Lesson plan ideas - Weather (year 1)

Weather (KS1) 5-6 weeks Laura_Erwin@rocketmail.com
Learning Objectives/key skills: 1.   Identify that the world is constantly changing around us in various ways including weather and be able to recognise and describe these 2.   Identify the ways in which we might react to the changes that go on around us, both physically and emotionally 3.   Identify preferences and express opinions 4.   Explore sizes of movement – big, medium and small through a range of movements including locomotor, partner work 5.   Explore light and strong movement – isolation of different body parts, verbs and movement qualities (literacy link) 6.   Develop movement vocabulary of key skills related to size – tilts, swings, floor work, rolls
Activity	Learning Objectives	Resources
Warm up dances (6 weeks, 2-3 per week) Opening and closing   1.     In a star shape on their back lying on the floor, children stretch and open before closing into a ball on their right, repeat other side. 2.     Repeat first part and continue to shift on to knees and then roll and come up to standing, reverse back to floor and repeat other side. 3.     Repeat standing, opening to the front, and closing to the side. 4.     This can also be done facing a partner, mirroring to change position or doing opposites. 5.     End with children improvising in the small and big shapes then moving inbetween as they choose Simple floor sequence Sititng with feet together (frog legs), hands holding feet - taking head to feet for 8 counts, rocking side to side 8, then release arms and use to tilt side to side 8, unfold legs to sit in pike and arms brush down legs away 8 and towards 8, bend knees and alternate leg swings to either side 8, spin round in a ball to begin again. Transition through the floor Reach hands up, then to touch head, shoulders, knees and toes (folding parts into roll down), make a ball by crouching, knees down then and slide out onto front to roll to side, knees back down and push to table, walk feet into hands and then roll up toes, knees, shoulders, head, reach. Get faster and jump!  Build up gradually over a number of weeks, asking the children their opinion about the movements – most difficult, interesting, enjoyable. Differentiation/simplify: Teach slowly, gradually build up speed and complexity over a number of weeks, decrease speed Extend/develop: perform facing a partner, children to demonstrate movements, children to name/describe movements, teacher to watch instead of do with children, increase speed	Big and small sizes and transitions in between Transitioning through the floor Development of ovement skills and vocabulary - Torso tilts, leg swings, rolls, contact with floor	Opening and Closing: ‘The sun has got his hat on’ by Justin Fletcher Simple floor sequence – ‘singing in the rain’ by mint royale Transition through the floor ‘California sun’
Weather pictures as stimulus  (1 week) 1. Four large pieces of paper in the room. All children choose a colour pencil crayon to draw with. Can you read the weather that is written on the paper and then draw with you colour something that shows that weather. It can be anything, small or big. No right or wrong answer – as long as you think its right. Remember lots of children will draw on all pieces so leave space, you might not be able to draw on them all. Don’t worry about what anyone else does.  When you hear the tambourine, come and sit back in the middle and put your pens back. 2. Ask children to walk around in silence and have a look at the pieces of paper, do they all look the same? How are the lines and shapes different. 3.  Collect the pieces of paper and talk about what has been drawn, how would we describe it with words – smooth or jerky, short or long, small or big, strong or light. How might we move based on this piece of paper. 4. Spread the 4 pieces of paper back around the room, explain that we will move round and dance like the drawings on the piece of paper. Try with music, holding up a piece of paper and using the key words have children move based on this. 5. Discuss some of the dances we did and have children demonstrate. Talk about certain movements – how would a turn or a jump be in each season. Now do it only using turns or jumps?	1.     Connecting dance and drawing, colour, shape 2.     Individual interpretation and response in movement and drawing 3.     Identify key qualities of drawing and interpret in improvisation 4.     Develop key movements – jumps, turns 5.     Express opinion	4 large sheets of paper 30 colouring pencils of different colours
Size (2-3 sessions) Introduce that today we will think about sizes. Connect to drawings from the previous week. What is size? (Big, medium,small). What size is each weather and why (own opinion), discuss with a partner and then feedback to group. Exploration Spread out around the room, find the smallest shape you can, now a different small shape change again a few times. Repeat with big shapes. Could children do a big shape on the floor or a small shape standing up? Now can you grow from the small shape into the big shape slowly over 8 counts, can you now reverse this? Try 16 counts. How would you move with small/big feet and legs, torso and head, arms.  Small and big dances OR How can we travel around the room in these shapes? Put on two pieces of music, in one we move like small raindrops or snowflakes, in the other we travel around in big shapes like the sun or wind. First time this can be on the spot with a focus on different body parts, second time this can develop to travel around the room. Talk about locomotor movements – how do you do a small/big leap, jump, run, skip? Partner mirroring Can you do a dance of big and small shapes with the music while your partner copies you? Partner clay Can you mould your partner gently into a small/big shape (you choose). When you have done so, move around the room and look at the other shapes. Now swap. Remember to move their body parts slowly. Closing dance/performance Child/teacher to call out a weather and children perform some of the size movements they think fit.	1.     Size - Big medium and small 2.     Locomotor movements 3.     Improvisation 4.	Big and small shape music: L’Aressian suite no. 1 – trumpet section is big, flute section is small ABAB
Light and strong – (2/3 sessions) Different weathers have different strengths. Introduction Lying on the floor and then standing. Can you make your right leg as strong as possible, now as relaxed/light as possible? Left leg, head, face, stomach, pelvis and bottom, shoulders.  Can you make everything strong, then everything light Develop to Locomotor movements How can you travel around the room in each one – strong/light walk, jump, skip. Etc.. Some children demonstrate, talk about the different between a strong and light leap/jump etc.. Strongland and light land One half of the room is strongland, there you have to perform strong movements with lots of tension in your muscles. Whenever you choose you can go over to light land and float/glide. Create with a partner Can you create a dance for strongland or light land – 4 different movements – 2 each? Link them one after the other so you can remember them with no gaps. Perform in two halves of the room. Movements and verbs/qualities Cards with movement words on them – slash, punch, float, glide, stab, swish Which picture could they belong to and why? Can you think of any other verbs/doing words? Ask the children to sit in two groups according to the dance they would like to do? Teacher to make up a movement story based on the childrens choices for them to move to?	1.     Strong and light movements 2.     Isolation of different body parts 3.     Use of locomotion 4.     Changing between different qualities of movement 5.     Associating words with movement qualities and the environment	Locomotor: ‘Colegiala’ by Ecosound Strongland and light land – ,’Kiara’ by Bonobo
Closing dance/performance ideas 1.     Children all sit on a line at the far end of the room with the teacher at the other. One by ones they all 2.     All children in a circle and dance on their spot. In subsequent weeks can have half dancing half watching and swap. 3.     Watch one of the above tasks in two groups
Ideas for sharings: Ask the children which of the above activities. Perhaps link some together?