Beat the End-of-the-Year Wiggles with Dance

Are your students wiggly?  Are they full of energy?  Are you ready to pull out your hair?  Try these easy dance activities to help diffuse some of the energy your students are exhibiting.
I am Cyndi Waddell and I have been teaching dance education in SC for 30 years.  I feel your pain and understand that this time of year is stressful, to say the least.  I have developed some easy to implement dance activities to use up some of the energy found in every classroom right now.  All activities can be used on multiple days by increasing the difficulty.  In each activity feel free to add more or less locomotor skills, create patterns with the skills, increase or decrease the speed at which you call out the skills. Not only will these activities get the wiggles out, but increase focus and stamina.
First and foremost, set some parameters for the dance activities. One of the main reasons dance activities fail is lack of clear expectations.  Just like you manage student work and behavior during a lesson for the classroom, you must do so for movement and energy levels during dance, as well.  Managing movement takes observation and immediate feedback for positive and negative behavior.  Do not be afraid to have someone sit out of an activity to observe specific classmates who are moving safely and reflect on how to move appropriately while dancing.  The reflection spot is a wonderful motivator since most students really want to move. Your expectations should specify that energy levels should be at a 4-5 on a 10 point scale.  Discuss appropriate energy levels for inside vs. outside. This discussion should include expectations for appropriate noise levels, as well.
Now, for the fun stuff.  Try out Level Up Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS).  Level one is a round of RPS with the teacher vs. the class.  As students lose, they sit down until all are beaten.  Level two is similar to level one, but instead of sitting down when out, students “blurt” out a locomotor skill and everyone in the class does that skill. You determine when you want a round to end by saying “Ready, Set, and Freeze”. Then, you can begin RPS again and have new students “blurt” out skills.  I will list locomotor skills at the end of this post.  Level 3 involves partner work.  Students pair up and play RPS while a piece of music plays.  The loser chooses the locomotor skill that both partners will perform in space.  Students will play multiple times until the song ends. These activities work well for students in Kindergarten - 4th/5th grade.
Another fun activity is The Birthday Game.  You will be using locomotor skills again in this movement game.  Call out a month in the year.  Students who have a birthday during the chosen month stand up and choose a locomotor skill that everyone will perform.  Play some music and let all students move around in the space performing the chosen skill.  If there are more than one person with a birthday in a month, use this opportunity to make a pattern with several locomotor skills.  Eventually, your students will be able to choose from several different designated skills and make a pattern themselves.  Play until you have gone through all of the months of the year. This activity works well for Kindergarten - 4th/5th grade.  You can make this activity more or less challenging by increasing the number of skills chosen and whether patterns are designed by you or the students. 
Finally, Freeze Dance is a winner every time.  I have added several things to make this activity more challenging.  Instead of just freezing when the music stops, I have students sit down.  The last one seated is out.  I usually play multiple rounds and don’t get students out so they have a chance to get some energy out.  Eventually, I get students out and quickly complete the game so students can start moving again.This activity is appropriate for all ages.  With older students, I would challenge them to complete multiple tasks before I stop the music, eg., before I stop the music, alternate hopping on one foot 4 times each, jump across the room, gallop and alternate the lead foot 4 times.  If you have some shy movers, let them create the challenges reminding them that safety is first and foremost in this activity.
The possibilities for dance in the classroom are endless as long as clear expectations are set prior to the activities.  I have years of fun and engaging activities to share, whether it be a simple movement activity or a fully planned dance integration lesson.  I would love to share my knowledge with you!  Feel free to reach out via phone or email and happy dancing!
Cyndi Waddell
[email protected] 

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Author

Cyndi Waddell is a native South Carolinian and graduated from Columbia College in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a major in Dance.  She also holds a Master of Education degree from Converse College. After graduation she danced professionally in Cleveland, Ohio and New York throughout the late 1980’s.  After returning to South Carolina in 1990, she began teaching dance education in the public schools and currently is the dance specialist at Stone Academy of Communication Arts in Greenville County.  In the course of her career she has supported arts education through service on the writing committee for the South Carolina Dance Standards, as the President of the South Carolina Dance Association, as South Carolina Dance Educator of the Year, as a grant reader for the South Carolina Arts CommissionSouth Carolina Department of Education and as a participant and facilitator for the Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts and the South Carolina Arts Leadership for Success Academy, and as a member on the National Dance Education Organization’s Mentorship Committee.