- Los Angeles Unified School District
- Disciplines
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Elementary Dance
The elementary dance program in Los Angeles Unified School District is a foundational program that provides standards-based instruction in dance in grades K through 6. The students are given the opportunity to experience dance as art in an educational setting, performing, creating, responding and connecting their dance learning to their own experiences.Introduction to the Elementary Dance Curriculum
The elementary dance curriculum is based on the skills, knowledge and concepts outlined in the Elementary Arts Instructional Guide (AIG) for Dance . The AIG is constructed using the principle of backward design. Curriculum at each grade level consists of a series of three modules, each of which is constructed around an Enduring Understanding distilled from the California State Standards for Dance. Each module contains Essential Questions, a Sample Performance Task and Rubric, a series of Developing Concepts and accompanying Skills and Knowledge.
Each grade level has three modules:- Foundational
- Creative Process
- Dance in the World
How to Use the Modules
- The modules are not ordered sequentially.
- They may be taught as self-contained units of instruction with a performance task, or
- The concepts, skills and knowledge from any of the modules at a grade level may be sequenced in a cross-modular fashion to meet the needs of students, goals of teachers and time constraints in the elementary day.
- The process of building skills and knowledge in dance is multi-fold. Some concepts, skills and knowledge may be repeated in more than one module.
The purpose of the AIG is to provide a guide to instruction - not a series of lessons and activities. The skills and knowledge in each module provide a framework around which lesson sequences can be crafted. Instruction should be driven by the skills and knowledge at each grade level.
The duration of a module will vary according to the depth with which it is approached by the instructor and the time available for instruction. Because of the real time constraints in the elementary classroom, teachers may choose to value and focus on certain concepts, skills and knowledge over others.
The performance tasks listed in each module are sample tasks. Teachers may create their own performance tasks to best assess their students' learning.Child Dancing
J. H. Dowd
Elementary Arts Instructional Guides (AIGs) for Dance
The elementary dance curriculum is based on the Elementary Arts Instructional Guide (AIG) for Dance, found below.
I. Kindergarten Dance Curriculum
Grade K Module One: Dancers use their bodies and imaginations to move in many ways.II. Grade One Dance CurriculumIII. Grade Two Dance CurriculumIV. Grade Three Dance CurriculumV. Grade Four Dance CurriculumVI. Grade Five Dance Curriculum
Dance Integration
Comparisons between CA state standards in Dance, Common Core State Standards in ELA and Math, and CA state standards in History/Social Science and Science are detailed below by grade level.Connections and suggestions for activities integrating dance concepts, skills and knowledge with concepts, skills and knowledge in Math, ELA, History/Social Science and Science are described below by grade level.
**Non-LAUSD teachers may use our lessons in the classroom, but of course, all rights remain the property of LAUSD. No part of the content may be reproduced or used for commercial purposes.**