Overall Experience

Participating in Arts Bridge this semester has been nothing but positive. It's allowed me to...

1. Better cater my lessons to meet my students needs
• Teaching kindergarten is challenging and I had to change and adapt a lot of my lesson plan to help them get more out of the lessons and better hold their attention. I learned that for younger students a bunch of small activities are better than 1 or 2 longer ones. Also less is more. Simplicity has so much power and chose quality over quantity. 
2. Think more in depth about my management procedures
• Kindergartners are so excited and willing to try anything but they also are just learning how to behave and follow rules. I realized I had to be very CLEAR with what was expected, SHOW them how to follow the rules, and TAKE TIME to incorporate the rules and have them practice them. I soon realized that I needed to go over the rules again every time I came to help them remember what was expected. I did this by using Jana Shumway's 3 categories "Be safe, Be respectful, and Be a Mover". This helped simplify the rules and made them easier to remember. I also had to have them practice freezing with the drum call every class. Lastly I had to help them learn personal space by having them practice having a "bubble" around them. (I took the bubble idea from my mentor Shannon. It worked great! And was an easy reminder for the rest of the classes). One strategy I wish I used was when I asked for answers or ideas to say "I need 3 answers" or "I'll take 2 more comments". The students all wanted to answer every time and we spent a lot of time standing listening. I think it would have helped to be clear with how many people I would call on so they wouldn't get as sad when they didn't get picked.
3. Practice new ways of teaching 
• Since I've never taught Kindergarten I decided to research other peoples lesson plans and try them out on my classes. This was a fun way to try different approaches and teaching methods. I was also able to broaden my horizon of the possibilities when it comes to integration and apply these new methods to the lessons I did create. 

After my last day of teaching my teacher was able to send me her thoughts on the process and how dance has benefited her students. The following is what she shared with me...

1.  They loved making creative choices
• "They liked that you let them choose their own movements and that they could "dance their own ideas" and it wasn't just following what you were doing."
2.  Helped them have better focus
• "My team wondered how much time it took to get my class settled down after we were done dancing.  But it was totally the opposite.  We got back to class and they were more engaged and more able to focus on learning for the day."
3. Helped them to better manage their personal space
• "They were more aware of each other while moving through the room so there was less bumping and tripping etc.  It doesn't sound like a big deal but for Kindergartners it really is.  They tend to just barrel into things and people without realizing how much space they take up."
4. Helped them to be more tolerant of each other
• "Because there was not one "right way" to dance and move they realized there was not one "right way" to do other things.  They started asking each other "why are you doing it that way" instead of being critical of each other's choices."

Overall I think Arts Bridge was a beneficial experience not only for me but for my students!

Her are some pictures from our time together...

Practicing Locomotor Movements

Making Shapes!

Dancing the Alphabet

Having fun with ribbons during a book lesson

Weather Dance!

Last week I taught Jana Shumway's lesson on weather to my Kindergartners. I love this lesson Jana teaches since it's so interactive and musically driven. The lesson goes through different types of weathers and has the students dance in the quality that best matches. For sun I show'd the students a picture of  a sunny day and then we danced circular and sustained movements to a happy uplifting song. For tornado I showed them a picture and then we danced fast spinning dynamic movements with the "Flight of the Bumblebees" song which was perfect for the movement and weather. I love that each weather had a specialized song that helped create the atmosphere of each and also helped the students better dance the matching qualities. It just shows how important music can be and how it can really help our students produce the type of movement we're asking of them.

Alphabet Dance

This past week was so fun dancing the alphabet with my Kindergarten students! The lesson I taught was inspired from a lesson Jana Shumway does. We first started by dancing to a fun alphabet song and connected with the previous class on shapes. We had to make the shapes of the letters with our bodies, it was challenging and fun! Then we dances Jana's alphabet dance. These are dance movements that start with each letter of the alphabet. It was fun to see the students move in new ways as well as recognize the locomotor steps they had learned in previous lessons. We then ended with making shapes and moving like words that started with different letters. Ex. "aaa... alligator! Can you make the shape of an alligator? Can you creep low like an alligator?" We did this with words I came up with and also with words the students came up with as well. Overall a very successful alphabet dance day!

