This pack includes 4 step by step creative dance lessons suitable for KS1 or lower KS2. Each lesson links to ideas from a poem ‘Under the Sea’ and enables the children to explore a wide range of actions & physical skills. The lessons come with music suggestions that are easily accessed through the internet, alternatively feel free to add your own choice. The lessons are written with the non-specialist in mind & hints and tips are included to help you to create a positive working environment without having to dance a step yourself! Lesson 1 looks at swimming, limpets and coral reefs; Lesson 2 links with octopus, jellyfish, starfish & dolphins; Lesson 3 uses sharks, sea snails and hermit crabs & Lesson 4 explores building sandcastles, gathering shells & paddling/splashing in the sea & these can be performed in any order.

Suitable for y3 and above, these two detailed lesson plans use seed dispersal methods to encourage the children to travel using a range of dynamics. The lesson on life cycles of plants encourages the children to develop their sequencing skills and movement memory whilst embedding their understanding of the process. The lessons are creative and allow the children to devise their own movement material (rather than learning any step pattern). The lessons come with suggestions for suitable music & could complement themes such as our environment, life cycles, Spring, plants. I have assumed that lessons run for approximately 45 minutes, so you may well find that you have more than 2 lessons here if you hall time is less or that your children have little prior experience of dance.

An easy to follow dance lesson suitable for upper KS1 or lower KS2 that uses cave painting to help the children generate shapes and actions. Does require the teacher to print off some cave painting images for the children to look at & use. A very creative lesson that will allow the children to keep moving, be imaginative and develop their team working/choreographic skills. Comes with a suggestion for suitable music.

Suitable for KS1 or lower KS2 this step by step dance lesson uses swings, roundabouts, slides & seesaws to get the children travelling, turning & raising/lowering. A highly creative lesson that allows all of the children to create their own actions & to keep moving for the duration of the lesson. The plan comes with a suggestion of suitable music.

For KS1 & KS2 teachers delivering dance. The document looks at the skills that I would be hoping children would achieve by the end of each academic year - I’ve broken them down into Physical Knowledge; Physical Skills; Creative/Choreographic Skills and Interpersonal Skills. The overview spans from nursery to Y6.

Aimed at the person in school with responsibility for writing the PE Policy. A simple prompt and guide to help you compile a useful document that covers the bases and ensures that you have considered the key points.

This pack includes 6 dance lessons aimed at Reception/year one. Three of the lessons link to the book ‘Dinosaur Roar!’ by Paul & Henrietta Stickland. Each lesson comes in an easy to follow step-by-step format, with hints & tips along the way & a clear indication of the skills they will be focusing on in every section of the lesson. At the end of the plan there is a suggestion of a piece of music that will complement the lesson (with the link to Youtube) to make it easy to access. The final lesson is a consolidation lesson - but the other lessons can be completed in any order - and you don’t have to do all of them!

Teaching The Tempest by Shakespeare? Want to bring it to life? 4 dance lessons based on key sections from the plot to help the children understand & recall the text more easily. Each lesson comes in a step by step format that requires the teacher to set creative tasks (all included) to allow the children to develop their imagination and team working skills. There are tips and guidance along the way to help you anticipate any potential problems. Music is suggested with each lesson plan with a link to access it from either Youtube or iTunes. The lessons could be further linked together to create a performance piece.

I have delivered many, many dance cpd sessions over the years & the common question is ‘where do you find your music?’ So I have put together a list of my regular ‘go-to’ pieces, complete with the name of the artist, a direct link to that song on iTunes & themes that I think they could match with. This is obviously not a complete list but it is a really good start and I recommend building up your own library of 'music for dance - it makes finding suitable music so much quicker! But if I can give you one piece of advice when finding music for dance… don’t look for the perfect piece of music (it doesn’t exist!) - just look for a good match - then stop looking! Another tip - a good place to start are film scores - they’ve been written with a visual image in mind - doing The Romans? Then something on the score of ‘Gladiator’ will probably suit. This is mainly aimed at KS1 & 2, but a good piece of music doesn’t have age boundaries… I hope you enjoy them.

Three easy to follow dance lessons following the story of Goldilocks that allow the children to be very active and creative. The first lesson plan follows Goldilocks travelling through the forest & entering the house. The second lesson introduces the porridge and the chairs. The third lesson has Goldilocks trying out the beds & the bears returning. A final lesson could be added to amalgamate the whole story. Each lesson plan includes suggested music (with a link to it), a column at the side that identifies the key skill for each section of the lesson as well as hints & tips along the way to help you identify good work and anticipate any possible problems. The lessons are very inclusive as they ask the children to find their own way of moving, they also do not require the teacher to dance along - but to ask questions & describe what they see the children doing.

