Integrated Lesson Plan; Introducing Letters and Floor Patterns

November 16, 2017

Integrated Lesson Plan; Introducing F and R words with Floor Patterns

            Today, I realized how hard it is to plan and teach integrated lessons. As I was planning, I thought that this lesson was going to be amazing… but, as I was teaching, I quickly realized that the lesson wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be. That being said, I don’t think I necessarily taught it wrong or bad… in fact I taught the lesson according to my plans and it was good, but not amazing. So! There you go! I’m continuing to learn, which is what we need to do every day right?! The best teachers are continual learners.

Anyway… This lesson was focused on introducing floor pathways; Straight, Curved, Zig Zag and Circular while incorporating words that begin with F; Fall and Float and R; Roll and Rain in hopes to connect specific floor pathways with movement inspired by the words. To start, I reviewed the rules, then instead of talking about what we did last time, I had them get up and move right away. I wanted them to get up and explore while I began to explain the four floor pathways rather than talking about them. First, I had them walk to the other side of the room, creating their own straight line; floor pathway. We did this a few times, then continued to explore the other floor pathways following this same pattern. Once the four pathways were introduced, we then mixed and matched the floor pathways we would do going to one side of the room then coming back with another one. For example, “let’s travel to the far side of the room by the tables moving around with a circular floor pathway, then freeze at the tables, and come back with a zig zag floor pathway.” Through each lesson, I like to go back and remind the students what we have done in the past or build from principles we’ve already discovered. Therefore, I had them do the same exercise, traveling through the space from one side of the room to the next with a specific floor pathway, but now adding level changes; High, Medium and Low. I’m always pleasantly surprised when I see how the student remember concepts from past lessons. Makes me think… “wow, they really do listen!” Especially for kindergarteners!

After we got all their wiggles out, I had them come back to the rug and “be at a five!” Then I introduced the four words. I showed two word strips that begun with the same letter and had them raise their hands when they saw something familiar with the two words. Of course, some of the students got the idea right away, whereas some of the other students were so focused on reading the whole word, they missed the first letter. Now they know the words… next, we explored how we can move through the space inspired by these words. First, we tried with just our hands. As the students continued to sit on the rug and we went through each word, I noticed how they still copied me… because of this, I had them close their eyes and think of a different ways to “float their hand” and then had them try. Some students did a great job coming up with different ideas, while others continued to copy or do the original movement.

Now that we have all the elements ready to go, let’s put them together and see if we can move through the space inspired by words with a specific floor pattern. But, before jumping right to music, we practiced with the drum a few times mixing up the order, then once we were ready, we tried with music. Due to running out of time, we finished with their performance and the students were off to their next activity. I was sad we ran out of time and couldn’t come back together to have a nice conclusion of the lesson... but overall, I felt they enjoyed the dance experience today! I loved seeing their creativity come out. For some of the students they did a wonderful job thinking about new ideas and applying and trying new things. I think my favorite question or activity I had them do to help, was when they closed their eyes and I made them think of a different way to travel through the space, or think of a different shape to make then go out there and try it! I was quite impressed by the students and their abilities. Honestly, they impress me every time. Love it!