Lesson 2 - Exploring shapes

Individual > Creating Body Shapes

Prepare images of structures and statues (e.g.; the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum, the CN Tower, the Confederation Bridge, the Canadian War Memorial in Ottawa, the Miners Memorial in Sudbury, etc.) Show each image to the students and ask them to interpret it with their bodies. 

Prompt: Show the shape with your body. Are you choosing to show one part of the structure/statue or are you trying to show the whole thing? What part of this structure/statue was particularly interesting to you? Why? What do you think the artist/architect was trying to tell us when they designed it? 

Questions incitatives : Reproduis la forme avec ton corps. Essaies-tu de montrer une partie de la structure, ou essaies-tu de la montrer au complet? Quelle partie de cette structure t’intéresse le plus? Pourquoi? Selon toi, qu’est-ce que l’artiste ou l’architecte a voulu nous dire lorsqu’il l’a conçue?   

Give the students the opportunity to interpret several different structures and statues with their bodies. Explain to students that today we are going to work on making lots of different body shapes.

Assessment for Learning (AfL)

Side-coach and provide feedback as children are dancing
Provide feedback and suggestions while the students are dancing

Assessment as Learning (AaL)

Creation of T-Chart and discussion of emotions related to body shapes

Differentiation (DI)

For visual learners, draw or print pictures of different ways we can create statues with our bodies.

Quick Tips

It is critical to follow up each activity in dance with an opportunity for the students to respond orally to the works they have seen and created. As you work through an activity, record words that both you and the students use.

Remember to model this language often and encourage the students to do the same.

If rhythm sticks are not available, roll up two newspapers to get desired sound.  

Link and Layer

Science: Structures and Mechanisms
Visual Art: Sculpture

Cool-down

(adapted from Creative Dance for All Ages - Green Gilbert): Goodbye Dance With the students standing in a circle, have them repeat one shape that they used during today's lesson. Ask the other students to copy that shape and give every child the chance to share.

Individual > Creating Shapes

To begin, ask students to move to their bubble space. You may want to use the music in the 'Quick Tips' section. Once students are ready, begin playing music and allow time for students to move freely while responding to the rhythm/tempo of the music (wiggle, gallop, skip, twirl, etc.) Remind students to take their bubble space with them as they dance. Play music of differing tempi and start/stop the music at intervals. When the music has stopped, students must freeze in any shape they choose. Ask open-ended questions. 

Prompt: Can you make a shape on a low level? Can you make a small shape? What other shapes can you make on that level? Are there other ways to make a small shape? Tell students to look around the room and notice what shapes their classmates have made. Repeat until you assess that students are making a variety of shapes.  

Questions incitatives : Peux-tu faire cette forme à un niveau bas? Peux-tu faire une petite forme? Quelles autres formes peux-tu faire à ce niveau? Y a-t-il d’autres façons de faire une petite forme?

Whole Class > Analyzing Shapes  

Ask students to think about the shapes that they made or saw around the room, focusing on how students used their bodies (arms, legs) and the space around them (levels). Make notes on the chart paper by drawing pictures and/or writing what students noticed (Akhyar had his arms straight out, Aaliyah had one leg bent, Ayden was crouching down). Guide students towards classifying the shapes into several broad categories (twisted, bent, curved, straight).  

Individual > Creating Shapes

Ask students to once again dance freely throughout the general space. Prompt them to create shapes that fall within the categories they established during their discussion.

Prompt: This time when you freeze, you're going to make a curved shape. Can you try that on a low level, a high level, a middle level? 

Déclencheur : Cette fois, quand tu figeras, tu feras une forme courbée. Peux-tu l’essayer à un niveau bas, haut et moyen?

Use an instrument such as a drum, bell, or rhythm sticks as a freeze command. Tell students to move around the room and, when they hear the instrument, to stop. Once the music stops, have students take notice of their classmates' shapes. Repeat several times.

Small Group > Three-Shape Dance

In small groups (about 3 students), ask students to create a three-shape dance using three different types of shapes from the classification structure they established (e.g.: twisted, curved and straight). They will choreograph transitions between these shapes using some of the locomotor and non-locomotor movements they experimented with during the first lesson.   

The class will co-create, success criteria for this activity which may include the use of different levels and body parts, as a well as a holding your ending shape to create a clear ending.  

Small Group > Sharing Three-Shape Dances

Ask groups to share their dance pieces with the class. You may want to have 2 groups present at a time to create a lower-risk performance opportunity. After each group presents, have students provide feedback based on the success criteria and discuss which shapes they particularly enjoyed watching and doing and why. As students are discussing, record their responses on the board/chart paper and take note of differing ways that students used their bodies. Using a T-Chart, write down different ways that they used their body parts (hands spread out, legs spread, head tilted) and different levels that they used (e.g., low to high by reaching, crouching, leg up/bent, etc.) Focus on how students used their whole body versus individual body parts and levels (e.g., low to high, high to low.) After noting movement on chart paper, have class discuss the emotion or feeling that they felt when looking at their classmates' shapes.