Children’s Creative Dance Cross-Curricular Connections for

Arts/Academic Achievement!April Johnson-Mozzetti Elementary Physical Education and

Dance Specialist Dayton Public SchoolsKemp PreK-8 Elementary School

National AAHPERD Convention April 23, 2013Charlotte, North Carolina

Presentation for The National Dance Association

Benefits of Cross-Curricular Instruction

• Makes learning holistic for children so they can make connections from the academic classroom to the movement experiences in dance and physical education class.

• A holistic interdisciplinary learning environment accelerates cognitive knowledge for student academic achievement to improve test scores.

• Students develop learning blocks of vocabulary, subject concepts, reading and writing skills in a holistic learning environment.

Benefits of Cross Curricular Teaching

• Integration teaching techniques help to better utilize the instructional process by taking a more in depth study into all subjects by making cross curricular connections to promote meaningful learning experiences for all students.

• Another benefit of interdisciplinary teaching is that students have a chance to work with multiple sources of information, thus ensuring they are receiving a more inclusive perspective than they would from consulting one textbook. (Wood, 1997)

Benefits of Cross-Curricular Teaching

• Integrated instruction also allows for authentic assessment. (Barton & Smith, 2000)

• Integrated instruction promotes the constructivist method of teaching where students take their prior knowledge and expand upon it.

• The most common method of implementing integrated interdisciplinary instruction is the thematic unit, in which a common theme is studied in more than one content area. (Barton & Smith, 2000)

Benefits of Cross-Curricular Teaching

• Implementing interdisciplinary curriculum units helps children acquire targeted concepts and skills of various disciplines more effectively. (Jacobs, 1991)

• Cross curricular links are crucial to learning as learning depends on being able to make connections between prior knowledge and experiences and new information and experiences. (Crown, 2006)

Benefits of Cross-Curricular Teaching

Benefits of Cross-Curricular Teaching

• Cross curricular learning helps develop metacognitive learners and metacognitive learners are able to adapt their learning to new situations. (Crown, 2006)

• Examines the notion of integrated studies as a way of organizing the curriculum in schools. (Kerry, 2011)

A to Z Thematic Teaching Themes!

• Animals, Africa, balloons, beach, bugs, color, desert, dinosaurs, elephants, fish, forest, fossils, grass, hip-hop, ice, insects, jump, kites, lights, mammals, machines, newspaper, Olympics, plants, quill, rabbits, sea, solar system, sports, trees, turtles, umbrella, victory, water, woods, x-ray, yarn, and zoo.

Bugs and Butterflies Thematic Cross-Curricular Activity

Bugs and Butterflies Language Arts Cross-Curricular Connection

• Children’s Literature-The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle

Bugs and Butterflies Word Wall

• Abdomen, ant, antennae, bee, beetle, butterfly, bug, caterpillar, chrysalis, compound eyes, cricket, dragonfly, eggs, firefly, grasshopper, honeybee, insect, ladybug, larva, legs, locust, metamorphosis, monarch, mosquito, moth, nymph, owl butterfly, praying mantis, pupa, roach, swallowtail, termite, thorax, walking stick, wasp, wings, worm, yellow jacket, zebra butterfly.

• .

Bugs and Butterflies

• Students write about what kind of bugs they like or don’t like.

• They can write about what kind of movements the bugs do in order to move and survive.

• Students can make comparisons between different types of bugs and what their main function is in our world.

Bug and Butterfly Math Connections

• Classify the bugs into movement categories such as ants and ladybugs can crawl. Butterflies and dragonflies can fly. Caterpillars and worms can slither. Add to this list.

• Have the students create bug math problems such as ten butterflies are flying and then five more come to fly. How many butterflies are flying all together?

Bug and Butterfly Math Connections

• Classify the bugs into movement categories such as ants and ladybugs can crawl. Butterflies and dragonflies can fly. Caterpillars and worms can slither. Add to this list.

• Have the students create bug math problems such as ten butterflies are flying and then five more come to fly. How many butterflies are flying all together?

