Dance Resources

Welcome to My Dance 

Multimodal Resource Portfolio

Entry #1

These are action cards found in the 'Action Pack' package. They provide teachers with a dynamic and artistic approach to assist their students with developing a dance vocabulary. These cards allows students to form connections between action words and movement. The beautiful thing about dance vocabulary is that every action card provides opportunities for students to interpret them differently from one another through movement, making each student's vocabulary unique. Having this foundation gives students the confidence to build their dance routines. This can benefit teachers for assessment purposes as these action cards can become criteria or in other words the "look fors" for assessment pieces. 

Entry #2

This is a drawing of the season of fall, with the title "falling leaves" drawn in a way to represent the action of leaves falling. This was used as a station identifier for a dance lesson that was integrated with the grade 1 science Daily and Seasonal Changes unit. Students were broken up into groups and assigned a season. In their groups they had to create a 3 piece dance routine representing their season using the action cards. This is an engaging idea that allows students to dance and have fun, while being able to collaborate and learn the characteristics of the different seasons in Canada. An accommodation for this activity could be to provide the students with the action cards for the seasons, or provide them with 1 and have them choose 2 more. 


Entry #3

This is the Dance Notes document that provides a wealth of knowledge for teachers in order to effectively teach the dance curriculum. It defines the elements and forms of dance. In addition, it supports the learning of educators in regards to planning and implementing dance into the classroom, incorporating various theories, strategies for teaching dance as well as universal design and overall accommodations. It outlines what skills students are expected to learn and presents an abundant supply of ideas for activities, and cross-curricular lessons. 

Entry #4

These are pictures of components from dance lessons that are cross curricular with energy units from the science curriculum. The first activity we worked in groups to use movement to represent how the water cycle works. In the second group activity we used movement to represent energy in the world around us. for both activities we made use of the action cards to create our dance pieces. These cross curricular connections with science are great learning opportunities for students. Kinaesthetic learners need to participate in hands on activities and movement to learn best and these are both great ways to help students understand science content through dance. 

Entry #5

This is a prop that is used to make cross-curricular connections between dance and mathematics. Students can work individually, in pairs, or small groups to create any pattern they wish using shapes of different colours. As seen in the previous entry (entry #4) each shape represents an action that relates to energy. Once a pattern is created they use the actions from the poster to create a dance routine that flows through their pattern in some way, shape or form. 

Entry #6

This is the trailer for the movie, "Wonder". Following the video is an example of a dance lesson consolidation that is connected to the movie, "Wonder". The consolidation related to emotions and personal struggles while considering the element of body and relationships. We worked in groups throughout this lesson to create a dance piece that depicted overcoming obstacles that life faces us with. Overall, I believe the movie and book "Wonder" are an incredible teaching resource providing opportunities for rich dance lessons. Teachers can have students learn restorative practice, tools for life, coping strategies, and anti bullying through the connection between this story and the movement of dance. 

Entry #7



This is a song called "Echoes in Rain", by Enya. This music was used as background music to our group dance performances. I believe that allows students to collectively decide if they would like to perform with or without is very important. While some students may prefer to dance without, I believe the many students will enjoy the experience that music provides while dancing. From personal experience being in the EDBE 8P48 Dance class, the music provided me with a greater amount of confidence and trust in myself that I will dance well. In addition, I believe that the music helps to establish setting and emotion. For example, in a small group we created a beautiful short dance routine using movement to represent a number of hieroglyphics that we were given. We wanted our dance to embody things such as freedom and nature. "Echoes in Rain" and our movements worked together to create a beautiful dance piece.