Lesson Overview:

Movement activities are an effective strategy to reach kinesthetic learners. Weather is a dynamic and movement-rich phenomena. Throughout this unit, teachers lead and facilitate movement and dance activities related to atmospheric properties, cloud types, and the wind. This is lesson two in a three-part unit about the weather.

Length of Lesson:

One 45-minute period

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 3-4.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• demonstrate control of the hand and body to create and hold a shape, connect it to a partner's hand or body, and maintain a light touch.
• identify and sequence the correct order of movement or events.
• create meaning and relationships with body shapes and placement.
• relate specific cloud types and their associated altitudes to the dance concepts of level and body shapes.
• explore and contribute to the creation of a group improvisational dance with a central theme of clouds.

Supplies:

• Musical instrument(s), such as drums, a keyboard, claves, tambourines, a piano

Instructional Plan:

Teacher Preparation

The use of movement in the classroom can be challenging for many teachers. Unstructured movement activities can become chaotic and uncontrollable. The lessons presented in this unit offer a method for managing movement in the classroom. To use movement as a vehicle for instruction, you must acquaint students with movement concepts before integrating or introducing weather concepts.

These strategies will help you structure the lesson effectively:

Define expectations:
Let the students know that you expect them to work and behave with the discipline of a dancer. Dance class is a time to focus and work with the body. Be clear that you expect the students to use and remember the space bubble, one's personal space. Be sure to communicate the rewards and consequences for students' behavior.

Prepare the room:
Because a gym or large space may not available, the movement lesson may need to take place in the classroom. Establish a routine for preparing the space (i.e., putting all the desks to the sides of the room and getting the desks back in place at the end of the lesson). Have the children rehearse and memorize the procedure.

Cues:
The more aural and visual cues you can provide for students, the better. Try to use a variety of visual cues and sounds. For example, you can use handclaps, a tambourine, a drum, an electronic keyboard, or any other number of percussive instruments. The word "freeze" is very effective for stopping a student immediately.

Spatial Arrangements:
Use different patterns in class. Have the students arrange themselves in various patterns such as lines, circles, dispersed patterns, groups, sitting, or standing.

Working with Partners:
Either pick partners for students or let them choose their own. (Younger children may have more difficulty picking their own partners.) Tell students that they are expected to work productively with their partners. If students are not working well together, change their partners. Review all of the rules of an activity before the students start working with their partners.

Time limits:
To help keep students on task, set time limits. It is especially important to give time limits when students are working with partners or in a group.

Commenting on students' work:
When you speak about a student's work, use the vocabulary of a dancer. For example, " I see John in a low twisted shape" or "I see Sally in a high curved shape that reminds me of the wind." Be generous with praise and use thoughtful corrections. Remember that dance is a language and a physical skill that requires practice. Be patient. With time and instruction, the students will become adept at using movement to communicate ideas and concepts.

Introductory Movement Activities

1. Hand Sculpture
Demonstrate this activity with a student before the class participates.

The hand sculpture activity requires two partners. Each of the two partners' hands is given a letter name. A and C are given to the first partner and B and D are assigned to the second partner. The first partner's hand (A) makes a shape in the space between the partners. Next, the other partner makes a shape with his/her hand (B) and connects that hand to shape A. The first partner then adds a second hand shape (C) to the group shape and last, the second partner connects his/her second hand (D). The result is a unique hand sculpture.

While you are demonstrating the making of a hand sculpture, remind the students of some basic rules:

• Remember the sequence (A, B, C, D).
• When shapes connect, they simply touch—they do not apply pressure or weight to other shapes.
• Once a new shape is added, the hand must remain in the same position.
• Each hand within the sculpture must stay in its original shape.

The hand sculpture is then taken apart in the same order: A is removed first, followed by B, followed by C, and finally D. While the group shape is being taken apart, all the other hands remain in position until it is their turn to leave. Have the students pair up with their partners and practice the activity. Observe and make corrections where necessary.

2. Body Twister
The body twister exercise helps the students experience new ways to connect shapes together. Demonstrate the activity with a student before asking the class to participate.

Each partner makes a shape with his or her entire body. The partners connect their whole-body shapes together according to cues that you, the teacher, give them. After the individual students have created their shapes, instruct them to connect the shapes together with a body part (for example, "elbow-to-elbow" or "toe-to-toe"). Remind students that they must follow the same rules as with the hand sculptures. They cannot put weight on each other or change each other's shape when connecting.

