Thursday, November 29, 2012

Jingle Bell Dance

The other morning I had to suddenly change my plans for Kindergarten because I had forgotten that the class I was going to see that day were my Spotlight Performers (a monthly featured class).  I could have taught my planned lesson but it would not have been great for film, so I decided to swap it with the lesson for the next rotation, Jingle Bells.


After settling on doing Jingle Bells with them, I decided why don't we do a dance!  Great for steady beat, and same/different.  So, I quickly came up with a dance to go with the version of Jingle Bells I had (Frank Sinatra).  Using this video as inspiration, I created a little dance for us to do.


Since I was planning on doing this with Kindergarten, I made some changes.  We really have not done any dances before, I thought a circle would be a bit much.  Can you imagine it?  I could see kindergarteners crashing into each other while others called out "No go that way" "Nu-uh that way".  :)  So, instead we used scattered formation.  

The Frank Sinatra recording is a bit different than the one in Dr. Amchin's video, so here is what I did with my little ones.

Formation:  Scattered

Introduction - Still for 8 beats

32 beats - sway hips from side to side (This one gives me the giggles.  If you try it you'll see what I mean!)

Jingle Bells - same as in the video, play the rhythm of the words, then walk hand in hand with your partner to the beat in any direction, repeat 

32 beats - sway hips again

Wave Goodbye


I am sure this is probably not the most fantastic dance out there but the kids enjoyed it, great practice of steady beat and it didn't take long to teach.  We were able to learn the dance and do half of the lesson I had originally planned.  

If I had more time to work on it, I probably would go ahead and do the circle.  I think my K kids could handle it with more time but this was one of those last minute things.



4 comments:

  1. This is adorable! I do something similar with my k'/first graders. For the circle- if you have a stretchy band or a BIG band of elastic sewn together (buy some at a fabric store and stitch together) have them all hold on. This makes a great circle and everyone has a place to hold on! If you buy the white 1 1/2" white stretchy band and have extra time, use Sharpie markers to color 24 inch sections different colors- red, yellow, green, blue, purple. If you figure it out correctly, you could end up with 2 sections of each color. This works great to call out sections to "switch" and run under or when you put it out on the floor it can be an automatic divider for the children- green plays drums, yellow woods, etc. Great blog!
    http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com

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  2. Thanks! I thought about using a parachute or stretchy band but I wanted to keep things really simple so that I could record them. I will try out the stretchy band for our next circle dance! Thanks for the tip on how to make a stretchy band, I know I'll use it and I'm sure others could too. :)

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  3. I love this!!! Soooo super duper cute! My K's are doing the version from the Spotlight on Music Curriculum (Grade 1)...I'm thinking I have just enough time to get some of the classes moving for the program!
    Thanks so much for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. I love having movement in a program, it breaks things up a bit. I was thinking this might be a great opportunity to have parents join in. The kids perform the dance once and then invite parents up to learn the dance from their child and perform it. I don't think it would add too terribly to the length of the program and what a great advocacy tool. I've seen it done with other dances at concerts and the parents have so much fun dancing with their children.

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