I based this lesson plan on the class having taken part in previous dance sessions built around the theme and song from “The Little Mermaid”, ‘Under the Sea’. The previous lessons consisted on the children learning how to travel, i.e. swimming movements, and twist to represents sea creatures and underwater plants.

Working towards outcomes of a Curriculum for Excellence 

Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express my ideas, thoughts and feelings through creative work in dance. EXA 2-09a

Learning Intentions

To successfully use their bodies to imitate sea weed swaying within the water.                                                To successfully move loosely to emphasise how the plants move within the waves.

Success Criteria

How to loosen up their bodies and be successful when using loose movements                               How to successfully do a body roll and understand how the movement can be seen as the same as sea weeds movements when the waves cause the plants to sway.

Resources

CD player or docking station                                                                                                                         A variety of music including “Under the Sea”                                                                                             A large empty space, preferably the school gym hall

Setting the context/ Beginning the lesson (Introduction)

Introduce the lesson by recapping on the previous dance sessions encouraging the children to share what they have previously learned. Make sure the children check their l
aces are tied before beginning the warm up. Make sure I’m aware of any injuries the children may have in order to adapt the moves in order for the child to be comfortable.

 Octopus Tag

One person (the tagger) stands in the middle of the gym hall. The rest of the children line up at one end of the hall and when I shout go, they all run to the other side. Whoever the tagger tags, they must stand where they got tagged and become an octopus. The octopus cannot move from their spot but must move around their arms in order to help the tagger tag the other children.

Quick stretch of the muscles the children are going to be using in order to learn the specific dance moves i.e. their arms, shoulders, neck, back and abdominal.

Teaching the learning intentions (Development)

Before starting the main lesson I will have the children find a space where they’re able to move freely. I will also check whether they are able to see me clearly through using the method of ‘if I can’t see them, they can’t see me’.

Begin by getting the children to sway lightly from side to side with lose movements.   Encourage them to follow their shoulders allowing their arms to dangle by their sides.                               Then have the children imagine that someone is pulling them by their belt which has their loose upper bodies follow their hip – Do this movement over, while counting in eights, until the children are successful with the movement.                                                                                     Now, encourage them to allow their arms to swing without them controlling the movement too much as this will cause them to tighten up.                                                                           Throughout this process, I will have music playing in order for the children to learn how to move loosely to the beat while counting in eights.

 After the children have managed to loosen up their bodies and do simple loose movements, I will move onto firstly telling them what the name of the move they’ll be learning – a body roll.     I will then show the children an example of this move before talking through it step by step.   Start by rolling my head back, telling them to imagine someone pushing against their foreheads, then rolling the movement down to their neck, shoulders, chest, tummy, hips, then legs (demonstrating as I speak through each rolling movement).                                               Then have the children join in, slowly rolling each body part I am naming and imitating my movements (counting in 4s for this section).           Have the children try it on the own allowing them to speed up with practice.                                           I will walk around the hall observing the class and assist any children who are struggling.

Once I see that most of the children are becoming confident with this move, I will switch the music to “Under the Sea” and have them pretend to be sea weed within the water using the new body roll they’ve just learned.                                                                                                              I will encourage the children to other movements they have learned from previous lessons by shouting out their names and demonstrating them at the front of the hall for all the children to see.                                                                                                                                                          Count in fours for this song.

Ending the lesson (Plenary)

For this I will have relaxing ocean sound effects in order fit the theme of ‘Under the Sea’.

For the cool down, I will have the children and myself stand in a circle, having them hold hands in order to do this quickly.                                                                                                                             I will get them to drop hands once everyone is in position.                                                              The cool down will consist of having the children take deep breaths, raising their arms when breathing in and dropping them when breathing out.                                                                     After this, I will have the children lay down on the ground, close their eyes and listen to the calming music for a few moments in order to allow me to prepare for heading back to the classroom.

My next steps

During this lesson, as the children have been introduced into how to move their bodies loosely in order to successfully do the body roll, the next lesson will consist of more loose movements such as the arm wave which will represent the waves within the sea. For this lesson I will watch Youtube videos in order to give me ideas on how to break down the move and explain it step by step.