Maria's Movers

Yoga Block Prop

maria — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:58:45 +0000

Do you have yoga blocks laying around the dance space? One day, I forgot to throw a prop in my bag. Oops! That’s so not like me. Instead of eliminating the prop dance in class, I felt like experimenting, so I used what was available and it was super fun! Here are some ideas to do with the yoga block:

Shapes
First we made shapes over and under the yoga block. I would say “make a shape over the block” They could interpret that however they wanted. They could touch it or not. We did the same for under, which was interesting to watch. We also made shapes in front of and behind the blocks.

Towers
Build a tower with the blocks! Just like you would with legos or wooden blocks. I called each dancer one at a time to add their block to the tower. Then, we replicated the tower with our bodies. Obviously the wider towers were easier to build with our bodies than the tall ones, but for the most part we were able to build a matching tower.

I made sure the students were aware of what we were doing after we built the tower so they could keep in mind that we were going to try to make the same tower with our bodies. It was really fun, and took a lot of brain power!

Skills
Leaps and jumps over the blocks. See how many times (ask them to count) the dancers can leap over the block in 15 seconds. Same with 2 feet jumps. Then ask them to say their number out loud.

Leave all the blocks in the middle of the room and ask your dancers to go to one side of the room. I gave the students a locomotor movement to do around and through the blocks. They got to pick the pathway to get to the other side. They love this because they get to choose! Choice = Awesome.

Story
Finally, we made up a story with the blocks being “rocks.” We combined all of the things we explored movement with and put it all together. Take all of their ideas and just add it in, even if it doesn’t work, even if it’s the silliest thing you ever heard. They feel so proud when their ideas are a part of something. It also makes me feel good that each dancer gets to contribute.

Have you ever used yoga blocks in your class? How have you used them? I would love to hear!

Bumble Bee Dance

maria — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:42:55 +0000

Every week I do an animal dance with my 2-3 year old students. They love it, and every week they come up with a new animal to dance about. Every once in a while someone comes up with a really awesome one like antelope (?), or penguin. One day last week a little boy called out “bumble bee!” We buzzed a around for a while, but I remembered a poem I had heard before about a bee so I looked it up and brought it back this week. It’s so fun to say and create a dance with! Try it out…

Bee Hive Dance

This is my bee hive (make a round shape)
But where are all the bees?
Hidden inside where nobody sees (make the shape smaller)
One, two, three, four, five, (On each count take a body part out of the hive. example: going from a closed shape to an open shape)
There they go, off to the trees (buzz like a bee, with fast feet and fast arms)

(author unknown)

After that we played around with landing on different (pretend) flowers and finding a honey comb. Yep, could be my favorite dance to date!

Have you ever done a buzzing bee dance with your littles? I would love to hear about it!

(image)

KER-SPLAT! Who Likes The Sound Of Rain?

maria — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:09:34 +0000

Read It. Move It. Share It. is a collaboration with Kerry from Picture Books and Pirouettes. Once a month Kerry recommends a book for me to use in my creative movement classes. Then I write a post on what I did with the book and how I used it with my students in hopes of giving you some new ideas to use in your classes! Here is the April book. Enjoy!

My students love rain! They love doing rain dances and telling me about the princesses (ack! on their umbrellas. Since I started this blog I have shared many rain dances so I knew with this book I had to do something different and really awesome! When I first got the book I read through it and noticed all of the noises the rain makes. That was it! A dance about what the rain sounds like! Here’s what we did:

First, I asked them what they think rain sounds like. Then, I told the students (my 4-5 year olds) to listen for sounds of the rain they might here when we read the book aloud. When they heard a sound we all made that sound together. We tried to get creative with each one making our voice sound different each time. (read: this would be a great book to read when your students are feeling extra chatty!)

Some of the sounds were animals who got stuck in the rain. Those sounds were accompanied by animal movements. After we finished making each rain sound with our voice we created movements to go with the sounds. We talked about matching the movement to the sound using heavy or light and big or small movements. Here are examples of the sounds!

Pit – pit- pit

Ping- ping- ping

Gurgle, gurgle

Pitty, plip – PLOP, Pitty- pat- SPLAT

rum-a-tum-tum

Whoosh

KER- SPLAT!

Can you imagine the dance? The important part is for the students to make up the movements. Even if I didn’t think it went with the sound, we tried it anyway, then we discussed what we might be able to do differently. It’s problem solving and listening skills at it’s finest!