Next, have the students perform cross-connections, for example, "elbow-to-knee." When the teacher gives the cue, students make a shape together. Play around with different combinations and gradually make the connections more complex (i.e., at the same time, connect "hand-to-shoulder," "foot-to-foot," and "elbow-to-knee.") Let the students arrive at their own spontaneous combinations. Do not let them discuss what they are going to do. They should simply react and improvise. Pair one duet (two students) with another duet and form quartets (four students). If there is an odd number of children, it is acceptable to have a group of five.

Repeat the hand sculpture exercise, but this time tell the students to use their whole bodies. Each student is assigned a letter (A, B, C, or D). Student A makes the first shape and the other students add on in order. After the group shape is completed, the students take it apart in the A, B, C, D order. Allow the students time to practice this activity. Observe their work and make necessary corrections.

Have each group build a group shape one at a time while the rest of the class observes. Ask the students to give each of the group sculptures a title. Make sure they understand that there is not a single "correct" answer and that the sculpture can represent anything they imagine. After all of the groups have demonstrated the activity, ask them if they had a plan before they made the sculptures. (The answer, of course, should be that they did not.) They just simply put some forms (bodies) together to make a group sculpture and each person was free to interpret what they saw.

Integrated Activity

Note: Refer to the Weather on the Move Presentation as appropriate throughout this activity.

Distribute copies of the Kaleidoscopic Cloud Dance Packet. Direct students' attention to the following handouts:

• With Diagram 1, show the students that you will be focusing on the portion of the atmosphere called the troposphere.
• Use Diagram 2 to illustrate how the troposphere is divided it into three levels.
• With Diagram 3, explain that specific cloud types form at specific levels in the troposphere.

Have the students go back to their quartets (or quintets) and ask them to create a tableau (picture) of the clouds. Explain that you want them to pick a cloud type and use their bodies to represent that cloud. They will show the shape as well as the correct level. For example, a cirrus tableau will have everybody in a high level with long wavy shapes connected together. Give the student two or three minutes to do this activity. Play appropriate music while the students are creating their tableaux ("Evening Storms" by New Age keyboardist Trammell Starks is a good choice.)

Next, combine the tableaux with the "Stop and Go" movement technique. (This technique is described in detail in the Sphere's Density Dance lesson.) Tell the students that when they stop to make a shape during the dance, they may only use cloud shapes. While they are in the cloud shapes, other students may connect to the shape they are making. The students are free to connect any cloud shape and leave the group shape whenever they want. The result of the dance is a kaleidoscopic effect of cloud shapes coming together and apart with varying timing and groupings.

Assessment:

Refer to the Kaleidoscopic Clouds Dance Rubric/Checklist
(page 4 in the accompanying PDF document).

Extensions:

Students can use the hand sculptures to experience and understand motif and variation. The first student creates the motif with the first shape that they make with their hand. The rest of the hand shapes that follow use the same shape, but they are placed in different relationships to each other (e.g., upside down, reversed, mirrored, etc.) Challenge the students to use their hands to create the cloud shapes and integrate motif and variation into the exercise. Use a picture of a cloud formation and point out to the students the basic shape of the cloud (motif) and the many variations that occur naturally.

Ask the students to re-create a passing cold front or warm front. Passages of both of these frontal systems are indicated by a specific progression of weather changes and clouds. For example, cirrus clouds precede the passage of a cold front. As the cold air passes, it mixes with the warmer air and cumulus clouds appear. Finally, if there is enough moisture in the air, the cumulus clouds combine with stratus clouds and it rains. Students can choreograph this drama of nature. Create tableaux of more complex clouds, e.g., cirrocumulus, stratocumulus, and cirrostratus. Connecting types of precipitation to their associated clouds can be one variation of the cloud improvisation dance. For example, the students make cumulonimbus clouds and then show rain as the form of precipitation.

Sources:

Print:

• Landalf, Helen. Teaching Earth Science through Movement 3-6 (Young Actors Series). Mary Gerke (ill.). New York: Smith & Kraus, 1987.
• Joyce, Mary. First Steps in Teaching Creative Dance to Children. New York: Mayfield Publishing, 1980.

Authors:

• Harlan Brownlee, Teacher
  KCM
  Kansas City, MO