Bugs and Butterflies• Hempitera is a bug and they have a hypodermic

needle like mouth to extract fluids from plants or animals. Leafhoppers, milkweed bugs, and bed bugs are part of this group.

• Invertebrates are insects that have an exoskeleton, a three part body of head, thorax, and abdomen. They have three pairs of legs, compound eyes, and one pair of antennae. The cricket, wasp, and moth are insects in this group.

Bugs and Butterflies Science Connection

• Arthropods are different from bugs and insects. Their skeleton is on the outside of the body. They have a segmented body with jointed appendages.

• They are the largest animal species in the world which includes spiders, butterflies, flies, ants, and bees. They dominate the land, sea, and air.

Bugs and Butterflies Social Studies Connections

• Location of bugs, butterflies, and insects and where they live on state map.

• Location of various species and where they live on the USA map.

• Do bugs, butterflies, and insects help and or hinder our farmers?

• Where are these farms located in our area?

Bugs and Butterflies Arts Connections

• Music-Firefly Song by Owl City and Creative Classical Music

• Art-Draw pictures of your favorite insects, bugs, and butterflies.

• Dance Props-Beanbag bugs, dancing color scarves, and flowers.

• Theater-Tough to be a Bug-Disney

Bugs and Butterflies Creative Movement Study Words

• Bend, climb, crawl, creep, curl, fall, flutter, fly, hang, rise, slither, soar, spiral, spin, stretch, sway, swing, twist, turn, and wiggle.

• Across, around, backward, curved, diagonal, fast, forward, high, low, medium, over, sideways, slow, straight, under, through, and zigzag.

• Directional, pathway, levels, and space concepts of movement.

Bugs and Butterfly Introductory Activity

• Make a list of the bugs, butterflies, and insect words that the students are familiar with.

• Then play “Magic Scientist” with the students using the word wall words and add new vocabulary words to the list.

• “I am the magic scientist and I am going to turn you into a grasshopper hopping and leaping in the grass!” Then the students perform that movement.

Bugs and Butterfly Main Lesson

• Students are in small groups and they will create a movement sequence of the bug or butterfly species.

• The students will create a movement pattern reflecting on two or three different kinds of bugs and butterflies.

• Teacher can use clue cards with bug and insect information for vocabulary building.

• Use creative music and or props.• Students can write their movement compositions

in their journals.

Bugs and Butterflies Concluding Activity

• Bugs and Butterflies Story!• All the bugs and butterflies are resting in the

forest at night for their very busy day!• The sun comes up and the bugs and butterflies

begin to move around in the forest.• They crawl, climb, flutter, fly, and twirl about.• They look and find food.• Soon the sun is going down and it is time to rest

again after a very busy day in the forest!

Bugs and Butterfly Assessment Procedures

• Can the students read and understand the bug and butterfly vocabulary off of the word wall?

• Can the students perform the axial and locomotor skills that bugs and butterflies can perform?

• Can the students create safe movement sequences alone, with a partner, and in small and large cooperative groups?

Assessment

• Have the students reflect upon their creative dance learning experience and write about what they have learned in their journals.

• Teacher may use learning board to write about what the class learned through the dance experience.

Rainbow Thematic Cross-Curricular Connections

Rainbow

Rainbow Language Arts Cross-Curriculum Connections

• Children’s Literature- Color Dance by Ann Jonas

Rainbow Word Wall

• Angles, arc, blue, clouds, cloudy, color, curved, drops, green, indigo, light, lighting, orange, puddles, precipitation, rain, rainbow, rays, red, refracted, reflected, spectrum, sky, storm, sun, thunder, violet, weather, wet, and yellow.

Rainbow Language Arts

• Students can write about their favorite color of the rainbow.

• Why is this your favorite color?

• What does this color represent?

• Write about when you have seen a rainbow in the sky?

• What did you like about it?

Rainbow Math Cross-Curriculum Connections

• Make a graph chart of each color and have students list objects or things of that color.

• The sky and blueberries can represent the color blue.

