3rd Grade

3rd Grade: Verbs, Minefield

Brewer Elementary

Thomas – Beth Reeves

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able to recall various verbs in their 3rd grade vocabulary.
Students will be able to define verbs by using creative movement.
Students will be able to practice empathy for others.
Students will be able to communicate clearly through verbal commands.
Students will be able to engage in collaborative conversation about both core content and fine arts standards.

Integration Area/Subject:

ELA & Dance

State Standards:

ELAGSE3RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases both literal and nonliteral language as they are used in the text.

ELAGSE3SL1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.
Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.

ESD3.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

Use personal experiences and choreographic tools (e.g. improvisation, guided imagery) to create a movement narrative.
Recognize and describe how movement quality impacts meaning.
Move expressively to music or other stimuli (e.g. sound, text).

ESD3.PR.2 Understand and model dance etiquette as a classroom participant, performer, and observer.

Demonstrate attentiveness, full participation, and cooperation with others in the dance learning environment.
Demonstrate focus and concentration in the performance of skills.
Apply knowledge of appropriate behaviors and skills as an observer and performer.

Materials/Playing Space:

All open classroom space
Items/furniture in room can be moved to create obstacles
Blindfold (optional)

Description:

The PAIR Specialist started by introducing the activity. The PAIR Specialist explained that today we would be going on a journey together. Although only one person would be going through it, we all have to work as a team to get one person through the obstacle course.

The teacher selected one student to stand outside, while the rest of the class took 1 minute to use their chairs to create obstacles. After the obstacles were created, students found a spot to stand around the room with their backs on the walls, forming a circle.

The student was brought back in, and asked to keep their eyes closed. The PAIR Specialist reiterated that instructions would be given one at a time going around the circle. The activity began, and the students experimented with what types of instructions were the most successful.

In order for the blindfolded student to get through the Minefield, every other student must describe, using verbs, how the student must get from one point to the next. The student going through the Minefield should then be able to demonstrate the meaning of the word as they move. For example, a student may give the direction, “Skip three steps straight ahead” and the blindfolded student should then skip for three steps, rather than just walking forward. Another student may give a direction such as “Twist your body to face your right” and the blindfolded student would need to interpret the direction to twist to face the right.

The game will continue until the blindfolded student arrives at the other end of the Minefield, perhaps reaching a certain chair, book, poster, whatever the class decides the goal point is.

Notes:

Be sure to discuss how dance connects to the content and strategy used in this lesson to fully incorporate the arts standards. Ask students how to engage as audience members as well as to consider how the minefield would affect them, should they be the person chosen to walk through the minefield.

3rd Grade: Temperature, Machine

Brewer Elementary

Thomas – Beth Reeves

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

The students will be able to explain how heat is measured.
The students will be able use creative movement as a tool that reflects the operation of a thermometer.
The students will be able to show how temperature affects people.
The students will be able to work together in small groups to communicate an idea.

Integration Area/Subject:

Science & Dance

State Standards:

S3P1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the ways heat energy is

transferred and measured.

ESD3.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

Create a sequence of three or more movements utilizing body, space, time, and energy.

Materials/Playing Space:

Open space around students’ desks

Description:

This activity began with an intro of what a Machine is: a Machine has 1) a movement and 2) a sound. Students were led to brainstorm about machines that they knew already (washing machine, vending machine, etc.) One of these examples was used to create a class example, while highlighting that machines use SEQUENCE and ORDER. To create this machine, each student had their own movement and sound as an individual part of the machine.

After students were introduced to the activity, the teacher told students they would be building “Temperature Machines.” The teacher sectioned students into groups of 3- 5 stationed throughout the room. After discussing temperature and thermometer, the teacher assigned each group a particular time of day, year, and month. The group must create a machine that shows how a person who is affected by the season (weather), on a person who reflects the particular weather, the remaining students represent how the thermometer is affected. The other students in the room must guess what time of year or season that is taking place based off of the creative movement that is taking place.

Notes:

It is important to specifically assign what student will carry which role in the machine. Students may need to begin sitting at a table with basic sound, while the thought of creating a movement piece might be intimidating to some.