Intro to SHAPES!

This past week we continued on with locomotor movement and added skip, gallop, and slide. We then talked about shapes and how we can make shapes with our bodies just like we can draw shapes with crayons. I first had the students identify 5 different shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, and star) and identify what made each shape unique. Then they had to make each shape with their bodies. It was fun to challenge them to be more creative! Some did the shapes on different levels, made them with just their fingers or with their whole body. After that I had them travel through the space with the 8 locomotor steps we learned and when I said FREEZE they had to make the shape of what ever shape card I was holding up. It really challenged them to think quick and make creative choices. At the end we reflected on what our favorite shapes were and what things in everyday life have the same shapes (donuts, party hats, skyscrapers, starfish, dice, ect). One thing that I was really happy about was the autistic girl in our class participated so well and even raised her hand multiple times to give answers to my questions. I could really see the joy in her eyes that felt like dance was really helping her to better understand concepts and reflect on her own thoughts and feelings. YAY FOR DANCE!

Intro to Movement!

For my first lesson with my kindergartners I wanted to ease them into moving and discover new and familiar ways they can move their bodies. We started out in a circle sitting and I went over the 3 basic rules/expectations I have for all my classes: BE Safe, BE Respectful, BE a mover. Then we did a fun stop and go moving activity. I plaid a song that had various pauses so when the music was playing they would follow along by moving one body part and when it stopped we all froze. We continued through all the body parts and eventually moved to standing and moving our whole bodies. The students really enjoyed the game of having to freeze and getting all their wiggles out!

I then went over the 5 basic locomotor steps (walk, run, jump, hop, leap) and had a specific signal on the drum for each one. They picked them up a lot quicker than I thought! Then we got to dance with ribbons to a fun song while I yelled out a locomotor step every once and a while to make sure they remembered them. The kids really enjoyed dancing and were excited for the challenges I gave them.

Navajo Indians

For this lesson we learned about the Navajo Indian tribe and they're specific characteristics. First we did a speech led warm up to learn their characteristics through movement.

I read this script below as the dancers responded with the guided movement...

The Navajos' name for themselves is Diné, meaning "the people."

*As you walk look at the many people in this class and wave to your friends

Live in the region of the 4 corners (Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico)

*Find a group of 4 and stand in a circle. Each put your right hand into the middle to show 4 distinct corners. Now walk in a circle, switch to your left hand and walk in a circle.

When the Navajos first originated they lived in Hogans (dome shaped building made from wooden poles and tree bark and were covered in clay)

*Find a new group of 4 and have 3 people create a dome shaped hut with 1 person inside

*Now everyone walk around the room

In the Navajos early years they mostly traveled by footstep and used their dogs and sleds to carry supplies. When the Europeans brought horses to America they were very grateful for this more efficient way of travel

*now travel around the room galloping

Navajo men and women used to have distinctly different jobs

 Women often made woven rugs and clothing

*Boys freeze, Girls weave around them

Navajo men were usually warriors and hunters

*Girls freeze, Boys carefully perform sharp fast warrior slices and kicks around them

The Navajo Indians were also skillful farmers

*Find a low shape on the ground and slowly grow into corn, squash, beans, and peaches (these are things they grew a lot) and freeze in one of these plant shapes

After performing this warm up we gathered as a group and quickly verbally reviewed the characteristics we had just danced. 

Then, I introduced another characteristic of the Navajo's, and many other Native American tribes, was to perform cultural dances which tribes still do today. I then introduced the Yeibichai dance, a popular dance performed by the Navajo Indians. We briefly went over the characteristics and movement qualities this dance had then using those qualities we made our own version of the dance.

It was fun to see the kids creativity and really get into the spirit of respecting and getting excited about another culture and their traditions.