NB* Illustrations in the manual are in black and white
Reception
Dance
No. 5 - Autumn Leaves
Learning Objectives
Children should learn to:-
- rock from side to side
- recognise and use "light" movements
- understand and use high and low movements
- draw long, winding pathways in the air
Dance Framework
- grow into a leaf shape
- rock eight
times from side-to-side then run and jump away (the wind blows
the leaf from the tree)
- float and flutter with hands and arms
leading in a long, winding, curving and swirling pathway down
to
the
ground. (The leaf flutters
and falls gently to the ground)
- settle on the ground in a leaf shape.
Music
- Track 9 "Autumn Leaves" (Click to Listen)
Possible Links with Early Learning Goals
Obviously, the focus of any dance lessons will be on creative
and physical development. However, the nature of activity
will also encourage
overlap into other areas. The practitioner will choose to emphasise
other links as appropriate. Creative:
Respond in a variety of ways to seeing, touching and discussing autumn
leaves. Express and communicate their feelings.
Physical Development:
Show an awareness of space - drawing long, winding patterns in the
air.
Move with confidence, imagination and in safety.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World:
Find out about and identify which leaves turn yellow and red and
fall to the ground in autumn.
Mathematical Development:
Use language to discuss the different shapes of leaves. Count to
eight "rocking" movements.
Communication, Language and Literacy:
Show an understanding of the sequence of events on growth of trees.
Personal, Social and Emotional:
Work as part of a group or class, taking turns to talk about autumn
leaves.
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Reception
Autumn
Leaves - Ideas for Stimuli and Related Activities
- Cut
out large leaf shapes from brown paper.
From a supply of magazine pictures, children tear up into small
pieces all the autumnal shades.
Children stick the coloured pieces of paper to the leaf shapes to make
autumn leaves.
- Talk about:
How leaves change colour.
What colour are autumn leaves?
Leaves are dry and "crunchy" - make a noise when
they shuffle through them
Try to identify common leaves.
- Can you find a pretty coloured leaf that has
fallen to the ground and bring it to school?
Talk about the leaf:
where did you find it?
what colour is it?
what tree did it come from?
- Colour two matching leaves the same and then draw a line
to join them together. Do this with all 5 pairs - each must
be a different colour.
(Master A4 sheet in appendices)
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 Reception
Autumn Leaves
Lesson 6
Starting Activity
- (Ask the children to sit close to you and look at some
leaves which have fallen from
the trees. Encourage children to talk about their shape and colour.)
- When
leaves die and fall from the tree, they flutter gently to the ground.
Can you make your fingers flutter from high above your head, all the way
down to the ground?
(Children remain sitting and try this several times.)
-
 Leaves
also float gently to the ground - make your arms really
light and float them gently
through the air until
they settle on the floor - make them go on a "long
journey"
Exploration and Development
- Stand in a space. Start with your hands high above
your head and gently float them all the way
down to the ground. (Practise this several times with a shaking tambourine
and emphasise
lightness.)
- Make your hands take a really long winding journey to
reach the floor.
 Travel about the room with small,
quick, light steps (repeat several times).
- Make
you whole body feel light and lift your head and arms
up high. Now float about the
room with your hands and arms making you go high, low
and turn. Take a long time to float to
the ground. (Accompany with a tambourine so that children move within a time
limit and look at
demonstrations of children performing well.)
- Float, and flutter your
fingers when you move, just like a leaf falling to the ground.
- (Remind
children about the leaves they saw at the beginning of
the lesson)
Make the shapes of a leaf with your bodies. (Give children
time to experiment and then look at
ideas. Point out that the leaf shape could be close to the ground or high
up in the air - on the
tree.)
 Make
your body rock from side to side like the wind rocking
the leaves. (Encourage children to have tight bodies
and control their rocks as the weight passes from one foot
to the other.)
- Rock 8 times then run and jump into the air - just
like a leaf being blown off a branch. (Let children
experiment with jumps and then accompany them with a tambourine
to go through the
movement phrase twice.)
Making a Dance
Music
- Track 9 "Autumn Leaves" (Click to Listen)
 Grow into a leaf shape. - Rock 8 times from side to side
and jump away.
- Float and flutter with hands and arms
leading you in a long,
winding pathway to the ground.
- Settle on the
ground in a leaf shape.
(Try the movements in sequence with voice and tambourine
accompaniment then listen to the music so children can
identify
the music which
accompanies each phase of the dance.) Practice
the dance to music. Ask the children to express how the
music
and
the dance made them feel.