3rd Grade: Storytelling, Half-Life Double-Life

Brewer Elementary

Jones – Jen Weisphal

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able to summarize a story.
Students will be able to identify the key details of a story.
Students will be able to identify the main idea of a story.
Students will use theatre to express a story they all know.
Students will collaborate with their peers to create a live theatre experience in their classroom.
Students will engage in appropriate etiquette as audience members.

Integration Area/Subject:

ELA & Theatre

State Standards:

ELAGSE3RL2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

ELAGSE3RL3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

ELAGSE3W3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.
Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.
Provide a sense of closure.

TA3.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.

Create characters with specific traits (e.g. physical, vocal, emotional) that respond to imaginary circumstances.

TA3.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

Use vocal elements (e.g. inflection, pitch, volume, articulation) to communicate a character’s thoughts, emotions, and actions.
Use body and movement to communicate a character’s thoughts and emotions.
Collaborate and perform with an ensemble to present theatre to an audience.
Create and perform characters based on imagination.

TA3.RE.1 Engage actively and appropriately as an audience member.

Participate as an audience.
Demonstrate appropriate theatre etiquette.

Materials/Playing Space:

Open space at the front of the classroom

Description:

PAIR Specialist led the class in executing the PAIR strategy, Half-Life/Double-Life. The teacher chose four students to be the first volunteers to play this strategy. The PAIR Specialist asked the students if they knew the story of The Three Little Pigs. The PAIR Specialist then told the four volunteer students they had two minutes to figure out how to tell the story in only thirty seconds. While the volunteer students were working, the PAIR Specialist talked to the rest of the class about proper theatre etiquette how to react and respond when the volunteer students performed their story.

Once two minutes were up, the students showed their thirty second version of The Three Little Pigs. The PAIR Specialist then asked the audience members what the key details of the story were based on the thirty second performance given by the volunteer students. The PAIR Specialist always followed an answer with the additional question “and what makes you say that” to make sure students can verbally explain why they believe their answer is correct, in detail.

Next, the same volunteer students were asked to tell the story of The Three Little Pigs in half the time, fifteen seconds. The students were given one minute to discuss how they could shorten their performance. After the fifteen second performance, the audience was asked if they could tell what the main idea of the story was, and for whatever answer was given, the student giving the answer was challenged to explain why they thought that. Then, for fun, the volunteer students were challenged to tell the story of The Three Little Pigs in only seven seconds! This challenges students to think quickly and collaborate to summarize a full story.

Next, another group of four volunteer students were asked to come up to play the second half of this strategy, to double the life of a story. The PAIR Specialist asked these students to show a birthday party in seven seconds. After the seven second performance, the PAIR Specialist asked the audience what they saw that identified the story as a birthday party. Cheers and blowing out candles on a cake were the identifiers.

Last, the PAIR Specialist then asked the students to tell the story of a birthday party in fifteen seconds. Explaining to the entire class that, now, the goal is to add more key details to this story. This time, the volunteer students acted out coming to the party, presenting the cake, cheering, and blowing out candles. The PAIR Specialist again challenged the volunteer students to add even more details to make this birthday party last thirty seconds. In order to help the performers with this new challenge, the PAIR Specialist took ideas from the audience, such as presenting and opening presents, eating the cake, and having a dance party within the party. The volunteer students then performed their thirty second version. The idea of double life is to help students learn how to add appropriate key details to a main idea when writing a story.

Notes:

This strategy definitely needs coaching and guidance from the teacher, especially the first couple times. Once students get comfortable with all of the elements, they will naturally become more creative and less nervous about participating.

3rd Grade: Point of View, Exploding Atom

Brewer Elementary

Thomas – Beth Reeves

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able state their opinion through the perspective of the character.
Students will use movement as a tool in order to help support their argument.
Students will be able to practice empathy through thinking as the character in the story.
Students will be able to effectively communicate their opinions and provide appropriate details.

Integration Area/Subject:

ELA & Dance

State Standards:

ELAGSE3RI2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

ELAGSE3RI6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

MSD.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

Compare and contrast abstract and literal movement.
Explore the qualities of expression in performance.

MSD.PR.2 Understand and model dance etiquette as a classroom participant, performer, and observer.

Demonstrate attentiveness, focus, concentration, initiative, and self-discipline when

participating in the dance learning and performance environment.

Demonstrate concentration and focus with respect to self and others in the performance of skills.
Exhibit initiative in modeling appropriate behaviors and skills as an audience member and dance observer.

