Dance Unit | Denise Gagné

The newest unit at www.Musicplayonline.com is a dance unit.  (Resources are also available as print/disk or download!)
 
Start by logging into your MusicplayOnline account and head over to the Units section. When you click on the button you’ll see Festivals & Holidays is the default unit. 

 This section is organized by grades. At the top you’ll see four tabs: PreK- Kindergarten, Grade 1-2, Grade 3-4, and Grade 5-6. Each section has three different types of activities: Choreographed dances, movement activities, and creative movement activities.
 

 We’ve organized all the choreographed dances from the
Musicplay program into these two boxes. You’ll see Grade 3 Dances in the left box and Grade 4 Dances in the right box.  Don’t hesitate to try a dance in a higher or lower grade!
 
 
 
 
 
Click on a dance title and the link will bring you right to the song so that you can view the kids demo and the teacher instructions.

 
The Dance Unit includes a few selections from other Themes publications. You’ll find Hunt the Cows, Danish Dance of Greeting, Kinderpolka, and La Raspa from our popular Primary Dances and Singing Games collection. If you like these, you can find 20 more dances in Primary Dances and Singing Games!
 

 
The Unit also includes three selections from our new Super Fun Folk Dance collection: Seven Jumps, Sasha, and Chimes of Dunkirk.  The recordings for these dances was done with authentic instruments and are wonderful!  You can find eight more dances in the book Super Fun Folk Dance! 
 

 
For all of these dances, you’ll see the kids demo, a teaching slide with audio, a teacher’s guide PDF, and a link to the product to use offline. You can order the product as a printed book/disk or a download.
 
If you scroll down a little farther you will see Movement activities and Creative Movement Activities. Movement activities are primarily singing games with movement options.  In Grade 4, we’ve included Pizza Pizza (street game), J’entends le moulin (French singing game) and Happy is the Miller (singing game).  These all involve movement but are not what I’d describe as choreographed dances.
 
 
Creative Movement Activities are instrumental selections or songs that would be great to have kids (maybe with teacher assistance) choreograph.
 
All of the songs are organized according to grade but don’t be afraid to try a selection with upper or lower grades.  We hope you’re having a great start to the school year and that you’re moving through it joyfully! 
 

We love to know how you’re using our materials!!!  Share how you’ve used the Dance Unit in the Musicplay Teachers group on Facebook!  If you don’t do Facebook, share in the forum at Musicplayonline.  And of course, if you send us kids demos that we can use of your students using the Boomwhacker section – or any section of Musicplayonline, you’ll receive a month free.