Concluding Activity
Make a leaf shape on the floor and be very quiet and still.
Those in a long leaf shape, stand up quietly and tip-toe
to the door. Everyone else stand up and tip-toe quietly
to the
door.
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Year 1
Dance No. 16 - Streamers
Learning Objectives
Children should learn to:-
- make rounded, wide and thin shapes with their bodies
- draw rounded and spiky shapes in the air
- move in different directions and high and low
- travel rhythmically on feet, hopping and skipping
Dance Framework
- Hold a wide / thin / ball shape with streamer
gently fluttering - draw shapes in the air.
- Move about the room fluttering, soaring high, sweeping
low.
- Freeze in a shape with streamers still.
- Travel about the room bouncing, hopping, skipping and
turning.
- Freeze in a wide shape with streamer still.
Music
- Track 1 "Streamers" (Click to Listen)
Expected Learning Outcomes
By the end of the dance most children will be able to:-
- acquire and develop specific skills to show different shapes
and levels
- remember and repeat movements, phrases and patterns
- observe each other dancing and describe what they see
- use appropriate vocabulary.
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Year
1
Streamers - Ideas for Stimuli and
Related Activities
- Instead of using scarves, children can make their
own streamers and use them when they
dance. Take some lengths of old net curtains and cut them carefully into strips,
approximately
10cm wide. Cut enough strips for each child. (Children can dance using just the
pieces of cut
net curtain.)
To complete a "professional" streamer (as used by rhythmic
gymnasts!) take some pieces of
dowling, approximately 25cm long - one for each child. Encourage children
to help construct the streamers by gluing the net firmly to the ends of the dowling pieces, wrapping
each one around the stick two or three times to secure the streamers.
- Make a beautiful kite with a long streamer for a "tail".
 Paint a kite shape with vivid patterns or stick
on a range of collage pieces. Make a long string
tail with coloured pieces of paper and ribbon decorating
it. Fix the kite to the wall and loop the tail in
an interesting shape.
-
Each child wears a coloured
ribbon or band.
- They move about the room as they wish, when
you call out their colour, they freeze or
sit down. Change the game by travelling in different ways e.g. hop or
skip and by
changing the pace at which they move e.g. fast, slow.
- They sit in
a circle, when their colour is called they run round the circle and
back to their
places. (Great emphasis should be placed on ensuring that children
are all running in the
same direction around the outside of the circle.)
- They move about
the room, but when their colour is called, they must find a partner wearing
the same colour.
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Year
1
 Streamers
Lesson 1
Starting Activity
- Sit in a space and draw this shape/letter with
your hand (hold up a card with "O" on it)
- Stand up and
show me how big you can make the "O".
Can you use the other hand? Can you use two hands?
- Travel about the room and draw the biggest "O" that you can in the air.
(Go through the same process with a "W" shape -
prop the cards up where the children can see them as
they are moving.)
Exploration and Development
(Each child is given a light silky scarf, cut strips
of net curtain or crepe paper)
 Can you now draw much bigger shapes in the air
with your streamers? (Take out demonstrations and
encourage children
to make positive
comments about them)
- Try drawing your own shapes in the air. (Take out demonstrations and let children experiment
with different shapes - help them recognise they can
travel
in different
directions when drawing their shapes -
i.e. sideways and backwards. N.B. When
travelling backwards, do it slowly and look over your
shoulder
so you can see where
you are going.)
- Stay in your own little bit
of the room and show me how you can flutter your streamer
in
 different ways ( e.g. above
the
head, close to the ground, turning
round on the spot in front of them, behind them etc).
- Now can you move about the room and flutter your
streamer in lots of ways using commentary to remind
them of the different
areas and turning as above?
- Can you stretch your arms and make the streamers
soar high into the air and then sweep down low to the
ground?
Making a Dance
- When I put the music on, show me all the ways
we have made our streamers move today. (Let children
move with no
further instruction)
 Remember the different shapes we can make with our
bodies - wide, thin and
curled. Choose a shape and hold it very
still. (Draw attention to the unusual shapes and
everybody tries again).
- Hold your shape and gently flutter your streamer
- when the music starts, show me all the different
ways
we
have made
the
streamers move today - freeze in
a favourite shape with your streamer still.
- Wide/thin/ball shape
with streamers
gently fluttering.
- Move about the
room, fluttering, soaring high,
sweeping low and
turning
- Freeze in a shape with streamer still.
Concluding Activity
 Put your streamer on the floor, and then lie quietly
on the floor in the same shapes
as your streamer - lie quietly for a few
seconds.