At the end we put it all together. It was the coolest dance we have ever done! I may use it for a showcase next year! The best part about this dance is that you don’t need to find music!

Have you ever done a dance just with noises? Have you heard of this book? I would love to hear if you try it out! To learn more about his book whoosh on over to Kerry’s blog!

Decorating Your Dance Room

maria — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:34:08 +0000

I can’t believe I didn’t share my latest Dance Advantage post with you yet. This, of course, is the busiest time of the year and there are just not enough hours in the day! Are you feeling like that too? If you are looking for some new inspiration check out the post! Celebrating The Arts: Decorating The Dance Room While Connecting To Class Content. I hope you enjoy it! xo

Dancers Be Light… Dancers Be Quick…

maria — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:20:56 +0000

Dancers leap over the candle stick!

I have been doing leaps with my students these past few months and they love them. Quote “I caught my daughter practicing her leaps from the couch to the table (!). For the record, I did not encourage that, but clearly they just can’t get enough! I get bored practicing leaps the same way all of the time, so we came up with this rhyme today that was so fun! To the tune of “Jack be nimble.’

Dancers be light, Dancers be quick
Dancers leap over the candle stick!

They loved it! I did 2 or 3 dancers at a time and put a cone in the middle for them to leap over. You should try it out! I want to incorporate more nursery rhymes into my classes, they are so much fun and seem to have the perfect way of fitting into dance class even if you don’t change the words.

Do you have favorite nursery rhymes you use to teach steps? Do you change the words? I would love to hear!

p.s. here are some more nursery rhyme ideas!

Umbrella Shapes

maria — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:08:39 +0000

Some of my favorite dances to do with my littles are about spring. We love to jump puddles and dance with flowers, but I had the idea to explore umbrellas! Here’s what we did:

First we talked about umbrellas, what they do and they look like. I asked “what do umbrellas do?”

“Umbrellas open!”

“Umbrellas close!”

“Umbrellas drip.”

“Umbrellas hang.”

“Umbrellas spin.”

“Umbrellas fly high.”

“Umbrellas break.” – this is my favorite one. So true, right?

Have you ever thought about how much umbrellas do? After we had our discussion we tried to put it into our bodies. We made closed shapes, and open shapes. I would count to 8 and they had to take all 8 counts to get their closed umbrella to open. We imagined that we were a wet umbrella and water was dripping from our fingers and toes. We tried a hanging umbrella and a spinning one. By the end of our exploration I could tell they were really thinking of the way umbrellas look and what they do. It was pretty awesome, I have to say.

We made a big class umbrella too! We all laid on our backs and put our feet up connected together. We made space between our legs and the floor. All heads facing out. It really looked like an umbrella! We also tried it with our arms, and our shoulders. It was so silly and fun. Next time it rains, I can just see them all making their umbrella shapes instead of using their actual umbrella. Opps, sorry parents.

I have always done dances pretending to hold an umbrella but have never done an exploration about being THE umbrella! What about you? Have you ever explored being an umbrella? That sounds like such a silly question. (haha!) It’s perfect for a new spring dance. Let me know if you try it, I would love to hear about it!

Imagination Vacation

maria — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:20:24 +0000

Hi Friends! Did you have spring break? I did and guess where I went?

If you have gathered anything about me from reading this blog, it is that I love imagination! So I took an imagination vacation and went to Disney World. Walt Disney was such a innovator and a visionary, I am totally in awe of him. Visiting the parks just amazes me. I can’t believe how they pull off rides, parades, parties, and shows day after magical day. I think I might read his biography for some inspiration.

I only went to Disney 2 days and the other days I took for myself by the pool. I have never taken a vacation for myself. I usually go home to visit my parents or to a conference. But this was much needed and I didn’t realize I needed it until I got there and could breath a little.

I have realized how important it is to stop checking e-mail, not think about scheduling and just decompress once in a while. If I stay in the city it’s so hard to do that, so taking vacations is now on my priority list.

What about you? Do you take vacations? I am sure it makes us better teachers and role models. Don’t you think? Everyone needs a break once in a while!

p.s. some new posts coming up this week, don’t miss them!

How To Make A Circle With 12 Littles + You

maria — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 03:41:05 +0000

I was riding the train tonight and had an instant thought that I don’t think I ever shared with you my trick for making a circle with my littles. Have I told you about it?

