Dance: Grade 1

Acquire a basic understanding of movement skills.

Engage in movement problem solving experiences while demonstrating kinesthetic awareness of movement.

Develop a basic understanding of the elements of dance.

Identify and describe diversity of movement choices.

Identify purposes and functions of dance in cultures, times, and places.

Cultivate an appreciation for the creation and beauty of dance.

Identify connections between dance and other disciplines.

Isolate parts of the body.

Develop physical fitness components: flexibility, coordination, agility, endurance, and strength.

Perform basic axial and locomotor movements (e.g., walk, skip, jump, hop, roll, crawl).

Recognize and manipulate large muscle groups (head and neck, abdominals, torso, shoulders and arms, back, and legs).

Use body alone and with partners to create geometric shapes and other forms.

Explore changes in energy to evoke dynamics (swing, percussive, vibratory) alone and with a partner.

Respond to a musical beat and changes in tempo while traveling through all levels of space.

React to textural and color images with movement.

Perform different movement choices.

Explain use of different movement choices by other dancers.

Observe and discuss how dance is different from other forms of human movement (such as sports, everyday gestures).

Identify meaning of cultural dance.

Use historical literature as content for dance movement.

Use any available resources to learn a dance.

Experience the beauty of dance through the use of technical skills, composition, and production elements.

Articulate individual reactions to a dance.

Examine science concepts inherent in human movement and dance (e.g., gravity, gravitational pull, Newton's Laws).

Identify use of the arts in daily life.