- All those who are in a round or curly
shape,
quietly pick up your streamers,
bring them to me, then tip-toe to the door. Everybody
else quietly pick up your streamers,
bring them to me, and quietly
tip-toe
to the door.
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Year 1
Streamers
Lesson 2
Starting Activity
- Walk in and out of each other without bumping - STOP like a statue.
(Repeat several times, reminding children that they need to have strong,
tight bodies)
 Creep on tip-toe quietly in and out of each other without
bumping - STOP
(Repeat several times)
- Run on toes with knees
high in the air - STOP
(Percussion and voice accompaniment for all these activities)
Exploration and Development
- Take a streamer each and practice using it on your own
- remember what we did last lesson.
- Remember your dance
to music
(give a running commentary to help children
remember - perform
it through to music.)
 Can you travel about the
room in a bouncy way?
(Let children experiment with different ways but take out to practise and develop
two-footed
bouncing, hopping and skipping - try different directions.)
- Sometimes
travel with your arms and body high and sometimes with them close to the
ground.
(Let children experiment with how they use their arms and stretch
and curl their
bodies. Take out demonstrations of those who are doing it well and let everyone
copy
and experiment further.)
- How high can you jump into the
air? Use your arms to help you and swing your streamer
up in the air.
- Can you jump into the air and make
a wide shape or a thin narrow shape?
(Look at
demonstrations and encourage children to observe and make
positive comments.)
- Make an interesting shape
and hold your streamer very still.
(Wide, thin or ball
shapes. Show
some of the children's shapes.)
- Hold your shape and streamer very
still. When I start to beat the tambourine jump high into
the air
then bounce, hop, skip and turn about the room - then freeze.
Making a Dance
(Listen to the music all the way through and identify
what the music tells you.)
- Hold a wide/thin or ball shape with streamers gently
fluttering - draw patterns in
the air - not moving far off the spot.
- Move about the room, fluttering, soaring
high, sweeping low and turning.
- Freeze in a shape with
streamer still.
- Travel about the room bouncing, hopping,
skipping and turning.
- Freeze in a wide shape with streamer
still.
(Perform the dance at least twice)
Concluding Activity
 Put your streamer on the floor in a long, thin shape,
then make a long, thin shape
beside it with your body. Hold the position very still and very quiet. When
i come and
touch you, pick your streamer up and tip-toe to the door.
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Year 2
Dance No. 32 - Words and Word Messages
Learning Objectives
Children should learn to:-
- respond to a different type of stimulus - flash cards.
- use their understanding of the basic dance skills to
select appropriate ones for the dance idea.
- work co-operatively in pairs or small groups.
- change and vary actions.
- look critically at their own and others work to recognise
what is good and what could be improved.
Dance Framework
Lesson 1 - Flash cards
are arranged in this order Bounce - Freeze -
Melt and
children create
their own dance phrase.
Lesson
2 - Flash cards are arranged
in this order Stretch - Flop - Float and children
create their
own dance phrase.
Lesson 3 - Children select and arrange their own flash cards
and create their own dances. They should
have a clear beginning and ending.
(Silence, voice or percussion may be used as an accompaniment)
Expected Learning Outcomes
By the end of the dance most children should be able to:-
- know and perform the basic dance actions with some understanding
of mood and feeling in relation to the dance idea
- move with co-ordination and control and work co-operatively
in a pair or small group.
- choose appropriate movements in order to create short
phrases and simple structures.
- observe and describe dance phrases and expressive qualities.
Year 2
Words and Word Messages - Ideas for Stimuli
and Related Activities
- In lesson 3 each group of 3 is provided
with a sheet of words (master in appendices). They
separate the words with scissors, and colour them if they wish, and then
re-arrange them to form
their "word message". They dance their interpretation of the message.
- Can you think of any other words which suggest an action.
Can you draw the word so it
"shows" the type of action it is?
Year 2
Words and Messages
Lesson 1
Starting Activity
- Can you travel anywhere in the room on balls of feet and Stop when
you hear me
strike the tambourine (repeat several times - the moving can be running,
bouncing, hopping,
skipping etc.)
-
 Lets
do the same thing but this time I am going to call
Stop instead of striking the
tambourine. (Repeat several times)
- What other words could
I use to signal for you to stop? Encourage children to use
different words e.g. halt, stop, freeze etc. and try them out
with the children.
Finally use the word “freeze”.
Exploration and Development
- (Hold up the flash card Freeze) What does this mean? (Strong, tight
bodies, not moving, strong
like ice etc. - spiky shapes.)
