KS1 Dance: Let's Move

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Let's Move is presented by Justin Fletcher and Cat Sandion (and guest presenters) and provides off-the-shelf dance resources for KS1 suitable for Autumn, Spring and Summer terms. The units below have been arranged thematically. Scroll through the titles to see what's available. For more information on using Let's Move see below.

Seasons

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Video: KS1 Dance: Let's Move for the Autumn term

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Video: KS1 Dance for the Spring term

Picture books

Traditional stories

Festivals / Special days

Environments / Habitats

Topics

Folk dance

Using KS1 Dance: Let's Move

Let’s Move needs plenty of space. The hall or a cleared and swept classroom or similar large space is ideal.

Use the best equipment that the school has to offer for playback. Check that the loudspeaker is facing the children to ensure the best possible listening environment.

Make sure the children dance in gym shoes or bare feet. Bare feet give a good sense of contact with the floor, if your floor is safe. The children should be in PE kit to allow easy movement and to ensure that they do not become too hot. Encourage the children to listen carefully right from the start - not just to the presenter but also to the music.

Teaching points

Some tips to help you get the best out of these programmes:

Always encourage careful listening.
Reinforce the importance of safety (eg awareness of others, avoiding collisions, keeping well-spaced, sensible landings).
Help the children to observe each other’s movement in a positive light and to learn from their observations.
Give the children a sense of your own enthusiasm.

Column headings used in these Teacher’s Notes

Timing - use this column to add timings, marking pause points etc.
Content - a description of the individual movements and sequences that make up the programme.
Guidance - any special points (such as groupings) and things to watch out for (such as safety points) and ways of helping the children to improve their performance.
Evaluation - a series of questions which help to focus on the teaching points from the lesson and the children’s learning and progression in dance.

KS1 Dance: Let’s Move and the National Curriculum

Dance makes a distinctive contribution to the education of all children, in that it uses the most fundamental mode of human expression - movement. Through its use of non-verbal communication, children are able to participate in a way that differs from any other area of learning. It provides aesthetic and cultural education, opportunities for personal expression, and it also introduces students to a wealth of traditional, social and theatrical forms. In a broad and balanced curriculum, this important area of human experience should not be neglected.(‘Dance in the School Curriculum’, a paper by the National Dance Teacher’s Association and others)

Dance is acknowledged as a vital ingredient of a child’s education in the National Curriculum. The Expressive Arts documents for Scotland and Northern Ireland encourage teachers to develop dance as part of the Arts and PE curriculum. There is an emphasis on performance and clear indications that dance should be taught in both a creative and a cultural context. The children should be taught:

to develop control, coordination, balance, poise and elevation in the basic actions of travelling, jumping, turning, gesture and stillness
to perform movements or patterns, including some from existing dance traditions
to explore moods and feelings and to develop their response to music through dances, by using rhythmic responses and contrasts of speed, shape, direction and travel.

Warm up

Your class will benefit from a warm up before the programme begins (if you have time). Yawning, stretching, jogging on the spot and pretending to wash the face and neck are all examples of ways of warming up. Each programme ends with a ‘cool down’ to prepare them for the return to the classroom.