• Apples and a fire truck can represent the color red.

• A banana and the sun can represent the color yellow.

Rainbow Science Cross-Curricular Connections

• Rainbow are formed with water droplets viewed from a certain angle relative to the sun’s rays.

• Study the different types of rainbows such as night rainbows, multiple rainbows, supernumerary and monochrome rainbows.

Rainbow Social Studies Cross-Curricular Connections

• Locations of where you have seen rainbows in our community.

• Where does it rain the most in our country and in the world?

• What other social implications does the rainbow represent in our culture?

Rainbow Arts Cross-Curriculum

• Music-Somewhere over the Rainbow and creative classical songs.

• Art-Paint the colors of the rainbow.

• Dance-Colored scarves and streamers of the six different colors of the rainbow.

• Theater-Wizard of Oz

Rainbow Dance Creative Movement Study Words

• Accelerate, dash, dart, decelerate, drop, fast, slow, splash, straight, strut, whirl, zigzag, and zippy.

Rainbow Introductory Activity

• Read the Color Book and talk about the various colors.

• What things in our world are the various colors that represent the rainbow?

• Divide the class into groups of the six colors of the rainbow to create movement sequences.

Rainbow Cross-Curriculum Main Lesson Activity

• Divide the students up into small cooperative groups of the six colors of the rainbow and a group for the wind, rain, thunder, and lighting. Have another small group to represent the sun.

• All groups will choreograph a movement sequence focusing on the creative words.

• Use color streamers, color scarves, and dance props to represent each weather element.

• You may make paper raindrops, lightning, and sunshine props.

Rainbow Concluding Dance Part I

• Bring together all the students who just choreographed their small group dances using the dance literacy words.

• Assign each group a home space on the dance floor where they are to be located for the dance.

• You may use a cone to mark the home space to keep students behind it until they are called out to perform in the creative dance.

Rainbow Concluding Dance Part II

• All the various groups will have a home space for the large group creative dance.

• Teacher will call out each various color to perform their creative dance choreography to the music.

• First the wind, thunder, lightning, and raindrops will dance first.

• Then the teacher will call out each different color to come out and dance. Teacher calls out blue to dance

and then they go back to their home space. Then the teacher will call out the yellow etc.

Rainbow Creative Dance Part III

• After each of the six color groups perform their creative movement dance sequences the teacher will call out for all groups to dance.

• All the colors of the rainbow and the wind, rain, thunder, and lighting all dance in harmony.

• The teacher will call out for the sunshine to come out and then all the dancers will gently fall to the ground. The sun will stop the thunderstorm and the rainbow will fade away.

Rainbow Assessment

• Students reflect upon their learning experiences and their new knowledge through the journal writing experience.

• They are expected to use both new vocabulary and movement literacy terms in their writing assessments.

• What new things did they learn in the creative dance experience?

• Teacher can use a learning board to ask the entire class what they achieved in class today.

• Teacher will write it out for all students to see.

Fun In The Jungle Thematic Cross-Curricular Activity

Jungle Language Arts Cross-Curriculum Connections

Jungle Word Wall

• Africa, alligator, ape, bears, birds, bugs, canopy, cheetah, chimpanzee, cockatoo, creature, crocodile, dirt, discover, explore, insect, fish, flowers, frog, elephant, giraffes, jaguar, leopard, lion, lizard, monkey, mud, ostrich, parrot, plants, rain, rhino, snake, swamp, tiger, trees, turtle, water, wilderness, and zebra.

Jungle Language Arts

• Who is the Beast? Read the book and list the animals from the story.

• What are the nouns and verbs in the story?

• Study various poems about the jungle and or jungle animals.

• Learn new jungle vocabulary words and their definitions.

Jungle Cross Curricular Math Connections

• Create jungle animal story math problems for addition and subtraction.

• There are twenty lions sleeping. Nine lions decide to get up and hunt for food. How many lions are left sleeping?

• What would be the measurement of a particular jungle animal’s height and weight? Explore the findings and create a chart.

