SHAPE: A MULTI-CLASS UNIT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

Author: Jeanne Traxler, Boston, MA

Age Group: PK - 1st grade

Length of lesson: 45 minutes, multiple classes

Every class begins with a warm-up of several exercises, on the floor and standing, followed by two activity songs, enhanced with concepts from previous lessons: self/general space, ‘fancy’ body parts, etc. About the week four I begin teaching the concept of SHAPE to my PK-1st graders.

Lesson I. Geometric Shapes

Prop: Large paper with various geometric shapes

Intro: I show the paper with basic geometric shapes drawn on it and tell children what I made the picture out of (paper, markers) and say that dancers make shapes when they dance. What do we make them out of? Our bodies.

Try with your body parts: straight line with a finger, an arm, a leg, whole self x/cross/plus with finger, hands, arms, legs, whole self circle with fingers, hands, arms, legs arc with arms, whole self

For cross, triangle, square, I ask them to try with friends; with younger kids the teachers have to help. Then back to solo shapes for star, heart, and ‘messy line’ (or ‘scribbly line’). Sometimes we don’t do all of the shapes. It can get long with all of the parts.

This can end with any kind of “Freeze dance.” Sometimes I will hold up the shape cards to let them know which shape to make.

Music suggestion: Rock and Stop by Eric Chappelle

Lesson 2: Shape Creation

These activities sometimes take a few classes.

Props: Modeling clay/playdough; pictures from museum websites and brochures. Photos from the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden in DC and work by sculptors Joel Shapiro and Jeff Koons are useful.

After the warm-up, I get out a piece of modeling clay or playdough and roll it into a ball. I ask them to identify and then make that shape Then I roll the clay into a snake and ask them to identify and make that shape with their whole self. Then, I ask if the clay will turn back into a ball. They usually say “no”, but a sizable group typically says “yes.” We experiment with that idea: we wait; we say magic words. (I make funny faces when it doesn’t change -- this has gotten a laugh since 1976!) Obvi, the clay never changes on its own. Why doesn’t it change – because there is no magic, they sometimes say, and most important: clay is not alive, so it can’t move itself. (We sometimes digress into what is alive and can grow and change: plants, animals, people. Not rocks or other things.) I make the clay into several shapes as they try them.

Then we play the sculptor/ clay game. My assistant is a lump of clay and I build them into a brand new shape. They hold the shape, we applaud. My assistant builds me into a shape. I hold the shape, they applaud. Music: any sort of quiet music.

Then what I do with the age groups diverges:

PK – the teachers build the students. Then the students build the teachers. (They love this) Reminders to be gentle and not knock anyone over! We repeat with the teachers building and then skipping around the shapes, walking, etc. Then the children build again and go around the various shapes.

1st grade – They can partner off and do this activity and I often add the idea of “build a shape you could go over, under, around and/or through.”

Then have them find an open spot and I say “Build yourself into a shape.” You can have them move parts with their hands, but usually everyone gets the idea of making and holding a still shape.

This can end with any kind of Freeze Dance, and then a dance where dancers make shapes without the music stopping. (Hard for the very youngest.)

Suggested music: Dance Freeze by Abridge Club; Dance/Freeze Music by Marcella Sharp

Alternatives:

For the older children you can also bring out elastics and with the teacher’s help, they could make various shapes in groups and alone. Dances could follow with half making the shapes and half dancing.

Or use the book Ella's Trip to the Museum by Elaine Clayton. This book introduces students to the idea of an art museum. Have three music choices ready for each of the dancing opportunities and have them dance those interludes and then come back to hear more of the story