Dance for Elementary Students

Our students learned from each other by watching the videos we took!

Mrs. Hulford (the Music teacher) and I continued our tradition of teaching our DANCE UNIT the week before spring break.  This is our third year teaching this unit together.  We have so much fun!  The students enjoy coming into the gym with another class and participating together.  It's a great way to collaborate as a large group.  We teach a big VARIETY of dances including aerobic dance, line dance, circle dance, partner dance, and square dance.   I like how we teach both traditional dances/music AND current/popular music/dances.

The two main "I CAN" statements we use are, "I CAN MOVE TO MUSIC" and "I CAN KEEP THE BEAT".  I was able to capture a few of the dances on video.  Check them out below!  We used videos of our own students to teach the rest of the school.  The students LOVED seeing their friends (and sometimes brothers or sisters) in the videos. 

This first video is showing how the students practiced keeping the beat with a partner before we added the music.

Partner dance to the song "Buffalo Gals".  This was so fun with the music!

Next we did this dance in a CIRCLE formation.  Circle dances take a lot of teamwork and cooperation!

Our third graders did a fantastic job with SQUARE dancing!

We used this as a demonstration video.  The students enjoyed seeing their friends in the video.  It helped them learn the moves!

The students enjoyed this aerobic dance to the song Magic.   There are some great P.E. teachers who post awesome dances on youtube!  Thanks to Chad Triolet and his crew!

1st graders doing the Chicken Dance with a partner.

2nd graders getting ready for a circle dance.

Line Dance

Partner Dance to Buffalo Gals.

Volleyball / Newcomb and Germ Ball

READY POSITION for Newcomb!

This week my Pre-K thru 3rd grade students learned about germs and proper HAND WASHING!  We played a game called "Germ Ball" where students who were hit with a germ ball had to sit down and wait for the "soap person" to come give them soap.  (see video below).  Then they had to practice washing their hands for 20 SECONDS to be sure all the germs got off.  We had fun!  We also talked about the proper way to COVER YOUR COUGH as a way to not spread our germs to others.  We called it the "germ catcher" or "chicken wing" (covering with your elbow instead of coughing into your hand).

READY POSITION for Newcomb!

My 4th-5th grade students continued learning about the volleyball underhand serve and played Newcomb, which is a modified volleyball game.  See the video below!  I love Newcomb because it involves a HUGE variety of skills including:  serving, catching, throwing, teamwork, math smarts to keep track of rally scoring, and good sportsmanship!