Suggested Grades

K-2

Objective

Students will listen to a variety of music and design an appropriate dance presentation. This activity encourages students to appreciate, and examine different styles of music as well as create dance presentations that are specifically related to the music.

Materials

• a variety of short pieces of music on tape, or c.d., preferably with no words

Method

• Play a piece of music and ask students to listen to it carefully, think about what it’s about and how it makes them feel.
• Play the music again and ask students to move to the music. If the music is fast, encourage them to move fast. At the same time, ask students to show you how the music makes them feel. If it is happy, then there should be smiles on their faces.
• Continue through the whole song.
• Play another piece of music and repeat the thinking process. After the music is finished ask three or four students to come up to the front of the class. Play the music again and ask them to dance to the music appropriately. This time instead of asking them how they should dance, point out how they are dancing, ie: “Oh, I see that Tammy is stomping her feet because the music is really loud and strong…”
• Repeat the process until everyone has had a chance to dance in front of the class.