- Discussion questions for each exercise, prompting in-class discussion and student exploration; the questions come with sample answers or ideas to encourage student responses and spur a fruitful discussion
- 75 photos and several diagrams to illustrate positions and poses and stimulate ideas for the movement exercises
- Journal prompts, tailored for older and younger children, to give students the opportunity to respond and reflect on the learning experiences
- Video links (provided in HKPropel) to help illustrate concepts and exercises, offer examples, or encourage students to watch for something specific in an activity
This book is a rich and easy-to-implement resource not only for elementary dance educators and physical educators but for classroom teachers as well. The exercises in this book use a template for movement discovery in which students will observe, explore, create, and share. This template “can be applied to all areas of the curriculum,” says author Janice Pomer. “It’s an invaluable tool for student engagement, satisfying children’s capacity to watch, wonder, move, interact, discover, and share.”
Elementary Dance Education will promote children’s creativity and curiosity, engage and challenge their minds and bodies, and help them learn to appreciate and support each other as they work together exploring, creating, and sharing their ideas and insights about the natural world through dance.
Note: A code for accessing HKPropel is included with this ebook.
Contents
- Chapter 1 . Basic Elements of Dance The first chapter contains five foundation exercises that have a series of pedagogic variations to deepen students' understanding of the basic elements of dance. Because many of you are working with novice movers, it's
- 1. 1 Exploring Shapes
- 1. 2 Exploring Motion
- 1. 3 Exploring Time
- 1. 4 Exploring Space
- 1. 5 Exploring Energy
- 1. 6 Collective Observation
- Chapter 2 . Plants The second chapter explores a variety of growing things that have, or will have, roots. Differing shapes, textures, and environments played a part in the selection of this grouping. On-the-spot movement dynamics will be the common deno
- 2. 1 Trees
- 2. 2 Flowers
- 2. 3 Vines
- 2. 4 Tall Grasses
- 2. 5 The Three Sisters
- Chapter 3 . Animals Each animal-inspired exercise begins with a simple 16-beat foundation dance based on actions associated with an animal in a specific animal grouping. The foundation dance is used to explore some of the animals' behavioral traits. Stude
- 3. 1 Birds of a Feather
- 3. 2 Wildcats
- 3. 3 Horns, Antlers, Hooves, and Herds
- 3. 4 Reptiles With Scales and Shells
- 3. 5 Spiders and Insects
- 3. 6 Rodents
- 3. 7 Animal Anthology (Kindergarten Through Grade 3)
- 3. 8 Endangered Species (Grades 4 Through 6)
- Chapter 4 . Water We are all bodies of water. When we are born, our bodies contain 75 percent water, which is almost the same percentage of water that covers the earth. Water is in the ground, in the air, and in the food we eat. The movement exercises in
- 4. 1 Water Words
- 4. 2 Waves
- 4. 3 Frost and Snow
- 4. 4 Rain
- 4. 5 Water Cycle
- 4. 6 Drought
- 4. 7 Water Pollution (Grades 4 Through 6)
- 4. 8 Wetland Habitats
- Chapter 5 . Earth The exercises in this chapter are based on surface textures and shapes, and underground earth forces that can be felt and seen. These movement explorations will draw students' attention to the ways our planet supports us, the way they tr
- 5. 1 Earth Words
- 5. 2 Terrains
- 5. 3 Rocks and Sand
- 5. 4 Tectonic Plates
- 5. 5 Volcanoes
- 5. 6 Mapping the Land
- Chapter 6 . Sky Human beings have been studying the sky since the dawn of mankind; winds and weather impact our daily lives, and the stars and night skies continue to inspire us to dream of other worlds. In this chapter, students will look to the skies fr
- 6. 1 Clouds
- 6. 2 Thunder and Lightning
- 6. 3 Painting the Sky
- 6. 4 Sun and Moon
- 6. 5 Eclipses
- 6. 6 Gravitational Forces
- 6. 7 The Planets
- Chapter 7 . People Humans are mammals, and like mammals and other living things, humans travel, have families, build communities, and communicate. In this chapter, students will revisit some of the previous exercises and examine how they relate to humans,
- 7. 1 Revisiting Maple Keys
- 7. 2 Revisiting the Three SistersPeople and Animals
- 7. 3 Revisiting Teamwork
- 7. 4 Revisiting Herd MigrationsPeople and Water
- 7. 5 Revisiting Snow
- 7. 6 Revisiting the Water Cycle, Drought, and FloodsPeople and Earth
- 7. 7 Revisiting Tectonic Plates
- 7. 8 Revisiting VolcanoesPeople and Sky
- 7. 9 Revisiting the Moon
- 7. 10 Revisiting Our Planet
- Chapter 8 . Other Wonders The world is filled with wonders. The final chapter contains a list of fascinating natural wonders to explore. PlantsCacti and the Desert Environment, Carnivorous Plants, Ferns, Mushrooms and FungiAnimalsFlightless Birds; The Pla