Materials/Playing Space:

All open classroom space

Description:

The PAIR Specialist explained Exploding Atom to the students. The closer the students move to the middle of the room, the more they agree with the statement the teacher gives. The further away the students are from the center of the room, the less they agree with that statement.

The teacher instructed students to stand along the wall of the classroom to begin Exploding Atom. The teacher reviewed the narrative story, “Alexander and the Terrible No Good Very Bad Day”. The teacher then made a statement, as though the teacher were Alexander, regarding a specific event or other character in the narrative. The statements the teacher gives are opinion based, so students have the opportunity to think critically, as though they are Alexander, and express their feelings on it.

Students will then move around in the room depending on where they decide they fall on the continuum of agreeing or disagreeing. The teacher will call on students in order for them to state why they are positioned where they are. The most important part of this strategy is that the students must use specific key details about the story in order to support their argument/opinion.

Notes:

If the space does not permit students to move throughout the room, they may stay at their desk. For example: ‘If you agree, stay seated, if you somewhat disagree, stand up, if you completely disagree, stand behind your chair.’ The teacher may also choose to invite students up in smaller groups.

It is highly encouraged that teachers discuss the importance of being different. It is ok for all of us to have a different opinion and thought about or towards something, but it is also important to be respectful and empathetic when communicating those thoughts and opinions.

3rd Grade: Multiplication, Exploding Atom

Brewer Elementary

Jones – Jen Weisphal

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of multiplication.
Students will be able to arrive at the correct answer to a multiplication problem in their head.
Students will use their bodies to show their agreement with a multiplication statement.
Students will create group movement based on mathematic knowledge.
Students will use spacial awareness to derive information based on a theme.

Integration Area/Subject:

Math & Dance

State Standards:

MGSE3.OA.1 Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 × 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each. For example, describe a context in which a total number of objects can be expressed as 5 × 7.

MGSE3.NBT.3 Multiply one-digit whole numbers by multiples of 10 in the range 10–90 (e.g., 9 × 80, 5 × 60) using strategies based on place value and properties of operations.

ESD3.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

Collaborate with others to create and perform movement phrases.
Create a sequence of three or more movements utilizing body, space, time, and energy.
Explore how personal feelings and experiences influence choreography and performance.
Respond to a variety of stimuli through movement (e.g. literature, visual art, props).

ESD3.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

Recognize and describe how movement quality impacts meaning.

ESD3.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a means of communication, expression, and interaction.

Materials/Playing Space:

All open space around the room

Description:

The teacher had students stand in a circle around the center of the room. The teacher explained that, should you agree that the answer of a multiplication problem is correct, you should move to the center of the room, to the person sharing a problem. If the answer to the multiplication problem is way off, they should move to the walls of the room. If the person in the center of the room is close to the correct answer, you should move closer to the center and the person, but still keeping distance to show the answer is close though incorrect.

Students who did not immediately know the answer to the problem were encouraged to take the time to figure it out before they made their move, rather than just following the crowd. To really enhance the movement part of this strategy, make sure students pay attention to each other’s movements to infer the meaning of people gathered and people separated within a given space.

3rd Grade: Main Idea, Exploding Atom

Brewer Elementary

Whatley – Beth Reeves

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able to state the main idea of a story.
Students will be able to support their opinions by stating key details in the story.
Students will be able to use their bodies through movement in order to support their argument.
Students will be able to practice empathy within communication.

Integration Area/Subject:

ELA & Dance

State Standards:

ELAGSE3RI2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

ELAGSE3RI6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

MSD.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

Compare and contrast abstract and literal movement.
Explore the qualities of expression in performance.

MSD.PR.2 Understand and model dance etiquette as a classroom participant, performer, and observer.

Demonstrate attentiveness, focus, concentration, initiative, and self-discipline when participating in the dance learning and performance environment.
Demonstrate concentration and focus with respect to self and others in the performance of skills.
Exhibit initiative in modeling appropriate behaviors and skills as an audience member and dance observer.

Materials/Playing Space:

Any open classroom space

Description:

The teacher instructed students to stand along the wall of the classroom to begin Exploding Atom. The teacher reviewed the narrative story the class previously read. The teacher then made a statement regarding a specific event or character in the narrative. The statements the teacher gives are to be opinion based, so students have the opportunity to think critically about the narrative story and express their feelings on it.