I wanted to find a way to make a circle by myself with my littles without saying “Megan come hold hands.” “Molly come hold hands” 100 times! You know what happens next, right? Once you get most of the holding hands, you loose some of them. Sound familiar? Well, this trick will change your life. I have been using it for so long and it totally works. I can not believe I haven’t shared it with you!

Have all of your students stand against a wall, or on a line (I use tape.) Ask them to hold hands with their neighbor on both sides. Now you have a them all in a line holding hands. This is my way of gaining control. I don’t move on until everyone is in the line and quiet! Next, you be the connecter and hold hands with the dancer on each end. Slowly walk the circle towards the middle of room and viola! A circle!

Warning: The first few times could be messy. It takes practice, but they will be pros in no time. I explain every time, “if you pull your friends the whole class will fall on top of you.” Their eyes get really big and they can’t believe I just said that. LOL

This trick might sound so simple, but many people I tell about it have never heard of it and always ask if it really works. It does! Try it! Especially if you have been avoiding making circles.

Do you use this trick to? What other tricks do you have for making a circle? Or for other transitions similar to this? I don’t use an assistant, so these little “helpers” are key to a successful class!

Facing Burnout? Try These!

maria — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:51:08 +0000

Leap on over to read my post at Dance Advantage today: 5 Ideas That Will Make You Feel Like Less Of A Teaching Robot. You won’t regret it! xoxo

Grab A Partner For The Barnyard Dance!

maria — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:19:36 +0000

Last Saturday I was feeling really ambitious. I was in a room with full of 20 4 year olds (2x!) and for some reason my assistant never showed up. I had this book in my bag, so thinking quick on my feet I had the idea of doing partner dances. We have been doing partner and group shapes already, so surely it would be wonderful. Not the case. But we did have fun! Here are some ideas:

In the first class we just started dancing the book, I read the pages and we would do the movements. That was a bit of chaos, so in the second class I switched it up and read the book aloud first and that seemed to work much better. I don’t know why some books do better right out of the gate, others take time to sink in.

So, after I partnered them up. We did a clapping and stomping game. “Stomp your feet, Clap your hands” Stomp 4 times, your partner clap 4 times, now switch! We did it all together, then I gave them time to figure it out on their own. Remember, it will get loud, but that’s they way they learn. I just kept walking around to make sure everyone was staying on task.

We continued the book and anywhere I saw an opportunity to do something with their partner we did it. It says “bow to the horse.” “bow to the cow.” So we bowed to our partner and then away from them. The pictures in the book tell a lot about the dance too. Towards and Away are good words to teach, just like near and far!

“Twirl with the pig if you know how.” We tried twirling with our partner, some of them could figure it out, others needed a little help. They hold hands overhead and then twirl. If they are careful, they can both twirl at the same time. We found other ways of twirling too, like one partner goes down low while the other one twirls around them or both do a twirl at the same time and then a high five!

“Everbody promenade two by two!” The most fun to do with 4′s because they get it. Explain very clearly that they should stand shoulder to shoulder. Then hold outside hands and connect the other hand on their partners back. Now, ask them to walk while trying to stay together and on the same foot! It’s a challenge, but they can for sure do it.

After that we did Do Si Do (it’s not in the book, but I thought it would be fun to teach) One partner turns around to face the back, if you have to you can call out names so they don’t get confused. Then tell them to link elbows, and walk forward in a circle. They couldn’t stop laughing and they couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t catch up to their partner. So fun!

“Swing with your partner” Ahhh… there are 1 million ways to swing with your partner. I love this! Swing your arms, swing your legs, swing sideways, upside down, backwards. It’s really fun to see what they can come up with!

We did other animals in the book like the frog, turkey, sheep, and mice. I just asked them to stay as close to their partner as they could. At the end of our dance we took a bow away and towards our partner and then did the “clap your hands, stomp your feet game again to end where we started. It was really loud and amazing!

Do you ever do partner dances in class? I thought that partnering them up would be a great way to manage that many 4 year olds because they can be responsible for each other. It was a little messy but it gave them a 2 way challenge. The first was to follow the directions and the second was to figure out how to dance with a partner, AKA problem solving.

I would love to hear your ideas about partner dances. Do they intimidate you? Do you think they talk more when they have a partner or are more focused. I think I might try it again this week. Now they know what it’s like and can really concentrate on the dancing!

p.s. I would really like to know more about Sandra Boynton and this book. Wouldn’t you? I’m headed over to Kerry’s blog right now to learn more!