Dance and Drama

This week in Drama our focus was Bears, Bears, Bears!

Stage 1 and 2 explored the theme of Bears with the popular nursery rhyme “Teddy Bear’s Picnic”. Extending on our ideas from last week, we used our imagination to walk/jump/hop/ march through the woods and arrive at our picnic (on the parachute). Elliot in Stage 2 showed us how fast and slow we can march. Fi Fi showed us how to jump to the picnic.

Stage 2 are very good at following the leader, and we are beginning to introduce walking in rhythms and freezing. Waiting at our picnic was a stuffed toy (ballerina bear). The stuffed toy was hungry! We discussed what food might be served at a picnic, and pantomimed eating some of the foods. In Stage 1 Jayden ate a banana and Harlow ate a pear. The stuffed toys then wanted us to put on a show for them. In Stages 2 we recapped “what makes a good audience?” and how to take a bow. The children came up with some great answers and actions including “goggles for watching, audiences are quiet, shhh”, “audiences clap for you”. We then showed the toys how good we are at balancing on one leg and touching our toes. We also revisited the dance and song from last week called "teddy bear teddy bear". We did all the actions with ballerina bear, focusing on copying and listening.

Stage 2 also used their bodies to become big daddy bears, mummy bears and baby bears. Olivia in Stage 2 showed us the different volumes of roars from each bear. Elliot showed us how to stamp as different bears.

All the Stages had a special visit from my Rabbit friend. They took turns and used their gentle hands to pat the Rabbit. We finished by shaking the parachute for the toys. Jason in Stage

2 is becoming more and more confident with the parachute and Frankie had a huge smile while we were shaking. Stage 2 practised their bows.

Stage 3 and 4 explored the theme of bears in a few different ways. We started the lesson by talking about bears. What they look like and sound like; black and brown bears; and what to do if you find one in the wild.

We then decided to go on our own bear hunt! First, we needed to pack an imaginary bag. The children came up with ideas on what we might need. Some suggestions included hats, sunscreen, water and jumpers. Hue brought his binoculars; Harvey packed some fruit and sandwiches. We used the popular song "We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” as a backing for our hunt. We mimed spotting them. Mia in Stage 4 saw a Brown bear and told us to climb a tree.

In Stage 4 Freya saw a black bear and we all backed away slowly. Mackenzie remembered about the bubble gum from a story I told them, so we used that to scare off two bears. We then found ballerina bear waiting for us at the picnic.

We finished the class with a memory game. I brought in foods on a tray for the teddy bears picnic and the children had to remember what was on the tray before I took one away. Milo and Callum in Stage 3 remembered all the foods. To finish, we couldn’t go on a picnic without doing the song "teddy bear’s picnic". Everyone danced beautifully. In the song we learnt all about the right things to do as an audience like listening, watching, sitting up straight, and clapping.

What a busy and fun class we had! See you next week.