Jungle Cross-Curricular Science Connections

• Jungles are overgrown with wild tangles of vegetation and dense forest.

• Jungles and rainforests are similar, but while rainforests have thick canopies of tall trees that block out light, jungles allow more light in, making it easier for plants to grow.

• The extra light creates dense areas of plants and vegetation that can be difficult to navigate.

• Jungles are often found surrounding rainforests.

Jungle Cross-Curricular Science Connections

• Jungles are home to a wide range of plants and animals.

• Over half of the world's species live in a jungle environment.

• Jungles are usually in warm places with high rainfall.

• The word ‘jungle’ comes from a Sanskrit word meaning ‘uncultivated land’.

• The saying “The Law of the Jungle” comes from Rudyard Kipling’s collection of stories called The Jungle Book, published in 1894.

Jungle Science

• While lions have the nickname “The King of the Jungle” they typically live in savannah and grassland.

• Tarzan is a famous fictional character who is raised by apes in African jungles.

• Information from Fun Jungle Facts by Science Kids Webpage.

Jungle Cross-Curricular Social Studies Connections

• Location of the jungles in Africa and Asia.

• How many jungles are in our world?

• What countries are they located in?

• How do the jungle animals effect those who live near them?

• Where are the local zoos in our community that house jungle animals?

Jungle Cross-Curricular Arts Connections

• Music-The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens Disney Lion King.

• Art-Paint and make jungle animal masks.

• Dance-Dancing color scarves and animal mask for creative jungle dance.

• Theater-Lion King by Disney.

Jungle Creative Words

• Arc, balance, bend, chase, crawl, dart, dash, flee, float, flutter, fly, hang, hide, hunt, jump, leap, move, play, prance, ran, run, sleep, spin, splash, stretch, sway, swim, swing, turn, twist, walk, and zip.

• Levels of low, medium, and high.

• Shapes of wide, narrow, long, short, and twisted.

Jungle Introductory Activity

• Who is the Beast? Read the book and list the animals from the story.

• Have the students act out each animal and list the movements that the animals perform.

• Write the information on the learning board.• How do the animals in the story interact with

each other.• Have the students write this information and

their journal and reflect upon the movement story.

Jungle Main Lesson

• Have the students work with a partner to create a movement sequence of the jungle animal that they are to perform in the dance.

• Students need to reflect upon the creative word wall list for movement ideas.

• Students may write down their movement sequences in their journals or teacher made worksheets.

Jungle Concluding Activity

• Have the students take the floor with their partner and dress up in costume.

• Students will perform a large group creative and cooperative dance to the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight!”

• Students need to cooperate with everyone during the dance.

• Students must be safe, responsible, and respectful at all times!

Jungle Assessment

• Can the students perform the creative animal movements, steps, and sequences of the cooperative dance?

• Do students cooperate and work together as a group?

• Do the students share ideas when choreographing their dance sequences?

• Are the students safe, responsible, and respectful at all times?

Cross-Curricular Teaching References

• Barton, K.C. & Smith, L.A. (September 2000). Themes or motifs? Aiming for coherence through interdisciplinary outlines. The Reading Teacher, 54(1), 54 – 63.

• The Importance of Cross-Curricular Teaching 2006 Crown Copyright

• Jacobs, Heidi Dr. “The Integrative Curriculum” Instructor September, 1991.

Cross-Curricular Teaching References

• Kerry, Trevor. (2011). Cross-Curricular Teaching in the Primary School. Routledge, New York.

• Wood, K. (1997). Interdisciplinary instruction: A practical guide for elementary and middle school teachers. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill

Cross-Curricular Teaching References

• Kerry, Trevor. (2011). Cross-Curricular Teaching in the Primary School. Routledge, New York.

• Wood, K. (1997). Interdisciplinary instruction: A practical guide for elementary and middle school teachers. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill

Dayton Public Schoolsand Kemp Elementary

• Thank you to our wonderful students!

• Thank you to our wonderful staff!

• Thank you to the DPS Board of Education for their support!