 Lets try moving about the room again and
every time I call Freeze and hold up the
card, Freeze in a different spiky position -
hold it very still. (Repeat travel and freeze
several times and show demonstrations of freezing with their weight on different
parts
of their bodies, bottom, tummy, knees etc.)
- What is this word (hold up Melt) what does it mean? (Encourage children to
describe what “melt” means.) We can melt a little just enough
to make us ready to
move again or we can melt right down to the floor. Slowly
and smoothly melt down to
the floor. (Repeat this several times to emphasise slow, smooth movement.)
Can you
slowly move one part of your body at a time until you melt into a puddle
on the floor.
- Let’s change the travelling to bouncing in different
ways.
(Show flash card Bounce)
Good, I can see someone skipping and others bouncing on one
foot and two feet.
-
 Can you bounce around the room on two feet? (Forwards and backwards, side to side,
turning around on the spot etc. Show demonstrations and
repeat.)
- Can you hop and skip? (Knees high and toes down
for skipping, free foot behind for
hopping) I will beat out 32 beats on the tambour/tambourine
and will you compose a
bouncing dance to the beat. (Repeat the 4 x 8 phrase several times to allow
children to
repeat and remember.)
Making a Dance
- Call the children up and arrange the flash cards into this order.
Bounce - Freeze - Melt
- This is the dance you are going to make up. I will help
you by beating out the 32 beats, then
I’ll hold up the Freeze card.
Freeze will allow interesting shape.
(Practise several times)
- Bounce, freeze and then I will hold up the Melt card and
you very slowly and
smoothly melt down to the floor. (Could repeat freeze and melt
if children thought it
made a better dance.)
- Practise the dance through several times and make
sure that children hold a neat
starting position.
Concluding Activity
(Have ready three different flash cards. Tall - Small -
Creep.) Stand in a space and respond to he cards with actions (show
tall and small several times) then finally Creep to the door!
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Year 2
Words and Word Messages
Lesson 2
Starting Activity
- Look
at the flash cards from last lesson - discuss what happened
and how we used the cards,
then ask the children to dance the phrase as you show the cards. (Repeat
the dance.)
Exploration and Development
-
 Hold your hands in a loose fist - now slowly begin to stretch
the fingers outwards until they are
really stretched and wide - can you feel how tight and strong they are? Now
flop them loosely
back into a curled shape. (Repeat this several times and show the flash cards.)
- Can
we do this with our bodies instead of our hands. Move into a space and slowly
and
smoothly stretch into an extended, balanced position. Suddenly relax your muscles
and
flop back down again. (Repeat several times - Slow Stretch - Fast
Flop!)
 Do
you always have to balance and stretch your feet? (Discuss
which body parts can
take weight - small parts and large parts and remember to emphasise the stretch
and
body tension by asking children to stretch away from the parts of the body
which are
taking weight - this will improve quality.)
(Practise stretching and flopping and look at demonstrations
of good movement. Hold
the stretch for at least “100... 200...” before flopping.)
- Work with a partner. Can you make an even greater stretched
position if you stretch
with a Partner.
 Make contact with your partner and stretch away from
each other.
(Encourage children to try mirrored stretches and stretches where children
are on
different levels and different shapes.)
- Practise your favourite partner stretch and flop.
- (Hold up the card Float) Dance
this word - don’t tell
me what it means - show me.
(Soft floating movements - sometimes arms leading, sometimes elbows leading
making curving twisting pathways in the air and on the floor. Pick out and
practise
different points to bring out quality. Keep the movements light and flowing
- children
dance individually.)
Making a Dance
- Bring the children up close and look at the flash cards arranged
as
Stretch - Flop - Float
- Start with a partner in a space - practise your favourite
stretch and flop, then float away from each
other and about the room.
(Children can accompany themselves with words if they need to - e.g. S t r
e t c h ......... flop! - it will help with timing.)
- For timing, children respond to the cards being
raised by the teacher.
- At the moment there is no neat finish to the
dance. How might we finish it?
(Suggestions may include slowly floating into a position to hold it still or
someone might suggest
Flop. After discussing, and trying any ideas, use the flash card Flop to finish.)
Concluding Activity
 Use the cards Tall, Small, Creep as
for the last lesson but add another “Creep”.
Discuss how we added or changed a card in the dance and
how could we arrange
these
cards to take us out of the room? e.g. Small Creep, Tall Creep.
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Year 3
Words and Word Messages
Lesson 2
Starting Activity
- Using travelling music, move about the room changing the
way you travel as the music changes.
