Lesson #1!... Heredity

On Monday, October 28, I had my first lesson for ArtsBridge! I was a bit nervous, but it went pretty well! I have a class of about 25 fifth graders. I am lucky enough to get to use the gym and have a whole hour for my lessons! We went over rules first, and I told them why I was here. I told them that we were going to learn their curriculum through movement. Though it sounded weird, I was going to show them how. I showed them my drum and how I will use it in class. I then began my lesson I had planned on heredity. I used what the teacher I work with, Mrs. Washburn, suggested, as well as the Utah core curriculum for fifth graders on the UEN website. They had never had a dance class before so I started with the very basics. They were hesitant to move at first, but they loved it by the end!

We warmed up by moving all of our body parts in as many ways as we could think of: slow, fast, high, low, etc. Then we talked about shapes. And not circle, triangle, square shapes, but body shapes. We discussed three different kinds of shapes: curved, angular, and twisted. We then used shapes to show how genes are passed down from parent to offspring. We soon began moving the shapes around the room to get them moving more. We then helped each other change our shapes, as we don't inherit every characteristic from our parents. We tried a long chain as a class and “passed down” the trait through generations using a shape through all the students. As always, I have a performance or creative part of my lesson near the end. They got in groups and showed how traits are passed down. They asked to use the stage for their performances, so I let them, and they seemed to really enjoy showing their peers what they had come up with. I think I will continue to use the stage as long as it is available. In the end, we reviewed what we had learned. I hope that they walked out with even a little better understanding of heredity than they walked in with. 

They are a great class, very eager to move! They are also very chatty so it is good for me to learn how to deal with this in the quickest and most efficient way possible. I hope to get their names down as soon as possible as well, as this helps with management. Mrs. Washburn, their teacher, is wonderful to work with! She is always there, engaged, and has taken lots of pictures for me! I hope she is learning as much as I am with this project! I already have some ideas for the next few weeks and I am excited for what they can bring!