Creative & active dance lessons ready for fireworks night! Each comes with suggested music & step by step tasks for the teacher to set to allow the children to devise their own responses. The lesson on bonfires uses ribbons or pieces of material & would work with ks1 or lower ks2. The Guy Fawkes lesson uses the story of the attempt to blow up Parliament & is more in line with upper ks2, it uses the rhyme ‘Remember, remember the 5th of November…’

Looking at pre-war dances such as the waltz & the factors that influenced this dance style, then how & why this rapidly changed during the war years to move towards dances like the Lindy Hop & Jive. The pack combines research tasks, practical tasks & information. Would suit upper key stage 3 or 4 students & the written/research tasks might be useful as a way of including students who are injured & unable to participate.

Suitable for y2 and above, these lesson plans use the shapes that candles are often in as well as melting & setting. The lessons are creative and allow the children to devise their own movement material (rather than learning any step pattern) as a solo and in groups. The lessons come with suggestions for suitable music & could complement themes such as Festival of Light, Changing States, 3D Shapes or Light & Dark. I have assumed that lessons run for approximately 45 minutes, so you may well find that you have more than 2 lessons here if you hall time is less or that your children have little prior experience of dance.

Suitable for upper KS1 or lower KS2 this dance lesson uses the London Underground map as a stimulus to get the children travelling & stopping, passing through each other, following, connecting and separating. A highly creative lesson that will have the children busy and stimulate their imagination. Includes a suggestion for suitable music.

A key stage one resource where the 4 lessons encourage the children to explore and develop their own movement ideas (you don’t have to dance a step - unless you want to!) Each lesson comes in a step by step format with notes and prompts for you to ensure the children are developing their skills - and each lesson also comes with a recommended piece of music that is easily accessed via the internet. Lesson One includes Autumn leaves falling & bonfires with curling smoke. Lesson Two uses the angular shapes & sudden actions of Jack Frost. Lesson Three is the swirling patterns of snow, gusting and settling. Lesson Four looks at travelling through the snow & links with arctic explorers such as Scott of the Antarctic. Each section of the lesson has a clear aim, these might involve physical skills such as balance or control; performance skills such as projection or focus; teamworking skills such as cooperation or giving feedback; or choreographic skills such as mirroring or strucutring their work.

Four creative dance lessons covering the key steps in the process of chocolate making. Lesson 1 covers the pods growing on the trees & how they are harvested and fermented. Lesson 2 looks at drying, transporting & roasting. Lesson 3 looks at the winnowing process Lesson 4 covers grinding, mixing & refining the chocolate. Each lesson gives the children endless opportunities to decide how they will respond to the tasks which makes the lessons very inclusive of different abilities and levels of experience, whilst requiring the teacher to simply set the tasks (verbally) & give feedback. There are opportunities for team working and for groups to observe and give feedback. These lessons are very much written with the non specialist in mind, they are in a clear step-by-step format with hints along the way, they also include a suggestion for music that will suit, but please feel free to add your own choice.

Five creative dance lessons for KS2 children based on the Tudor themes of The Battle of Bosworth, The Spanish Armada, Tudor Houses, The Tudor Rose and Jousting. Each lesson is in a step by step format but simply asks the teacher to set creative tasks for the children - so you don’t need to dance a step yourself! The work helps to embed their knowledge and understanding of the topic as well as develop their physical and choreographic skills. Each lesson comes with a suggestion for the music you might like to use - there is an iTunes link on the sheet to help you access it quickly & easily. The lessons can be performed in any order & you don’t need to complete them all.

This resource uses themes and ideas linked directly to David Walliams wonderful novel ‘Gangsta Granny’. Each lesson comes in a clear, easy to follow format where the children respond to tasks (rather than learn patterns of steps) that make the work creative, inclusive and easy for the non-specialist teacher to deliver successfully. The links to the text are clearly identified, thus consolidating their understanding of techniques used in literacy lessons. There are also hints and tips along the way to assist classroom management, and the skills for each section are shown in a side column - not forgetting a music suggestion for each lesson (with a direct link). There are 16 lessons in total - these are for you to select from (you don’t need to complete all of them!), or if you were thinking of putting on a whole school performance you might split the sections between a number of classes.

These 3 dance lessons cover themes of plate tectonics & how this affects Japan, Mount Fuji (volcanoes), The painting The Great Wave & tsunamis as well as the Japan being known as ‘The Land of the Rising Sun’ & its flag. All lesson plans are written in a step by step format taking you through the lesson logically, but with the focus being on the children generating the movement ideas rather than you teaching them ‘steps’ for them to recreate. With each section of the lesson there are hints and tips along the way regarding how to structure sections, or things to look out for… the key skill(s) of each section is also identified. There is a suggestion of the type of music you might use & a link to it… this is purely to save you time… feel free to select other music that you might prefer or think more suitable for your group. The lessons can be delivered in any order & they could be amalgamated at the end to create a ‘Japan’ dance.