- Find two other people
to make groups of 3 (or 2’s
if appropriate). Use the music
again and this time follow my leader in 3’s (or 2’s).
You must work out how to
change the leader so you all have a turn at leading to movement. (The lead child
chooses the movement for the others to copy.)
Exploration and Development
- Hold
up the Stretch card. Discuss and remember
the qualities of stretch. In your
group of 3 can you make a very stretched balance? There must be contact between
you. (Let children explore and remind them that they can all be different
shapes on
and some could be high and some could be low - look at ideas.)
- Find your favourite stretched balance and practise
holding the balance for at least
three seconds before the Flop.
- As individuals, float
about the room. (Remember curving, twisting pathways through
the air and on the floor, light quality, different body parts can lead
the floating, and
turning and spiralling can be included.)
Float about the room and work out where you are going to meet
as a group and how you are going to meet up and move into
your stretched balance. Will you all arrive
at the same time or will you move into the balance one after the other? (Give
children time to practise and watch demonstrations to further their ideas.)
-
Remember
the spiky, frozen shapes we made? Can you now build a combined
spiky frozen shape in a 3? (The combined shapes could be showing different
levels
and shapes and could inter-link - practise until they have found a favourite
one.) Can
you melt slowly away from your shape?
Making a Dance
- (In their groups, children move into a space. They discuss
the best arrangement for their flash
cards and then try to form a dance from the words. If they
find that some words don’t fit together
well, they can re-arrange and try again - it is better to have the two travelling
words separated by
a balance.)
You may use a percussion instrument to accompany the dance.
- When you have completed your dance, make sure
you have a clear starting and finishing position.
Concluding Activity
Pair the groups up so that one group watches the other perform.
(All group 1’s start at the same time when the teacher gives
the signal, followed by group 2’s at the same time.) Children
try to read the “word messages” of the other group
and offer constructive comments.
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Year
2 Unit 4
Learning Objectives
Children should learn to:-
- copy and perform simple movements / rhythmic patterns
- understand that dance plays an important part in other
cultures
- recognise that dances have changed throughout history
- understand that dance is active and that changes will
occur in their bodies
- change and vary their actions
Expected Learning Outcomes
By the end of the dance most children should be able to:-
- demonstrate different rhythms and rhythmic patterns
- repeat and remember the rhythms and patterns
- demonstrate the ability to perform them in different
formations
- perform whole dances which have a simple structure
- demonstrate the ability to take the time to try different
movements
- observe each other dancing and identify and describe
the different actions, relationships, formations, and quality
of performance
- understand and talk about contrasting dynamic elements
Year 2
Jumpin Joan
Lesson 3
Starting Activity
- Travel around hall in time to beat played on tambourine, listening
out for changes in rhythm from walking to running to skipping.
-
 (Play
slower striding rhythm and ask pupils what sort of movement
could accompany it) Stride round the hall with
giant-like steps in time to rhythm played on tambourine.
- Alternate
between walking, running, skipping and striding, listening
for changes in rhythm.
- STOP! (Stop and freeze to loud
bang) SHAKE IT ALL OUT! (Shake all parts of the body)
 (call
out in succession...)
Tall as a pole (stretch
up high)
Small as a ball (curl up small)
Wide as a smile (stretch arms and legs out to sides)
Thin as a pin (make yourself thin)
Exploration and Development
- Everyone clap in time to the music. Track 13
- As a class, choose
three actions starting with clapping and change to next
action after each 8-bar phrase. - Track 13
 Standing in a space, this
time clap and jump on every fourth beat of the music – Track
13
- Now jump-twist from side to side
on every first and third count (i.e. jumping on the spot
but twisting the
hips).
- Find a partner, hold both hands and try jumping
and twisting from side to side together (i.e. both twisting
to their
own right then left while holding hands).
Making a Dance - Jumping Joan Track 14
- In a space, face a partner and walk forwards and back for 4 beats
passing right shoulders, jumping and clapping on the fourth
beat. Repeat passing left shoulders.
- Face partner and jump-twist turning to the right, left, right and left
followed by a swing.
 Join hands with your partner (if hands are crossed they
can go straight into a crossed-hand swing) and jump-twist
turning right, left, right and left and then swing.
Teacher's
Notes
Try this in longways set formation i.e. line of boys
facing a line of girls, standing opposite a partner.
Alternatively try
it in circle formation (i.e. two concentric circles,
boys with their backs to the middle.)
Concluding Activity
Watch each others' dances — comment on how well the formations
are retained throughout the dance.
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