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Water Dance (Dance)

SUBJECTS Dance
GRADE LEVEL Primary (K-3) / Junior (4-6) / Intermediate (7-8)
PLEDGE

Resources Needed:

This lesson was developed and contributed by Holly Little.

1. Book, Water Dance by Thomas Locker

Introduction:

1. Ask students to brainstorm words that come to mind when they think about water. Make a list on the board.

Lesson:

1. Read the book, Water Dance by Thomas Locker

2. Looking at the list of words you made, ask students which words could be considered “movement words” (words that could represent the movement/journey of water).

3. Add additional words that could represent/describe the movement of water. It may be useful to print these words or have them on individual cards.

Water movement words: freeze, melt, evaporate, crystallize, flow, splash. slosh, drip, drop, swirl, twist, stir, flood, crash, wave, fall, ripple, roll, still, trickle, surge, fall, pelt, float, pour, spill, sprinkle, spray, glide, gush, leak, percolate, slide, rush, swell, tumble, run, dribble, drift, spurt, cascade, spew, spring, squirt, sputter, paddle, dive, row, sail, wade, flush, boil, bubble, burble, churn, drizzle, engulf, rise, plunge, ooze, lap, soak, spread, whirl, whip, swish, tumble, fill, overflow, drench

4. Have students choose one of the water movement words. Ask them to move their bodies in a way that represents the word they chose.  Then, ask them to move in a different way to represent the same word.

5. Depending on the grade, discuss the elements of dance: body, action, space, time, energy. Ask students to pick two of the elements to include when creating a movement for their chosen word For example, they can ripple their arms slowly (time) at a low level (space).

6. Ask students to pick a second water movement word and create a movement for that word. Then ask students to merge the two movements together (e.g. Can you swirl and then freeze?)

Follow Up Activities:

1. Put students into groups and have them choose 5 water movement words. Ask each group to create a water dance using all 5 words.

2. With a group, have students choose one of the images from the book (e.g. waterfall) and create a movement or dance to represent that particular aspect of water. The rest of the class could try to guess what aspect of water they are representing.