Goodbye - 14 December 2016

Today was my last day teaching this wonderful fifth grade class. We did a little bit of movement inspired by Christmas (candy canes are twisty and curved, reindeer leap and prance and gallop, Christmas trees are pokey and straight, snowmen are wide and slow, etc.), and played another quick game of Miss Lambert Says with our new Christmas inspired movements. After that, we had some question and answer time, where the class could ask me whatever questions they wanted, because for the whole semester they hadn't had a chance to learn about me. We talked about pets, favorite colors, favorite Christmas gifts, favorite foods, etc. It was a good, fun way to end my semester with this class. I am SO thankful for all the wonderful experiences I have had over these last couple of months, and for all the things I have learned. Thank you for the amazing experience, Cedar Valley Fifth Grade 2016-2017! I will never forget you, because you changed my life. I love you all!

Line Dances - 2 December 2016

Today was a Fun Day--the only goal was to learn line dances and have fun! We learned a lot of different line dances: we did the Macarena again (to review from last week), we did Cotton Eye Joe, we did the Cha Cha Slide, we did the Cupid Shuffle, we did Louisiana Saturday Night, we did the Boot Scootin' Boogie, and we even did the Chicken Dance. :) We staggered dances we knew and didn't already know so we could take a mental break and just dance between the ones we had to think about. We did a lot of dancing, and it was a lot of fun!

Patterns and Sequencing - 18 November 2016

This week, we had another integrated lesson. The class had been learning about patterns and sequencing (how to determine a sequence based on a pattern) in math, so I decided to work with that concept through dance for this lesson. After warming up, we practiced dancing different patterns by playing with different levels, speeds, shapes, energy qualities, and pathways. Once we were comfortable, we turned it into a game of "Miss Lambert Says" (exactly like "Simon Says"), so they had to pay special attention to instructions as well as listening closely to figure out the pattern.
At one point while playing "Miss Lambert Says," I called out, "Miss Lambert says do the Macarena!" At that moment, I discovered that over half of the class did not know how to do the Macarena, so we stopped the game and learned the Macarena. It was a great application of how patterns and sequences are used in dance--especially line dances! Since we enjoyed the Macarena so much, we decided that next week we would have a line dance lesson, so there'll be more on that in the next post!

Above, we are learning the Macarena. Below, we are working on our final project of the day.

Our final project of the day was to choreograph a dance as a class by using patterns to build sequences. First, we made a pattern for the outline of the dance: ABCB. Next, we made a pattern for the "chorus" of the dance (Part B), and we assigned different movements to the different symbols in the pattern. After that, we split into two groups (Group A and Group C), each with their own pattern for a their part of the dance, and they choreographed their parts using the same methods we had used to choreograph Part B. Finally, we put all the parts together with music, giving each movement four counts. By using patterns to build our sequences, we choreographed a dance over three minutes long, in just fifteen minutes! I was really impressed with their choreography, their memory, and their endurance--it was a long, aerobic dance, and I was so proud!

Compare and Contrast - 11 November 2016

Today was a big day! It was the first integrated lesson, and it REALLY stretched our brains. Building off of last week's Mirroring lesson, we compared and contrasted our movements with a partner. One partner would be the leader (just like with mirroring), but the follower had to contrast the leader while still following (comparing). For example, if the leader did a movement to the left, the follower would do that movement to the right; if the leader did a movement at a high level, the follower would do that movement at a low level.

 

Later on, we danced to compare and contrast different nouns. In class, they were writing compare and contrast essays about Dolphins and Whales, so together we found movement that could represent certain attributes of each. For example, dolphins have teeth (sharp) and whales have baleen (soft), but both are used to eat. So, we did the same movement for both dolphins and whales, but we did it sharply to represent the teeth dolphins have and then smoother and sustained to represent the baleen whales have. We did this again in small groups with different topics, such as Motorcycles vs. Bicycles, Helicopters vs. Airplanes, and Freshwater Fish vs. Saltwater Fish, to name a few. It was neat to see how creative they were while finding different attributes to compare and contrast through dance!

Mirroring and Flocking - 4 November 2016

Today we were back to dancing in the classroom like normal. However, I decided to take the challenge level up a notch: we mirrored and flocked! Now, instead of dancing independently, we were dancing with someone else (though still without physical contact).
It was really fun to watch my dancers practice mirroring in different ways--we mirrored as a whole class, in pairs scattered all over the room, and lined up like there was a mirror down the middle of the room. It also was neat to see them bring in dance moves from earlier lessons: there were lots of creative axial movements, and eventually even locomotor movements that popped up in their mirroring! Flocking was a bit more challenging, the directional switch between mirroring and flocking was tough to wrap their heads around, but they definitely were making progress--they just need a tiny bit more practice.
P.S. Today was Pajama Day. :)

 

Above we have mirroring around the room, mirroring down the center of the room, and mirroring in a mass group.

Below we have flocking as a class and in small groups.

We really enjoyed ourselves, and we're excited for next week!

"They did the Mash!" - 28 October 2016

This week was really a blast, and a change from Creative Dance. We learned and choreographed "The Monster Mash" for the school's Halloween performance, and in record time! The class split into groups and collectively choreographed the chorus of the song, and I taught them choreography for the verses. I was especially impressed by how quickly they learned--we got through the entire 3 minute dance in only 2 hours!
This was definitely a learning experience for me: this was the first time I had ever choreographed for a group of people rather than just for myself, as well as being the first time I had ever choreographed for a performance rather than just for a class. It was way fun, though, and everyone was happy with how it turned out.
Happy Halloween!

In the Manner of the Energy - 14 October 2016

This week, we had a great time dancing! We reviewed what we learned last week, and everyone remembered everything really well! After reviewing, we moved on to learning about different Energy Qualities, such as Sustained (all the same speed, like the sloths in Zootopia), Percussive (sharp, like when you hit a drum), Vibratory, Swinging, Growing, Melting, and Collapsing. Once we learned these different Energy Qualities, we played a game called "In the Manner of the Energy." This game involved doing an action (either locomotive or axial, from last week) with a certain secret Energy Quality, which the rest of the class had to guess. All the dancers were really clear when dancing with specific Energy Qualities, and it was really fun to not only see them realize how to express the different Energy Qualities by moving their own bodies, but to also see them recognize how to distinguish the different Energy Qualities in their classmates' movements. The whole class is learning and growing so quickly, it's been really neat to see how willing they are to learn!