Young Fours
The dance session should take place in an open, multi-purpose room with a clean floor or a large carpeted area of the classroom.
Name tags made with colored felt, taped music and tape recorder
The children will learn their rights and responsibilities within the context of the dance class.
Students will become familiar with the practice of removing their shoes and socks before entering the dance space--the concept of dancing in barefoot so that they will not slip on the floor or accidentally kick others with their shoes.
Students will learn about the shape of a circle by arranging themselves in a circle.
Students will learn to differentiate between moving in personal and general space.
Students will begin to explore the concept of stillness vs. motion.
1. The students are asked to gather in a designated and sit on the floor to take off their shoes and socks. They are instructed to put their socks inside their shoes and place their shoe against the wall. (Many of the students will not want to take their shoes off. The teacher might try to sing a song about taking shoes off to make it more of a game. Any student who refuses to take off his of her shoe should not be forced to do so, but should be invited to watch the other students in the dance class.)
2. The students are asked to form a circle in the space by joining hands. The teacher asks the students what they know about circles, then directs them to walk around the circle without letting go of the hands, in order to define the shape of the circle.
3. The students are asked to spread out in the space so that they have enough room to extend their arms out to the side without hitting any other students. The students are asked to take out their imaginary magic crayon, and make an imaginary space bubble with their crayon by drawing all around themselves. The teacher tells the students that when they are inside their magic space bubbles they can not touch any on and no one can touch them, which means no hitting or bumping into each other.
1. The students are given a chance to "try out" their space bubbles by walking around to the music. (The students will probably bump into each other but the teacher should not discipline because they have not learned the concept of personal and general space yet. This concept should be reinforced be repeatedly by returning to the circle to remake the space bubbles, throughout the remainder of the class.)
2 The teacher asks the students if they know what the word "freeze" means, of what it mean to be frozen. If they do not then the teacher should direct them to imagine that they are an icicle or a snow man, and that they are frozen and cannot move.
3. The students are asked if they can freeze in a shape. The teacher points out those children who are frozen in a shape and what is special about their shape (high, low, curved, pointy).
1. The students are directed to run when the music is going, but freeze in a shape when the music stops. (When the students bump into each other, or get too rowdy, have them return to the circle to remake their space bubbles, after they have frozen.)
2. The students are asked to return to the circle and then the teacher leads a reflection by asking if any of them can tell her what they did in dance class that day.
Angela McDonnell
Teachers College
Columbia University
February 1993